Humanity as a species is due for a rare treat in the coming years as the predicted societal collapse of the world is right on schedule, based on a 1972 MIT study. Due in this century, our unchecked economic growth where the almighty dollar was placed above any thought for the planet or its ecosystem has nearly guaranteed everyone’s demise.
Well, almost everyone – the billionaires who exploited labor, legal lobbying, and a fascinatingly acceptable outright refusal to pay taxes are going to be just fine. Also included will be the proles who are selected to go forth as marked labor forces, so that’s dope. But the penultimate ceiling (playing second fiddle only to the collapse of society) of capitalistic growth has been dashed by precisely how many resources the planet has to offer, and those resources have been tapped.
Down We Go
If you would like to put some understandable numbers on how quickly we’ve been using resources, Vala Afshar offers some mathematics that shows how fucked we are. Hope you get off on Schadenfreude.
Now, the Amazon is reportedly generating more carbon than it’s removing from the atmosphere2, and academics are warning that if Jair Bolsonaro (the Brazilian president) remains in power, the Amazon will collapse entirely1.
Now is a good time to learn to play the fiddle.
Your Problem, Never Ours
BP has put out a couple of brain-dead tweets where they ask people to limit their carbon footprint (ostensibly to allow the corporations to further increase theirs, brought upon by limp-wristed governance), as many other corporations take part in this dramatic pretense of caring for the planet that they exploit. As though companies would take steps to protect the planet beyond what is necessary for PR.
Amusingly, BP is one of the top twenty CO2 producers on the planet.
The MIT study brought about a theory called the ‘Limits to Growth3‘ which shows that, due to the finite number of resources on the planet, capitalism can only go so far on a timeline before the planet runs out of said resources. This extinction of resources leads directly to the predicted societal collapse, as the nature of society at the moment is hedged upon these resources.
Despite this, narcissistic egomaniacs opted to use these resources as quickly as possible to edge out the competition, offering humanity as many goods as they can purchase for the highest markup psychologically acceptable. As easy as it is to paint a target on the back of these extremely wealthy (and ostensibly morally bankrupt) individuals, I don’t actually think they’re entirely to blame.
They were brought into the game of capitalism, and they won at the game as it was presented. Maybe we should give a little ‘You Win’ card to these guys and reset their earnings😠. But we need to treat the illness instead of becoming fixated on the symptoms, and that illness appears to be, as far as I can tell, capitalism itself.
The Snowball of Wealth
How It Generally Works
At first glance, capitalism makes sense: you receive an object (currency) that has intrinsic value attached to it based on your contributions to society. These objects then allow you to provide for yourself and your family, with food, shelter, and as many toys as humanly possible. Those who provide more ‘value’ receive more currency, encouraging humanity as a whole to speed through additional technological revolutions (and towards the predicted societal collapse) as quickly as they can be surmised to satiate higher-quality wants.
As humanity progressed through the next couple of thousand years, limits to capitalism were readily found (yet quickly eschewed) as we sped towards the predicted societal collapse. Homelessness has been a problem that has plagued humanity for millennia, as is starvation, death due to exposure to the elements, and more. A socioeconomic funnel appeared, where those who were provided for by guardian units were far more successful than those who were not. Child abuse, mental illness, and damnably poor luck wrought entire family trees into pits of shit that were damn near inescapable.
Rather than focusing on the causes of the poor fortunes brought about, those in power historically had little issue ensuring they could thrive. A lack of empathy, or perhaps the difficulty of controlling every facet of building an empire, meant that poorer individuals were forgotten at best, and looked down upon at worst😠.
Black-Eyed Struggle
Those who had the monetary means to control the ebb and flow of political discourse would naturally be far more focused on grander tasks if they were to dodge personal desires entirely. The predicted societal collapse couldn’t occur without this tunnel vision, granted by limited time and perspective. Thus, over time, two distinct classes were formed that can be found across every historical dataset on the planet. Those who have, and those who do not. Even cultures that eschewed capitalism for bartering, or communism, had distinct differences between the serving class and the served.
The Modernization of Detriment
Now, it’s rapidly coming to a head, and there’s next to no ability for the serving class to bring up the discussion that, just perhaps, capitalism, as it was formed millennia ago, is not working on a fundamental level for the planet, or for its inhabitants. The served class has little reason to bring up the desperate imbalance between the two demographics because they are the ones profiting from the imbalance.
I can’t even pretend to know what the solution ultimately is – nearly every form of governance has failed (sometimes spectacularly) as they attempt to circumvent the human condition. As it currently stands, however, it is concerningly standard for many to work to keep themselves alive while maintaining poverty. The discussion of minimum wage becomes a battleground for political discourse as nothing shifts without the moaning and groaning of all involved.
Employment should lift people out of poverty, not ensure that they’re trapped within it for the rest of their lives. When you consider how much one must work to provide in the modern era for their family in lower-paying jobs, ensuring that it’s difficult to better oneself to attain higher-paying jobs.
When we objectively analyze the merits and detriments of capitalism, it’s easy to see that the game is rigged from the very start. It’s difficult to take that statement at face value for those born with privilege, as though they haven’t had to struggle throughout their lives to achieve whatever station they hold in life. For some, it may very well be a reprehensible slap that may appear to demerit the sacrifices. For others, it’s a warning sign of the predicted societal collapse.
Sources
- Watts, J. (2021, July 14). Amazon rainforest ‘will collapse if Bolsonaro remains president’. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/14/amazon-rainforest-will-collapse-if-bolsonaro-remains-president.
- McGrath, M. (2021, July 14). Climate change: Amazon regions emit more carbon than they absorb. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57839364.
- Universe Books. (1975). The limits to growth. *Note – the original ‘Limits to Growth’ was a report offered to summits at both Moscow and Rio de Janeiro in 1971 – this book discusses that report*
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