MHirsch The end of the world was predicted so often, because now we have radio/movies/TV/microphones/computers/synthesisers/…
CyberGene Even Aristotle was sure the civilization was towards its end due to his dissatisfaction with the decay he observed in the youth 😀 Yet we are still kicking.
MacMacMac In the broad picture ... yes, "we" are still here.
But this ignores the ups and downs. Every civilization that has ever arisen has subsequently fallen.
So, the we're still kicking line of thought works well for humans. people do not think much further than their own life span. in that way, every human alive is pretty myopic relative to the challenges we actually face.
between 1970 and 2014 we lost ~50% of all natural bio-diversity (vertebrate), relative to ~10,000 years ago, the net loss is ~80%. we are at the very end of an exponential death function. these may well be the last few years of the anthropocene extinction, we're in that right now, it's not a future calender.
imagine going into a forest, and all the wildlife is gone, this forest would not survive, because the ecology is co-dependent. in the united states, in the last decade beekeepers reported losing 50%-80% of all their bees. the amount of bees is so few now, we pack semi-trucks of bees, and send them down to california every year to pollinate almond plantations.
the end isn't near, it's likely here. 🙃
i'm not trying to bring everyone down, but you guys brought up the existential topic. 👽
