Hezekiah's Thread Of Insanity

[MTrip]

I recommend a few books on future likelihoods...They aren't pleasant but I consider them necessary reading:

• The Collapse of Complex Societies - Joseph Tainter
• The Long Emergency - James Howard Kunstler
• Too Much Magic - James Howard Kunstler
• The End of Oil - Paul Roberts
• Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update - Donella Meadows et al.
• The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers - Paul Kennedy

The above is not a conclusive list but it will give you a good grounding in why human societies emerge, expand & grow in strength, & then degenerate & either fragment or get taken over or eliminated by other societies...& what that means for us.

 

[Shut_Out]

I imagine it won't be much different, change is slow, and 20 years really isn't a lot of time. Our technology, of course, will be more advanced. And apart from a world war that involves nukes or some sort of horrible biological weapon, or a global environmental disaster, such as that caused by an asteroid impact, I don't see the world descending into chaos. I imagine we'll be more crowded, but, like today, how much that affects you depends on where you live; first world countries having more stable populations, for the most part. The biggest change will probably be in culture, with the world being more integrated through technology, leading to more exposure, and, hopefully, more tolerance.

 

[NightHawkJohn]

I recommend a few books on future likelihoods...They aren't pleasant but I consider them necessary reading:

• The Collapse of Complex Societies - Joseph Tainter
• The Long Emergency - James Howard Kunstler
• Too Much Magic - James Howard Kunstler
• The End of Oil - Paul Roberts
• Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update - Donella Meadows et al.
• The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers - Paul Kennedy

The above is not a conclusive list but it will give you a good grounding in why human societies emerge, expand & grow in strength, & then degenerate & either fragment or get taken over or eliminated by other societies...& what that means for us.

Thanks for that list, looks like some interesting books.

 

[WL7.3]

Shift of power due to prevalence of cleaner power sources. Further globalization. More socialist values. Cleaner food and more of it. Predominantly vegetarian population. Human genetic manipulation and discrimination. beginnings of societal structure based on Meyers Briggs theory. Further polarization and exaggeration of traditional and proggresive social values. Apps implanted into our bodies. We'll all be wearing spandex unitards.

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I recommend a few books on future likelihoods...They aren't pleasant but I consider them necessary reading:

• The Collapse of Complex Societies - Joseph Tainter
• The Long Emergency - James Howard Kunstler
• Too Much Magic - James Howard Kunstler
• The End of Oil - Paul Roberts
• Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update - Donella Meadows et al.
• The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers - Paul Kennedy

The above is not a conclusive list but it will give you a good grounding in why human societies emerge, expand & grow in strength, & then degenerate & either fragment or get taken over or eliminated by other societies...& what that means for us.

Thanks for that list, looks like some interesting books.

Definitely will check some out, thx.

 

[Scotsman]

We'll all be little robots of the system. But we'll have cake so, swings and roundabouts.

 

[LeaningIntoTheMuse]

We're all going to be Androids.

 

[theglasscell]

Realistically, one of the biggest problems the world is facing in the near future is a clean water shortage.

Water is going to be the new oil, it's going to become something people fight wars over.

Arizona is getting water from all the way in Michigan.

The population is growing at an absurd amount.

It's going to be a scary time when that happens.

 

[LeaningIntoTheMuse]

Another thing is the lack of tree and oxygen supply. And all the amount of carbon monoxide.

I get into debates with this with my environmentalist friend. And he's right. People want to tear down trees to build skyscrapers. What will happen when the trees die? We will die.

It's incredibly stupid to clog the air with even more toxic chemicals, while we remove the very thing that nourishes us. It's no wonder that a lot of our brain chemistry is changing.

 

[WL7.3]

We'll all be little robots of the system. But we'll have cake so, swings and roundabouts.

I would love to be an adorable cake eating robot.

 

[MTrip]

Realistically, one of the biggest problems the world is facing in the near future is a clean water shortage.

Water is going to be the new oil, it's going to become something people fight wars over.

Arizona is getting water from all the way in Michigan.

The population is growing at an absurd amount.

It's going to be a scary time when that happens.

Ah, good of you to bring it up...

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Another thing is the lack of tree and oxygen supply. And all the amount of carbon monoxide.

I get into debates with this with my environmentalist friend. And he's right. People want to tear down trees to build skyscrapers. What will happen when the trees die? We will die.

It's incredibly stupid to clog the air with even more toxic chemicals, while we remove the very thing that nourishes us. It's no wonder that a lot of our brain chemistry is changing.

