The Future is Bleak

[Meatpie]

New York will be completely flooded if global warming continues. Hurricanes will strike NYC and Flordia will no longer exisit...

The very near future for humans on Earth is bleak.

This of course is complicated issue but I will summarise my arguments and give examples of why I am not optimistic for the next few years.

- Global warming is intensifying, it's a complete nightmare unfolding before our very eyes.

There is a serious risk my country will burn to dust in the next few years.

It's november and usually we get snow instead we have a heatwave with temperatures reaching 27'C

For the last two weeks there is a new temperature record set every day.

- Global Economic Collapse

Politicans are saying "The ecomony is recovering" but while there maybe a temporary improvement the same old problems remain.

Humans are dependent on fossil fuels. By 2020 Europe will only be able to get 10% of the natural gas it needs.

Russia is bullying the whole of Europe with the gas reserves it has, prices are going up again in 2011.

America is no longer the super power it once was, facing a huge budget deficit and crisis in healthcare, political crisis and unemployment will remain high in 2011 and possibly into 2012.

Europe -aging population, weak economy, massive unemployment.

Germany is the only exception, Germany is Europe's locomotive, fucking powerhouse producing everything.

China - strong booming economy,construction everywhere, property prices doubling every few months.

China is building a new coal plant every week to provide electicity for its new skyscrapers and factories.

China needs so much coal they import from Australia.

The boom will eventually end though.

So economists predict a recession in China in the next few years that will be so bad it will drag down the whole world with it.

Chineese and Indians will die in the millions.

African population will be wiped from starvation and the effects of global warming.

The world is absolutely not becoming a better place, it's actually sinking like the Titanic.

Some countries have already gone down, others are still unaffacted but they will go down too.

What are you predictions for the next few years?

 

[Leon]

next few years?

no,no!I think only 1 year left my friend, we r all doomed! do u know many lands r starting to collapse inside and it seems like a scary and black big hole towards to the earth's core?

Delight in death! lol xD

 

[Leon]

 

[Leon]

 

[Meatpie]

Sinkholes are a normal feature of the Earth's crust, let's not overdramatize.

Global warming though is real and many nations will be badly affected.

 

[metalmachine]

The Gaia´s Revenge!!!!

 

[ukon]

Well it is a couple of years later and with hindsight what are your thoughts now . I agree with most of your thoughts expressed relating to economics but am becoming less worried about the climate change doomsday scenarios (not necessarily yours but the general doom and gloom spread by all sorts of people and groups), I dont dispute climate change in the slightest but there is so much that is still not understood about what all the factors are that have an influence . Finding this Post to me is like finding a Time Capsule and reading from the past , admitedly the recent past but a couple of years was the timeframe used in your original Post , just curious to see what your updated thoughts and concerns are now . As usual I am surprissed at how few people made comments on what was and still is most deffinitely a series of genuine concerns that could, have and will impact our society . Thanks for the original Post.
As an aside I came across this thread whilst looking ar the "who's online" and saw a BingBot spider accesing this Post , Curious

 

[feettartar]

This planet's warming trend was set on an unstoppable course 30 years ago when the population was HALF what it is today.
But don't worry - the Islamic religion will shortly make sure all of us never even make it to see the planet get 're-enveloped'!

 

[New Yorker]

I think we are going through what in the future will be considered the most important time in human history. Our human society has reached a level of technological advancement that enable us to do what was once thought too be out of our reach. However, technological advancement withou social advancement can be catastrophic. Researchers in the area of technology predict unemployment will be between 50% to 75% by the end of the century as machines replace humans in the labor force. Keep in mind that it is very likely the global economy will have crashed long before that since we saw the economy could hardlt sustain itself when unemployment was hovering aroun 10%.

What I see right now is a world that is torn between the old and the new and the new is gaining strenth fast. I was watching West Wing on netflix and I dawned on me how America's ideology has become far more liberal in such a short time. Most Americans now favor gay marriage. the abarge American is no longer that religious and a recent poll has shown that people are not that happy with capitalism and not that scared of the word socialism. It's obvious that old values are being replaced by new values that reflect our new understandings and knowledge in the 21th century.

Of course, there is a lot of friction. I heard this quote once tht I think illustrates this problem very clearly "there are those who spend all their lives trying to build a new future and there are those who spend their lives trying to rebuild the past." There are many peole who are so adicted to the current system that they will fight any change. This is why incidently the republican party in the US has gotten so conservative as they know new values are making them obsolete.

I think humanity will go on, but there will be scars. I dont think every person will be ready to make this transition. Right now the world needs guidance and support as it stubles through this century. However, I think the 22nd century will be far happier than this one and maybe some of us will get to see it.

 

[fireboots]

Face it, the human race is a failed experiment. We are very good parasites but our host is dying.

 

[Drakomuendo]

I believe it is worth saying that humanity will certainly continue and thrive with the passing of time, whether that is good or bad is up to you. The human race as a whole will in all probability not really reform until creeping dessertification becomes a serious threat. To those of you who don't know, Creeping dessertification is when desserts start growing and is a natural though unfortunent by product of global warming. I suspect that it will take untill about the year 2300 or so before humanity really changes, by that point in time terraforming of mars will likely have begun and people will start viewing the earths preservation as being paramount. Humans are a warlike species and too many people like to close their eyes to that fact, Industrialization is a war in its own right but one against nature. I believe though that humanities fundamental problem is not religion or the existence of war but rather that we persistently take the easy way out when we have to make tough decisions. I am a believer in the theory that if you can improve yourself you should do so, wallowing in the ideal that you are good the way you are is what led humanity to this point in time. Pretty much every religion on earth will tell you to strive for improvement, although, pretty much every religious person on earth ignores that lesson and follows a fundementally selfish ideal.

I am a technologist and the fate of the world or the affairs of man are of little interest to me, I really don't care one way or the other. All I care about is the advancement and evolution of humanity as a species. No matter which direction humanity chooses to evolve in.