There is a silent aspect of civilizational decline: a marked fall in population numbers. I write silent deliberately, as it happens in the background without too many of us taking notice, or realizing the gravity of the situation. When talking about the collapse of civilizations, most people envision mass casualty events (famine, war, natural disasters), wiping out half of the population in almost an instant. Sure enough, this looks both terrifying and extremely powerful in Hollywood movies, but nothing could be further from the truth. Especially not when it comes to our modern civilization, and its unfolding demise. A radically different world is unfolding in front of our eyes, and we are not the least prepared.
  • kbal
    9•10 months ago

    Not so much a bomb, more of a… what’s the opposite of a bomb? A slowly deflating beach ball?

    • @VisstixEnglish
      7•10 months ago

      A depopulation woopie cussion

  • @[email protected]English
    9•10 months ago

    There are economical implications to this development. But IMHO population decline is necessary to ease the pressure on the ecosystem. 34% of mammals are humans, 62% is livestock, only 4% are wild animals. We shifted the natural world so far out of balance, that the need to sacrifice economic growth for sustainability is inevitable.

    https://ourworldindata.org/wild-mammals-birds-biomass

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/eight-billion-people-in-the-world-is-a-crisis-not-an-achievement/

    • kbal
      2•10 months ago

      In truth the bomb has already gone off and we’re living in its aftermath. Secondary explosions are still going on in various places. Humanity is slowly coming to its senses but isn’t fully aware yet of all the damage that’s been done.

    • @[email protected]MEnglish
      2•10 months ago

      Problem is that other wildlife is unlikely to survive the bottleneck of human population

  • possibly a catMEnglish
    3•10 months ago

    I’m not so certain it will unroll slowly. I think there could be a feedback mechanism involved, specifically related to economic organization and its inability to react in a sufficiently timely manner.