NASA: Complete Collapse Of Civilization ‘Difficult To Avoid’ (Video)
by Josh Kilburn
A
team of NASA-funded mathematicians have crunched the numbers, and the
result is kind of bleak: If we continue on the path that we're on now,
civilization has anywhere from 150 to 250 years before it collapses.
What's more, even if we do take steps to stop it, in the words of the
study, it will be "difficult to avoid."
By
reducing humanity to four variables - elites, commoners, nature, and
wealth - and modifying these four factors, the study was able to prove
that only two factors plague societies: economic stratification and
ecological collapse. To those with a wary eye cast towards history, this
has played out many times in the past: ecological collapse destroyed
the thriving societies of the Classical Maya and the society on Easter
Island, while economic stratification killed Rome. The National Post reports:
[box
type='shadow'] Each factor was then assigned a complex mathematical
equation and gathered together in what researchers called the HANDY
(Human And Nature Dynamical) model.
The
model was then configured to calculate the fate of several types of
societies, including the “unequal society,” a system of rich and poor
that researchers dubbed the one most “closely reflecting the reality of
our world today.”
In
the first scenario the population of elites suddenly spikes after 750
years, causing a “scarcity of workers” that sounds the civilization’s
death knell by year 1000.
The
second, “full collapse” scenario has the elites and commoners
irreparably eating up the Earth’s resources after 350 years, leading to a
slow bleed that destroys both humans and the planet by year 500.
“It
is important to note that in both of these scenarios, the Elites — due
to their wealth — do not suffer the detrimental effects of the
environmental collapse until much later than the Commoners,” reads the
paper.[/box]
Unsurprisingly,
the wealthy can use their wealth as a "buffer," keeping them from
feeling the brunt right away. The rest of us? We aren't so lucky.
The
report highlighted the only two kinds of outcomes that don't end like a
Shakespeare Tragedy - ones where birth rates are heavily controlled and
where resources are evenly distributed. By implementing these policies, civilization maybe saveable.
Of
course, there are those who feel that this is a bit melodramatic.
Brenden Burke, Chair of Greek and Roman studies at the University of
Victoria, is skeptical about the idea of a total collapse of
civilization and said that, “I think that the periods in history that we
call a ‘dark age’, meaning a period after a great ‘collapse’, is often
just a period when little is known or has been investigated."
Whether
or not the report is alarmist is left to the reader to determine, but
it doesn't take a genius to see that we're on a trajectory that's taking
us straight down, and the recommendations of the report - curb the
breeding rate, rely more on renewable resources, and stave inequality - is good advice even if you think the report is overblown.
While not related to the study directly, Dr. Nafeez Ahmed of the Institute for Policy Research & Development wrote a book dealing with the same problems, called The Crisis of Civilization. You can watch video clips for it below.
h/t National Post
No comments:
Post a Comment