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The Predicted Societal Collapse, From Limited Resources

Redefining Patriotism For United States Citizens

Bounty Hunting for Babies – The Texas Heartbeat Act

Isaac Clover
July 15, 2021
7 minute read
Dark Light

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

Those with wealth can generate more wealth. This is, perhaps, a stupidly obvious statement, but it’s one that is pertinent to show. Those with money can purchase land, which can then be developed upon – or use those finances to dodge taxation to protect the wealth.

This results in a snowballing of funds, and seemingly encourages entrepreneurial individuals to sacrifice everything possible for more wealth. Such as human rights. So those with money tend to keep money, and those without money struggle to attain wealth. This is a loose rule, of course – catastrophe can strike anyone, including those with wealth, resulting in singular generations damaging familial monies.

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

If we take this idea, that poorer demographics are eschewed for the wealthy taking their concerns as paramount and expand upon it, we can discover quite a lot about the current demographical segregation that takes place across the world.

But to hone it to a precise point (as arguments are won in the fringes), I think the black communities in the United States are a fascinating case study. Jim Crow laws were abolished in 1968, and blacks were finally noted as humans within the United States of America (legally speaking). You had massive communities that went from working as slaves to being treated as sub-human, to finally being able to hold the same rights as a white person in the United States.

The pit of shit had already formed, however – many blacks may have found it far easier to resort to crime with the difficulty of finding legal work. These techniques, or means of survival, were passed from generation to generation, turning many of the OG black gang bangers into legends in the same way as many view Robin Hood, or even the classic Italian gangsters such as Al Capone. 

This formation of alt-culture become celebrated, ostensibly leading to the modern rendition of ‘gangster rap’, where lyrics about raping women and murdering others were notes of poignant solidarity of a culture that was abhorrently subdued. Now, it can often be a self-serving prophecy, where the discussion of black hardships over generations towards the modern era causes many non-blacks to take a step back in concern of violence.

We can further this thought by noting who was in power of black entertainment – white dudes with record labels and clothing factories. Naturally, they would want to focus on upcoming entertainers who would offer the greatest profits, but it doesn’t seem too far-fetched to presume that they would want black culture to be, for lack of a better word, degenerative, in comparison to white culture in the United States.

This results in parts of the black demographic where activities that bring about divided communities, loss, and hatred based on gang affiliation and skin color and tone are celebrated and taught to incoming generations. An interesting thought, if nothing else, though take note that this is obviously not to be taken as universal to all blacks within the United States.

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
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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*

Image Credit – /u/VaporWaveMac via Reddit | User Profile

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Isaac Clover

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