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After decades of hearing that the sky is falling for these and other reasons, and realizing that it never does, I've come to the conclusion that the people who

After decades of hearing that the sky is falling for these and other reasons, and realizing that it never does, I've come to the conclusion that the people who push this sort of fear need to be challenged. Humanity will muddle through, we always do.

jdavis703 10y ago
I wasn't expecting the political tilt of this article. But perhaps many crises are avoided because we start doing something to prevent them. For example the ozone hole. Or the fear of mass terrorism after 9/11.
- SomeStupidPoint 10y ago
  Mass terrorism was never a real fear, nor was a similar 9/11 style hijacking. In fact, 9/11 style hijackings were so easy to stop, they literally didn't remain effective for even 4 hours. (One of the planes was downed during the attack as it unfolded, because word of the attack had spread and it was that easy to stop. Had passengers not downed it, the military was en route to intercept.) About the only meaningful and smart thing we did post-9/11 was make airplane cockpit doors stronger and have a better lock. The rest? We should've just ignored it and gone on with our lives. Terrorism is meant to cause death to nations by auto-immune over-response, and the 9/11 attack was designed by CIA trained operatives to do exactly that. The PATRIOT Act may as well have been a concession note to bin Laden.
drinchev 10y ago
I agree. Fear of catastrophe is a catastrophe on its own. I have friends that tend to not want children, giving as a reason some of the problems that are stated in this article. I know ... Life goes on is very shallow thought, when you read article like this, but depression can't help solve those problems. As a matter of fact, that depression by the constant stream of negativity by the current highly-globalized world is the reason people vote against the system.
mikeash 10y ago
I tend to share your view. However, consider that if the end does come, it will be a one time thing. The view just before the end will be indistinguishable from the view you'd get in a world where there is no end.
_petronius 10y ago
We may "muddle through", but the "muddling" will be wars caused by agricultural collapse[0], deaths caused by trying to keep refugees of those wars at bay[1], and violence in "far away" places as the industrialized world seeks to maintain its standard of living in the process[2][3][4]. The disaster is already in full swing, I'm afraid. And attitudes like this are the old adage about frogs and boiling water. It may not look like it in Berlin, London, California (but then again[5]), Hong Kong, or Tokyo, but millions of people are suffering already. The best case right now is the industrialized world makes it at the expense of the "undeveloped" nations, but as Mark Blythe pointed out, the Hamptons is not a defensible position[6]. So it may be worth considering whether this head-in-the-sand approach is worth it, even from a purely self-interest point of view. [0]: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/03/150302-syria-war-climate-change-drought/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/03/150302-syria... [1]: http://www.amnesty.eu/content/assets/Reports/EUR_050012014__Fortress_Europe_complete_web_EN.pdf http://www.amnesty.eu/content/assets/Reports/EUR_050012014__... [2]: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/03/canada-barrick-gold-mining-compensates-papua-new-guinea-women-rape https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/03/canada-barrick... [3]: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/02/foreign-firms-human-rights-abuses-myanmar-150210040854291.html http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/02/foreign-fi... [4]: https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/19/sierra-leone-mining-boom-brings-rights-abuses https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/19/sierra-leone-mining-boom... [5]: http://www.californiadrought.org/drought/current-conditions/ http://www.californiadrought.org/drought/current-conditions/ [6]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwK0jeJ8wxg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwK0jeJ8wxg
- golemotron 10y ago
  Yet world poverty has been in decline for years: https://www.cato.org/blog/dramatic-decline-world-poverty https://www.cato.org/blog/dramatic-decline-world-poverty World violence is decreasing: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/12/the_world_is_not_falling_apart_the_trend_lines_reveal_an_increasingly_peaceful.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2... Disease rates are declining across the world: http://www.healthdata.org/news-release/life-expectancy-increases-globally-death-toll-falls-major-diseases http://www.healthdata.org/news-release/life-expectancy-incre... And pollution is deceasing too: https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/progress-cleaning-air-and-improving-peoples-health https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/progress-cleaning... Smile every once in a while. It's good for you.

jdavis703 10y ago

I wasn't expecting the political tilt of this article. But perhaps many crises are avoided because we start doing something to prevent them. For example the ozone hole. Or the fear of mass terrorism after 9/11.

