gumboot
lorcutus.tolere
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2006
- Messages
- 25,327
The planet is facing a major environmental crisis.
The world's economies are facing a major financial crisis.
Piracy is on the rise.
Societies are becoming increasingly violent.
Terrorism.
Genocide.
Wars.
Radical Religion.
Pressure from the developing world.
An aging population.
Lowering birth rates.
Oil is running out.
Soil depletion.
Fisheries depletion.
Deforestation.
Diversion of water from the water cycle.
Species extinction.
Obesity.
Diabetes.
Anyone who follows the news is aware of the various "dire" situations assaulting western civilisation.
Is the end, indeed, nigh? Most societies collapse, at some point. Put under pressure by war, environmental damage, climate change, resource depletion, and over population, the economy collapses, mass panic ensues, and the very fabric of society disintegrates into civil war, anarchy and cannibalism.
I think Western Society is very robust, and able to handle a lot of things. Any of the many challenges facing us now, we could handle with ease. But all of them at once? Can we manage that?
I'm agnostic on the matter, but I must admit I am genuinely concerned about how the next 50 years are going to pan out.
The world's economies are facing a major financial crisis.
Piracy is on the rise.
Societies are becoming increasingly violent.
Terrorism.
Genocide.
Wars.
Radical Religion.
Pressure from the developing world.
An aging population.
Lowering birth rates.
Oil is running out.
Soil depletion.
Fisheries depletion.
Deforestation.
Diversion of water from the water cycle.
Species extinction.
Obesity.
Diabetes.
Anyone who follows the news is aware of the various "dire" situations assaulting western civilisation.
Is the end, indeed, nigh? Most societies collapse, at some point. Put under pressure by war, environmental damage, climate change, resource depletion, and over population, the economy collapses, mass panic ensues, and the very fabric of society disintegrates into civil war, anarchy and cannibalism.
I think Western Society is very robust, and able to handle a lot of things. Any of the many challenges facing us now, we could handle with ease. But all of them at once? Can we manage that?
I'm agnostic on the matter, but I must admit I am genuinely concerned about how the next 50 years are going to pan out.
The elements that most concern me were well summarized by Dragoonster. 
Now, here's something for you to ponder. Somewhere between 1 and 10 percent of Chinese in China are Christian (of some sort or another) ... or so I hear. If that element of Western Society spreads there, does that worry you less, or more? If, as an underground religion, as it began in the Roman Empire, it eventually percolates up to become an official state institution in China, would that worry you less, or more? 
