4 ms·

I wonder if past civilizations ever had knowledge of their impending doom, studied it, and still took effectively no action to avert disaster? Will we be unique

• MilStdJunkie 2y ago
  The city laments of the ancient near east might fall near this, but definitely many Roman writers, like Vegetius, saw very clearly that their civilization was headed for oblivion, and they wrote about it, sometimes quite heartbreakingly. There's a whole genre of literature from the late 19th century that does this same thing with the British Empire - honestly, it's a strong tradition today. Thing is, what you see in retrospect, is that nothing really dies all the way. Bits and pieces - sometimes very large pieces, in the case of Rome - can be digested and live on for hundreds or thousands of years. The current climate crisis will be a problem, no doubt, but it will be overshadowed rapidly by the conflicts that it sparks. Thirsty people don't worry about radiation.