‘Global collapse’ - are we doomed or is there still hope?

It might not even come to that. Technology may find some way mitigating the absolute worst. Who knows? No me that’s for sure so all the hand wringing I could do today won’t make a ha’pence of difference.

Best to switch off and enjoy what we have while it lasts and pray our grandchildren and their families don’t suffer the consequences.

I'm sure they will be grateful for your prayers as the world burns around them.

Allira

A friend and her DH visited one of his old school friends in S Africa. He lived in a gated community; she said it felt most unreal staying there.

South Africa is a disgrace, totally corrupt and out of control.

I needed to make an overnight stop in Johannesburg the hotel instructed me, - “ do not go outside the gate if you want to go to the airport or railway station we will take you and collect you”
I did take the urban transport (Gautrain) that runs from the centre to the airport, there was armed security everywhere. I had the afternoon spare took a Red Bus Tour Soweto was very interesting not at all what I was expecting.

To misquote Mr Spock, the future could be ""Life, Jim, but not as we know it"!

A friend and her DH visited one of his old school friends in S Africa. He lived in a gated community; she said it felt most unreal staying there.

I do sometimes wonder - as the gap between the haves and the have nots grows ever wider - if at some point in the future there will be ‘elites’ behind gated developments with high level security and access to flights and cars - while the rest of us scrabble around outside. Think ‘Hunger Games’ or Margaret Attwood’s dystopian novel ‘The Handmaiden’. Scary stuff. Especially if climate change brings swathes of too many people northwards to escape drought and famine.

Best to switch off and enjoy what we have while it lasts and pray our grandchildren and their families don’t suffer the consequences.

We’re the dominant species so will be sure to find a way to survive.

Oh, I think there will, in some areas.

We've just watched Human, a series on BBC2, presented by Ella Al-Shamahi. She is a most enthusiastic and interesting presenter and tells the stories of how humans have survived despite the odds.

I don't think humans will be living on earth in 1000 years. I think it'll be a very different place.

Whether there will be humans surviving somewhere out in the solar system, is a different question. There might well be.

There is always hope, but what we need to do goes against ingrained instincts that run too deep to change, I fear.

Wrong cartoon 😁
I meant to post this one

Repent, I tell you, repent!

Tax rises and expenditure cuts will kill the economy, Grantanow.

No one is going to invest in the uk when no-one has enough money to buy anything apart from basic needs.

Disregarding the importance of money to an economy leads to a failure of logic.

Aren’t we already paying the highest amount of tax since WW2, Grantanow? How can driving working people into the ground financially help improve things? One of my AC is probably going to have to sell up and move because the various tax rises in recent years plus one of them losing their job due to govt decisions means they’re looking into the precipice now.

David49

Decadent liberal western civilization is at risk from invaders, our own weaknesses will be our downfall. Dictatorships have a big advantage and dont respect our freedoms.

Oh wow! We'd better all get down to the coast with our pitchforks then! That sounds like the Great Replacement conspiracy theory to me.

Decadent liberal western civilization is at risk from invaders, our own weaknesses will be our downfall. Dictatorships have a big advantage and dont respect our freedoms.

I certainly don't have faith in the current crop of world leaders: America, Russia, China, North Korea and let's not forget the UK led by a Prime Minister who desperately wants to be in the Big Boys gang. This way to Hell in a handcart.

Is this the same Dan Brown who refers to Leonardo as da Vinci ?
Presumably unaware, despite his researches in preparing his book The Da Vinci Code, that the name da Vinci is an indicator of birthplace, not a family name; the person is properly referred to by the given name, Leonardo.

Just read Dan Brown’s “Inferno” setting out how exponential burgeoning population is a key danger for the world. Something I agree with. The solution was mythical (I think) but interesting.

There's no hope for the UK without significant tax rises and expenditure cuts. The economy needs a boost from inward investment which I doubt will happen. What is needed is a national government of the most able with a clear statement to the public that serious measures have to be taken, not the pabulum handed out so far and not telling voters what they want to hear. Otherwise the UK's chips are cooked. The Swedes managed to pull the fat out of the fire and we must do the same.

There IS hope. The media don't report the progress that is made - both scientifically and diplomatically. Despair sells! I remember 'demonstrating' about the Cuba missile crisis. We were in terror and 'knew' that a madman would soon destroy the world...? Ditto 'over population' - world population is way over that we were TOLD to panic about - yup there is overcrowding etc but we are not shoulder to shoulder. I've taken to St Paul - think on those things that are good.

I rather liked this thought.

However, it’s not about natural phenomena, the cause will be humankind.

I would disagree with that - I follow a number of people talking about weather (including solar weather), geological phenomena like volcanoes and earthquakes and a number of archaeologists. Earth does it's own thing without any interference from us - although we do tend to make it a difficult place to live for all living things.

Allira

Has anyone been watching Human on BBC2, presented by Ella Al-Shamahi? It's a fascinating programme about early humans and Ella Al-Shamahi is such an enthusiastic presenter.
BBC2 on Mondays, available on iPlayer.

I recorded this after hearing the presenter talking about it but haven't got round to watching yet. Sounded very interesting.
As for doom and gloom I admit to having thought lately that it seems everything in the world is going to pot, wars, genocide, starving children, climate change, the NHS, immigration, the govt.... I have always watched the News at 10 before going to bed but now watch the earlier version so I don't go to bed with horrific images on my mind.

I wouldn’t read the book, what’s the point? The world changes sometimes for the better and sometimes not but the great thing about humans is that they adapt.
Just plow your own furrow and don’t give in to depression about what may be.

nanna8

I look back at history and see that there has always been catastrophic events, not just in our lifetimes. In fact there were much,much worse things occurring way before we were even thought of. So why are we so arrogant as to think we can control these events in some way ? Who do we think we are ? We are near Lake Taupo just now - likely caused by a massive volcanic eruption approx 26,500 years ago. Then there was Pompeii, various havoc wreaking tsunamis and of course the previous Ice Age. Temperatures have waxed and waned forever.

What if all those things happened at once, though?

However, it’s not about natural phenomena, the cause will be humankind.