by James Wallace Harris, 11/29/21
When I was growing up in the 1950s annihilation by atomic war was a common worry. Kids were taught duck and cover drills, people built fallout shelters, we routinely heard Conalrad tests on the radio, and popular culture was full of stories about WWIII. The famous Doomsday Clock stayed set just minutes from doomsday.
Over the decades there has always been the world is ending forecasts. Some chicken little is always yelling the sky is falling. The new vogue is to claim civilization is collapsing. Routinely following the news makes it hard to ignore such fears.
What if civilization is collapsing? What should we do? The science is quite solid on climate change, and we’ve been warned for decades, but for decades we’ve done nothing significant. A fair number of folks are buying rural plots of land and AR15s but that hardly seems to be a practical solution for everyone.
My guess is most people are ignoring all the gloom and doom, or else going crazy in their own quiet squirrely way. I don’t think there is much we can do. The reason why many analyzed trends lead to possible apocalypses is that the natural thing for everyone to do is to keep doing what we’re always been doing. Humans aren’t big on intentionally making drastic changes to their lives.
If we’re not going to do anything to avert the forecasted catastrophes, then what are we going to do instead? Anxiety and depression are so self-destructive. It’s much too early to panic. We could party like it’s 1999, but the end isn’t that close yet. Enduring resignation will probably be a common plan, but that’s emotionally draining. Taking up Zen Buddhism or meditation might be useful. Enjoying the simple pleasures of life has always been an excellent choice. Ditto for pursuing creative hobbies.
Developing a positive perspective should be helpful. Civilizations always collapse, but often over decades or centuries. There will be a rush to hoard or consume everything left. The well-to-do will grab what they want, which is always more than they need. The practical will learn to live with less without agonizing over what they no longer have. For most citizens the collapse of civilization will be in such slow motion they will hardly notice it. It’s only the unfortunate who become refugees from random catastrophes that will feel the harshest impacts. So knowing how to relocate will be a valuable skill. There are certain preparedness precautions to take, but since nothing is certain, it’s not practical to go overboard with such measures.
Probably most useful is the ability for understanding the true reality of things. Don’t get caught up in delusions, fears, panics, but also avoid over-optimism and Pollyanish thinking.
I bring all this up because of some videos I’ve been watching. I have no idea how valid they are, but I consider the increase of such thinking as a kind of pulse-taking. What do you think of these videos? These three accept doom but try to find a positive perspective with dealing with such doom. They offer wisdom.
If you are a routine YouTube watcher and are signed in, watching these three videos will cause YouTube to offer you more of the same. There are quite a lot of these videos, so be careful. Don’t get overwhelmed.
JWH
Auxiliary Memory 
Yikes! I watched the first one and found it fascinating, as well as downright disheartening. I plan to watch the others, but not all at once–need to engage in a bit of self-care first. Are you participating in the live Zoom events he describes at the end?
Usually, I’m kind of timid about live events. But I’ll think about it. The latest information is here: https://postdoom.com/
I just like the idea of Post Doom. Let’s get on with living in the new era. Instead of worrying whether or not humanity will save itself, just accept that it won’t, and learn to live with climate change. I’m tired of worrying about whether we’ll do the right thing. It’s obvious by now we won’t. That’s kind of freeing.
I agree. I am rather fatalistic about it now, though to be honest, it’s not as if I think about humanity’s fall too much. There’s nothing I can do about it. If I’m alive when things start to get really bad, I’ll deal with it then. I don’t need to live in misery fearing the inevitable.
Mostly it just makes me sad. I don’t have kids, but I feel sorry for my nieces and nephews and the generation to come. They’ll almost certainly feel the effects of the beginning of the end.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/humans-are-doomed-to-go-extinct/