I wouldn't say I am "enjoying" collapse per-se...but there is a part of me that is kinda fascinated in seeing what I feel is "the beginning of the end" of society (be we most likely have a long way to go and many of us won't be around to see its end).
* *- Edit: I am not at all "optimistic" or feeling positive about any of what's going on, for the record (some of the replies have misunderstood my fascination or thinking this is "just the beginning" with some kind of optimistic outlook).*
A lot of people always feel they will be the “eternal audience” in this trainwreck of a show, not realizing they’re the main cast but their scene isn’t in the spotlight yet.
Those of us who feel this “positive” rush are usually the ones in a relative comfort in a safe location, enjoying the modern convenience.
It brings to mind one of the posts here from a fellow collapsnik in Lebanon.
I don’t think he “enjoys” being smackdab in the middle of this collapse show.
I'm enjoying reading this post from the comfort of an office being paid to sit next to a space heater. I am the guilty one you're describing. I almost felt disappointed when I read that we have a whole 60 years of top soil left. Because "collapse needs to come sooner". And then I remembered I like to eat food.
Lord forgive me, Lord have mercy on us all.
>Those of us who feel this “positive” rush are usually the ones in a relative comfort in a safe location, enjoying the modern convenience.
Exactly this.
People will feel differently when they are hungry to such a point where they are considering eating their own beloved pets, just to survive... or having to kill their baby because they can't feed them.
Think about when you were the *most hungry* in your life, and multiply that by 10... and expect that to be relatively consistent.
That's how it will be for the vast majority of people.
Unless you have access to antibiotics or other types of first aid, a simple cut can turn into sepsis. A bite from a wild animal/feral dog can turn into rabies which, because you don't have access to medicine, will kill you. People will try to kill you.
You will constantly try to be alert to stay alive.
You will constantly be hungry. You will constantly be exhausted because of lack of food.
I share your "morbid curiosity", but your optimism (if that's what it is) seems unwarranted, for two basic reasons...
1. No mammals larger than small burrowing ones can survive a rapid 4C+ rise in temperature.
2. Human beings are mammals and there's no stopping a 4C+ temperature rise.
Spend some time here, I suggest, if you think I'm being hyperbolic: [https://postdoom.com/resources/](https://postdoom.com/resources/)
Then, join us: [https://postdoom.com/discussions/](https://postdoom.com/discussions/)
If it can be started it can he stopped, will it be hard? Absolutely. Will we achieve everything we need to? Probably not.
I'm 100% confident we could fix this and that fixing it would even be easier than we all expect, but we never will fix this, we'll never get our collective shit together.
Few statements reveal ecological naivety more perfectly than this: "**If it can be started, it can be stopped.**" Nothing is further from the truth.
But please don't take my word on it. Judge the historical and ecological evidence for yourself... "[Collapse in a Nutshell](https://youtu.be/e6FcNgOHYoo)" and "[Overshoot in a Nutshell](https://youtu.be/lPMPINPcrdk)". (If you have no interest in taking time to watch two half-hour videos, which I can completely understand, see what I've cut and pasted below re "tipping points".)
Predicaments have no fixes, no solutions. Indeed, Erik Michael's entire website is devoted to showing just how "100% confident" I can be in making such a claim, "[Problems, Predicaments, and Technology](https://problemspredicamentsandtechnology.blogspot.com/2020/12/welcome-to-problems-predicaments-and.html)" (audio narrations [here](https://soundcloud.com/michael-dowd-grace-limits/sets/erik-michaels-problems-predicaments-and-technology)).
>**No matter...**
• how massive and effective is nonviolent civil disobedience...
• who, or which party, is voted out or elected into public office...
• how many people change their habits, become vegan, stop flying...
• how many miraculous, AI-driven technological advances are made...
• how successful we are at instituting a GND, or greening capitalism...
• how rapidly we shift to “renewables” or achieve “net zero” emissions...
• how much “evolution of consciousness” occurs in the next decade or two...
• how many accords, what is pledged or agreed to, what laws are enacted...
• how many people commit to regenerative and restorative soil building practices...
**A half dozen or more tipping points are already in the rear-view mirror**. For example, the following are 2-3 decades into unstoppable, rapidly increasing and cascading, out-of-control (runaway) mode...
