What I am about to say isn't going to
be popular. I suppose few things I write here are. But I feel like
they need to be said, especially now. If you're reading this, you're
probably a friend of mine who occasions around to this blog when I
post the link on Facebook, or else you're one of the tiny few who, in
the past several years have taken an active interest in my ideas,
rambles, and rants. To either group, I salute you for your courage to
keep reading, and to either group, I only ask that you hear me out
and consider what I'm saying like you always do whether you agree or
not.
Recently I read two articles online
which I can't get out of the back of my mind. The content of the
articles really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. It's been reported
again and again, and warned about again and again for decades. The
first was an article about the World3 prediction which was made by a
computer simulation back in the 1970s. I hadn't know about this
prediction until I read the article and looked up “World3” online
and saw that it was indeed real. Long story short, it predicted a
collapse of human civilization by 2040 based on various political and
societal factors. At the time, global warming wasn't included in the
calculations just good old human nature. According to the article,
we're right on target at this point in the latter half of 2018 to
fulfill that computer's prediction.
The second article I read was the
recent United Nations report on Climate Change which basically stated
that unless we reverse all carbon emissions right now, we are looking
at a catastrophic climate change by 2040-50. This isn't some fringe
scientist saying this. This is the official United Nations report on
the subject which every nation got a copy of.
Add into this the possible total
depletion of most of the world's light crude oil reserves by 2062
(yes, this is a real projection). Add into this the rise of bacteria
and viruses which are increasingly resistant to even extreme
antibiotics and medications. Add into this our increasing reliance on
electronically based technology which itself depends on a reliable
(and easily sabotaged) power grid. Add into this a total human
population on Earth of at or near 10 Billion, more than twice what
the Earth can reasonably sustain without sever ecological
consequences and mass shortages.
Human beings are going to reap the
fruit of what we as a species have sown over the last 10,000 years of
civilization, and it looks to be nothing short of apocalyptic on
numerous fronts from extreme, uncontrolled weather, to diseases
raging uncontrolled, to a potential economic collapse due to
political considerations and resource mismanagement and shortfall.
And it looks like it will happen within
the lifetime of my generation. I will be 65 years old by 2040. More
importantly, my youngest child will be 38.
There are those who believe and accept
the Star Trek scenario where science will eventually solve all these
problems and transform Earth into a paradise. However, I'm a trekkie.
I know Star Trek history. And I know that, in order for humanity to
pull itself out of the apocalyptic world it had plunged itself into,
it had to experience first contact with an advanced alien race, the
Vulcans. After this, it engaged in interstellar commerce and found
cures for diseases and learned to work together as it engaged with
new intelligent species.
How many out there seriously believe
we'll make first contact with a logical, intelligent alien species by
2061 who will help us pull our heads out of our collective human hind
ends? If you're seriously betting on the Star Trek scenario or the
collective good will and conscience of human beings, you've never
studied human history or human beings in general, and waiting on
Vulcans to solve all our problems is... illogical, and problematic at
best.
We are now, at this point in history,
on the cusp of apocalypse from a number of directions which human
psychology and nature appear to make unavoidable. This is not new
information. It's not sensationalist. It is a valid and well
established scientific projection.
Which brings me to my point. Why are we
still educating and training our kids as though nothing is going to
change? We're preparing them in the High Schools for the world we
knew as kids where people appeared more rational, there were fewer
people as a whole, and everything worked more or less. We're
preparing them for an economic and societal system that we know will
likely break down within the next three decades.
We're preparing them to survive in the world we knew and know and not
the world we know is going to be.
Already
those born around the turn of the millennium are feeling the pinch,
so to speak. They are heavily in college debt to get degrees for jobs
that won't hire them for their lack of experience. Many can't afford
to pay rent, much less buy a house regardless of their level of
education. And according to
projections, this is only going to get worse.
I
think we need to be honest with ourselves and our children. We need
to be honest in how to possibly prepare them for the future which we
know is going to happen. Prepare them for the immediate future and
society now, yes, but also keep a plan in their back pocket, a set of
instructions for when it all comes crashing down and they have to
literally focus on day to day survival in a world gone mad. When
those times come, I don't want my kids or grand kids starving because
they don't know how to find food, water, shelter, etc.
I
don't know for certain what 2040 and beyond is going to look like.
Maybe I'm wrong and by some miracle everything will just keep
chugging along. Maybe all world leaders will have a change of heart
and begin to work together to solve our problems instead of making
sure they look great for the cameras and their constituents... Yeah,
you can stop laughing now. I don't think so either.
We
need to take responsibility for what we've done as a species and give
our kids real tools to try and survive the future we and our parents
and ancestors created for them.