SomeStupidPoint 10y ago
Mass terrorism was never a real fear, nor was a similar 9/11 style hijacking. In fact, 9/11 style hijackings were so easy to stop, they literally didn't remain effective for even 4 hours. (One of the planes was downed during the attack as it unfolded, because word of the attack had spread and it was that easy to stop. Had passengers not downed it, the military was en route to intercept.) About the only meaningful and smart thing we did post-9/11 was make airplane cockpit doors stronger and have a better lock. The rest? We should've just ignored it and gone on with our lives. Terrorism is meant to cause death to nations by auto-immune over-response, and the 9/11 attack was designed by CIA trained operatives to do exactly that. The PATRIOT Act may as well have been a concession note to bin Laden.

drinchev 10y ago

I agree. Fear of catastrophe is a catastrophe on its own. I have friends that tend to not want children, giving as a reason some of the problems that are stated in this article. I know ... Life goes on is very shallow thought, when you read article like this, but depression can't help solve those problems. As a matter of fact, that depression by the constant stream of negativity by the current highly-globalized world is the reason people vote against the system.

mikeash 10y ago

I tend to share your view. However, consider that if the end does come, it will be a one time thing. The view just before the end will be indistinguishable from the view you'd get in a world where there is no end.

_petronius 10y ago

We may "muddle through", but the "muddling" will be wars caused by agricultural collapse[0], deaths caused by trying to keep refugees of those wars at bay[1], and violence in "far away" places as the industrialized world seeks to maintain its standard of living in the process[2][3][4]. The disaster is already in full swing, I'm afraid. And attitudes like this are the old adage about frogs and boiling water. It may not look like it in Berlin, London, California (but then again[5]), Hong Kong, or Tokyo, but millions of people are suffering already. The best case right now is the industrialized world makes it at the expense of the "undeveloped" nations, but as Mark Blythe pointed out, the Hamptons is not a defensible position[6]. So it may be worth considering whether this head-in-the-sand approach is worth it, even from a purely self-interest point of view. [0]: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/03/150302-syria-war-climate-change-drought/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/03/150302-syria... [1]: http://www.amnesty.eu/content/assets/Reports/EUR_050012014__Fortress_Europe_complete_web_EN.pdf http://www.amnesty.eu/content/assets/Reports/EUR_050012014__... [2]: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/03/canada-barrick-gold-mining-compensates-papua-new-guinea-women-rape https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/03/canada-barrick... [3]: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/02/foreign-firms-human-rights-abuses-myanmar-150210040854291.html http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/02/foreign-fi... [4]: https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/19/sierra-leone-mining-boom-brings-rights-abuses https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/19/sierra-leone-mining-boom... [5]: http://www.californiadrought.org/drought/current-conditions/ http://www.californiadrought.org/drought/current-conditions/ [6]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwK0jeJ8wxg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwK0jeJ8wxg

golemotron 10y ago
Yet world poverty has been in decline for years: https://www.cato.org/blog/dramatic-decline-world-poverty https://www.cato.org/blog/dramatic-decline-world-poverty World violence is decreasing: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/12/the_world_is_not_falling_apart_the_trend_lines_reveal_an_increasingly_peaceful.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2... Disease rates are declining across the world: http://www.healthdata.org/news-release/life-expectancy-increases-globally-death-toll-falls-major-diseases http://www.healthdata.org/news-release/life-expectancy-incre... And pollution is deceasing too: https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/progress-cleaning-air-and-improving-peoples-health https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/progress-cleaning... Smile every once in a while. It's good for you.