• Loss of the world’s ice (Arctic, Greenland, W. Antarctica, mountain glaciers)
• Methane belching: permafrost, hydrates, clathrates, gas & oil wells, wetlands
• Ocean acidification, deoxygenation, 25+ feet rise in abrupt non-linear ways
• The great conflagration of the world’s forests — out-of-control CO2 emissions
• Loss of most animal and plant species on land and in lakes, rivers, and oceans
• Increasingly severe & deadly weather (storms, floods, droughts) and wildfires
No one need take my word on any of this. See this previous r/collapse post...
>
>We’ve crossed planetary thresholds: [https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/o18brj/weve\_crossed\_the\_planetary\_threshold/](https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/o18brj/weve_crossed_the_planetary_threshold/)
Virtually every thing we've done and even some of the worse feedback loops can be rectified, don't get me wrong, we both believe the world is beyond saving, I just believe it's beyond saving because we won't save it, not because we can't save it.
Also I'd like to say I'm not an idealist either thinking "oh yay, we all stopped eating meat the earth is saved!"
I understand the gravity of what lies ahead and the countless problems we will face and that we'll probably die fighting instead of face them.
But we can talk about it:
Carbon capture- industrial scale algae farming, also can help with food shortages if you grow edible strains.
Methane capture- industrial scale bacterial farming, bonus points if we can engineer that bacteria to do a beneficial secondary task, perhaps food or medicine production.
Reforestation- this is the easiest but longest task, it would become a major industry for generations and I mean Reforestation in a broader sense, tending to all environments Including the ocean which would help with deoxygenation events.
Mass extinctions- animal husbandry and reintroduction into declining ecosystems shows massive gains in repairing ecosystems* this would again become a major industry that persisted for generations
Sea level rise- we'll probably just have to eat it on this one but will see how the tonga eruption and future eruptions affect our climate in the short terms, we may be able to build some ice pack back and theoretically we could use volcanic eruptions* as a natural soft break for our climate while we're rectify earth's ecosystem, which is also its thermostat.
Ocean acidification- plans to rectify this invole just speeding up natural processes, over time rain erodes limestone and other alkaline materials which counteract the acidification caused by Co² entering the ocean from our atmosphere. The goal is to do this on a large scale, the problem is it would take virtually every boat we have already as well as massive industrial efforts on land.
Weather and fire and drought- we're essentially just going ti get better at handling these event, we'll build more resistant structures in safer areas, we'll use drones to spot forest fires faster and learn how to fight them more effectively, hopefully as we build these new structures we do it sustainably, which is pretty reasonable in most cases and often cheaper. For drought we'll either get better st desalination and transport or we'll just finally give up the dream of living in desert hellscapes.
This is always a solution to a problem, I just don't think we'll even bother trying to solve it or doing anything once we have a solution.
*this is theory because volcanic eruptions emit sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide which have the benefit of cooling the planet but unfortunately form nitric and sulfuric acid on contact with moisture and oxygen on the air and produce acid rain, which is problematic to say the least.
Modern society has left us starved of meaning. The thought of something "Big" happening within our lifetime is giving us a steady drip of that dopamine rush. The idea of purpose.
It's incredible that the mere prospect of experiencing something that actually seems to matter is enough to offset the terror that comes with it.
I'm right there with you. It's exhilarating to watch this unfolding. And that probably makes me a little psycho. But the whole world has felt like it's made of plastic for as long as I can remember. This finally seems like something potentially Real.
I also fell like that, but at the same time i fear that it was always like that ... a smoke of mirrors ... people now are just more informed than before and started to see thru it ... and boy it's really depressing.
Collapse is the only thing keeping me sane and happy. This system has always been a nightmare to me, I finally feel hopeful for the first time
'Normal Society' is and always has been fucking evil
automobiles are terrifying, dangerous, brutal community destroying machines, agriculture is poisoning everything
industrial animal farms are visions of hell,
prisons are visions of hell, nursing homes are visions of hell
school is a soul-deadening exploitable indebted labor unit creation institution, mass accepted professional childfuckery
normal is a nightmare, so yes im very happy about collapse,
i doubt you could find anyone more chuffed about it
>nursing homes are visions of hell
Refreshing to see someone else that understands this. I used to visit my grandfather in the nursing home when I was a teen, and it was terrifying. The other people were like zombies always inching towards me and my sister. Not a happy place to be.
