The world is in a pretty precarious position, but it has been so many times. I guess the difference is that this is the first time in history that the entire world is so connected, and the events in one location have direct repercussions in others. Even if we go back 90 years to world war two, it really wasn't a world war, it was just a very large war, that spanned multiple large countries with large armies, and large economies. If we were to have a global war now, it would be catastrophic, as it would spawn truly global fighting, that would impact heavily on every country on earth.
As long as it doesn't go nuclear, the species would likely to survive.
But, survival of the species only requires a few hundred thousand people really, so billions can die and humanity can go on. And, make no mistake, there are people out there who would be quite happy for this outcome, as they count themselves among those who would survive that level of disaster. And there are those who believe that the problem with the world is overpopulation is the problem anyway, so having a cataclysmic war fits nicely into their belief system. They can justify all that death and destruction, because it meets their moral position.
My beliefs are worth more than human life.
It is no different than people who drive around in massive trucks unnecessarily, justifying it by saying that climate change isn't man-made, or that there is nothing that can be done otherwise, so I will do what I want now. And because it is somewhat "unprovable" they feel safe that they can't be proven wrong. Yet, if looking from a risk mitigation standpoint, their position is very poor. And not-surprisingly, when things go wrong, the same people are often the first to demand help from authorities, and neighbours.
People want to do what they want, and want to be supported when what they do fails.
People want freedom, but they don't want to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions. And whenever there is any ambiguity, they hide in the grey and say "how was I meant to know", even though all evidence suggested that it was pretty obvious that their actions would lead to the results they got.
Resource disparity is probably the biggest threat to our existence currently, because there have been many simulations and plenty of live case studies as to what happens when there is disparity. Essentially, there is no "going gently into the night", the oppressed will fight back. It doesn't happen immediately, but there is some kind of tipping point where the suffering gets enough that first one, and then more, and then masses of people will join a movement that overwhelms the rulers or the system that they feel is oppressing them.
The unfortunate thing about us humans, is that while we have pithy statements like "learn from the past" and others like "learn from other's mistakes" - we are fucking terrible at actually doing so. Instead, rather than heeding the cautionary tales, we have to make the mistakes already made by others, and often, won't make any changes to our own lives until we have hit rock bottom. It is much like how people act in economic downturn, rather than making financial decisions to cutback or take a second job early, people would rather keep bleeding their savings and taking on more debt to maintain their lifestyle.
We are stupid.
I always find it interesting to consider how intelligent we are at developing tools throughout our evolution as a species, but when it comes to our social ability and abilities to work together for general improvement, we are still as bad as cavepeople. We could have an awesome society of thriving, but we don't, because we have a society hellbent on competing for arbitrary prizes. If the ultimate prize is human wellbeing, would we be spending so much time competing for money?
But what do I know. Perhaps the people who are just looking to maximise themselves at the expense of others are doing god's work after all, and this is exactly what we should be doing as members of the group. Maybe the world is overpopulated, and instead of having conscription to fight in wars, we should have conscription for termination. Numbers pulled out of a hat and people executed to take the resource load off the earth.
Or maybe it should go on IQ. Or perhaps on vertical jump height.
Make it random, and then we can all justify it and not feel guilty, because we didn't have a choice in the matter. Make it a practical decision, rather than a moral one, so that we can improve our species condition by culling indiscriminately.
Get those numbers to go up, by telling people their number's up.
Success of the species might depend on it.
So it is worth it, right?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