...& this is well put, also. Am glad to see I'm not the only pragmatist in here. Of course, those who believe in a high-tech horn of plenty saving humankind, usually call us "pessimists". (Yes, Ray Kurzweil, I was talking about you.)

 

[LoneKiller]

Am I the only one in my country that is worried about our bees? They are so very important and yet so many aren't worried about them disappearing at all, which is happening throughout many, many parts the world at an alarming rate!

Their pollination is of the utmost importance! It's our lives for Christ's sake. I won a $120 on a VLT the other day. I might make a donation to some organization if I can find one that is legit and trusted. I'm thinking of the WWF. Call me crazy if you want. If being concerned is crazy, then I'm a huge nutbar.

“If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live.”

~Albert Einstein

 

[LeaningIntoTheMuse]

What exactly is happening to the bees?

 

[Garbageman]

Its more complicated, but the simple answer is they are literally vanishing. There are many theories out there as to the cause. There is/has been various blights and disease that have killed lots of bees too. But the bees that are just disappearing is very worrisome.

You are not the only one LK. I remember seeing a video of a country where virtually all the bees were gone, and they have to pollinate all their crops by hand, which is even harder to do than it sounds.

Bees at the moment in Ohio seem to be making a comeback. Not sure how many of them are imported, or if natural populations were able to rebuild their colonies.

Oh specifically, honey bees are the type of bee that is vanishing. I don't know if it is affecting any other types, I have not heard.

 

[LoneKiller]

What exactly is happening to the bees?

This link can better explain what I mean as I am not as well informed as the author of this very interesting article.

http://science.time.com/2013/08/09/the-trouble-with-beekeeping-in-the-anthropocene/

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Its more complicated, but the simple answer is they are literally vanishing. There are many theories out there as to the cause. There is/has been various blights and disease that have killed lots of bees too. But the bees that are just disappearing is very worrisome.

You are not the only one LK. I remember seeing a video of a country where virtually all the bees were gone, and they have to pollinate all their crops by hand, which is even harder to do than it sounds.

Bees at the moment in Ohio seem to be making a comeback. Not sure how many of them are imported, or if natural populations were able to rebuild their colonies.

Oh specifically, honey bees are the type of bee that is vanishing. I don't know if it is affecting any other types, I have not heard.

Please forgive my rudeness Garbageman. It's nice to meet you and also nice to know that I'm not alone on this issue.

 

[Alienated]

Colony Collapse Disorder has been worrying the Hell out of agriculturists for years now, crops and orchards are not being pollinated well at all. Some have had to resort to hand pollinating...

I watched a NOVA special they did on it about a year ago, and they discovered some of the dead bees. And did autopsies on them, and discovered several weaknesses in their auto immune systems. Which lead to multiple system failure, but they couldn't pin point the cause. Like a AIDS patient will actually die of pneumonia .

It has resulted in up to as much as 80% death rate, wiping out whole eco-systems. It could be because of the pesticides have mutated their DNA to compromise their immune systems.... They just don't know yet.... But 60% of the worlds food supply is from agriculture, and without pollinating.... can you say FAMINE !!

 

[LoneKiller]

I've heard that our domestic bees have been integrated somehow with Africanized bees. I wonder if that's a factor or not.

 

[Alienated]

It might have something to do with it because of warring hives...Or even a change in instinctual behavior... They just don't know. But only 40% of agriculture is grown by seed and doesn't need pollinating...

All fruits are pollinated...

I think that's why the big push on GMC's , but they have severe problems too. That's a whole new nightmare in its' self !!

 

[LoneKiller]

This whole world is going straight to Hell.

 

[quintus]

Thank you, Lonekiller- this is one of the more important threads. I'm a farmer and I haven't seen one single bee this year on my land. I dare say that the so called "traditional" farming is the main factor for the immune- system problems of bees. And "traditional" nowadays is meant to be highly intensive and enormously polluting farming. It goes without saying that I do not use any kind of chemicals, but everybody else around me does. A collegue of mine just lost all of his hives to chemical treatment- by plane! Of course there are more factors, like the Varoa virus and even the proliferating so called "asian hornets". But the main problem is the totally perverted and industrialized farming we do nowadays. Small wonder the whole planet will suffer enormously because of it. I meant to put up a Monsanto- thread. I won't, since I'm rather tired and too busy at the moment. Perhaps someone else would like to look into that? It is very edifying. And of course highly controversial....

 

[Alienated]

Yes you are absolutely right on that. And we built a express lane !!