4 ms·

My dude, we have no idea how bad climate change is going to hit us, automation is going to put tons of people out of jobs, there is a loneliness crisis, the gap

My dude, we have no idea how bad climate change is going to hit us, automation is going to put tons of people out of jobs, there is a loneliness crisis, the gap between rich amd poor is bigger than its ever been, western countries are more divided than ever before, people are checking out of reality, social bonds are all but nonexistent, ecosystems are collapsing on the regular, birth, gender relations are the worst they've been in centuries, fertility rates are plummeting, we're on the brink of another recession, the nazis are back, China is building the most authoritarian nation ever devised, I'm not even close to done. I highly doubt we're going to get past 2050 without the foundations of society collapsing.

AnimalMuppet 7y ago
First: I am not "my dude" to you. Second: Things look ugly right now. You'd have to be blind not to see it. But the advantage of being 57 instead of 18 is that I've seen this before, and I've talked to people who've seen even more. I don't know that this looks blacker than the 1980s, when nuclear war looked like a very real possibility - not just sometime in the future, but tomorrow. I'm not sure it's blacker than the Cuban Missile Crisis. I'm not sure that it's blacker than World War II, especially for those living in Europe, Russia, or China. I'm not sure that it's blacker than the Great Depression, when it looked like society - or at least the economy - had broken permanently. Yes, it looks bad. It is bad. It's not worse than it's ever been, though. We probably will make it through this, though it will be a bumpy ride.
- aswanson 7y ago
  1935-1945 was probably the most apocalyptic decade in living memory.
- faissaloo 7y ago
  I do think this is worse than any of the things you listed.
  - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
    If this results in the collapse of civilization, it will definitely be worse than any of the things I listed (none of which resulted in the collapse of civilization). If. There's two ways to try to analyze this. One is to look from a 2019-centric perspective, where we know that nuclear war didn't cause the collapse of civilization, but we don't know whether climate change will. From that perspective, "might" looks worse than "definitely didn't". But I think that's kind of an unfair comparison. The other way to try to compare is to look at how likely it looked when you didn't know the outcome. That's kind of subjective, so I can't really argue with your opinion if you're evaluating things the second way. To me, though, having been in both places, the 1980s frightened me considerably more. (There may be a stage-of-life thing, too. I was 18 in 1980. Maybe the danger that you see around that age is the danger that you fear the most.) Anyway, those are just some thoughts. I can't prove you wrong... but I sure hope you are.

AnimalMuppet 7y ago

First: I am not "my dude" to you. Second: Things look ugly right now. You'd have to be blind not to see it. But the advantage of being 57 instead of 18 is that I've seen this before, and I've talked to people who've seen even more. I don't know that this looks blacker than the 1980s, when nuclear war looked like a very real possibility - not just sometime in the future, but tomorrow. I'm not sure it's blacker than the Cuban Missile Crisis. I'm not sure that it's blacker than World War II, especially for those living in Europe, Russia, or China. I'm not sure that it's blacker than the Great Depression, when it looked like society - or at least the economy - had broken permanently. Yes, it looks bad. It is bad. It's not worse than it's ever been, though. We probably will make it through this, though it will be a bumpy ride.

aswanson 7y ago
1935-1945 was probably the most apocalyptic decade in living memory.
faissaloo 7y ago
I do think this is worse than any of the things you listed.
- AnimalMuppet 7y ago
  If this results in the collapse of civilization, it will definitely be worse than any of the things I listed (none of which resulted in the collapse of civilization). If. There's two ways to try to analyze this. One is to look from a 2019-centric perspective, where we know that nuclear war didn't cause the collapse of civilization, but we don't know whether climate change will. From that perspective, "might" looks worse than "definitely didn't". But I think that's kind of an unfair comparison. The other way to try to compare is to look at how likely it looked when you didn't know the outcome. That's kind of subjective, so I can't really argue with your opinion if you're evaluating things the second way. To me, though, having been in both places, the 1980s frightened me considerably more. (There may be a stage-of-life thing, too. I was 18 in 1980. Maybe the danger that you see around that age is the danger that you fear the most.) Anyway, those are just some thoughts. I can't prove you wrong... but I sure hope you are.