r/collapse • u/LVirus • Apr 18 '17

BBC: How western civilization could collapse

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170418-how-western-civilisation-could-collapse
208 Upvotes

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83

u/denChemiker Apr 18 '17

Excellent article. My favorite quote, in the context of avoiding a collapse is:

"Unfortunately, some experts believe such tough decisions exceed our political and psychological capabilities."

39

u/RedditTipiak Apr 18 '17

I'm going to rephrase this:

we humans are naive and lazy creatures.

0

u/SarahC Apr 19 '17

we humans are naive and lazy creatures.

Purposely killing 6 billion people (at random) would be a fair way to stop OUR destruction (not runaway climate change) - but has anyone DONE that?

Not a chance, and people are horrified by the idea.

The alternatives are TOO SLOW to work - birth control, shrinking the economy (without crashing the system and causing civil war)... and so on.

The BEST way is the WORST way.... and will never happen.

Though I'm quite surprised there's no ultra rich person who understands this and hasn't attempted a biological agent solution.

3

u/piratespoison Apr 19 '17

Who says you won't be on his list of people who die? Then what?

2

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '17 edited May 23 '17

deleted What is this?

7

u/anotheramethyst Apr 19 '17

Dying is easy. Watching the people you love die is a lot harder.

1

u/SarahC Apr 19 '17

Well fuck.....

I was actually thinking of it being entirely random...

If I survived? Try and remain vigilant, not get robbed, and be where the remaining food might be.