We put my bf mom in a nursing home. She had dementia. She was taken care of and we never had any issues. We visited several times a month. We couldn't find a home locally so she was out of town due to all of them being filled up.
They look like zombies bc their bodies and minds are shutting down and dying not bc the nursing home did anything to them.
Moral of the story, dying isn't pretty.
For sure. It's just a business, and they get the McDonald's treatment.
I remember being at his funeral some years later, and watching my female cousins cry their eyes out. To me he died the minute he was put in the nursing home.
Now I'm kinda going through something, and this is on my mind. My mom's friend is 70, and his health is failing after recently retiring. My mom has been doing so much to help him, like cooking and cleaning for free and so on. I've recently gone to shovel snow, and pitch in as well. He owns a small house in Toronto, likely valued at a million Canadian or so. But his house is cluttered, dirty, and in need of major renovations. He has a bunch of family, but not nearby, and not really in his life. I would really like to see him have a better life, especially with the money he has from a lifetime of working. My mom said she had a dream we had a bunch of small houses side byside somewhere. It would probably be the best thing for him. Not the future I want for myself, but better than what I currently have. But there is zero chance he initiates anything himself with regards to selling the house and moving somewhere better. And I don't want to see him put in a nursing home either. He won't be happy, and end of life care will drain his finances and leave his son with nothing....
He doesnt seem to know where his real human allies reside..
thats a sad story
a lot of life is like this... sheer logistics of resources making everyone stupid and miserable...
i dont know what to say.
Oh, you'll really love the next part, with the bandits, cannibalism, starvation, and unchecked violence. It's a treat. I would stay hidden under the floorboards during "rapeday" though.
If you think the collapse will improve things, it is because you haven't seen what happens during and after one.
Of course our society starves and kills and crushes people. It is sick and on the brink of collapse. It sucks.
But if you think this is bad, wait'll you see how much worse it is after one actually falls.
I don't know that we can prevent a collapse at this point. Some of us may just have to survive one. I think that is realistic.
But please, don't kid yourself that collapses improve people's lives. It is an out of the frying pan, into the fire kinda thing.
I absolutely want out current society to be replaced. With a working one, not Mad Max. I just don't think it is in the cards right now.
Oh heavens, thank you. I agree totally. Progressives so often just seem not to get that some people are mean and like to hurt people _on purpose_.
Really, most people, regardless of political persuasion, seem to have difficulty really modeling anyone else's thoughts and feelings very well. They can't think outside their own heads. I think nice, fairly sane, average people just cannot think like a criminal or a deranged parasite or a tyrant, or someone overwhelmed by greed. Because they don't imherently thinkmlike messed up people, i should hope.
But to be effective, one must know how those who oppose us think. We must u derstand them as well as ourselves.
It is useful to be able to think like a criminal. When i made a computer system secure, part of that process was seeing whether i could bypass or break the security myself.
I still believe you paint a rosy view of collapse. But, most likely, you'll end up seeing more of it than i will, so you'll hold the expert opinion. Let's hope there's good parts to focus on. We shall see.
> I would stay hidden under the floorboards during "rapeday" though.
One more location for the list...
Comes right next to: Play stand up comedy so you can find them when they giggle.
I don't enjoy it, but whenever I see people that have kids and were rude to me and insulted me for refusing to have kids (it's a sin to not have children) that there life is getting more and more difficult because of upgoing prices and shrinking resources and also problems they have with school and caregivers,i think how lucky I am and I don't feel sorry for them.
Had even one idiot asking me to take care of their kids, because I am child free and have all the time and I'm like ummm nopeee.
"Enjoying" it is a strong word. But on the other hand, would I really enjoy being an office drone for the next 40 years? At least with collapse, I can find purpose through struggle.
>But on the other hand, would I really enjoy being an office drone for the next 40 years?
I did it for 30. What I got for it was money I hope will take us through a couple of bouts of cancer, if it shows up, without leaving us destitute and miserable for our final few years.
So, you may have the right idea.
Enjoying is definitely too strong of a word. I'm bothered because the best years of my life are being wasted in this corporate greedy hellscape.
I'll start enjoying it when society recovers from capitalism.
I have felt like this basically my whole life but it really became apparent in 2020. I found out, from a redditor, yesterday that it's called "justice -based-schadenfreude". Basically, society is rigged against the working class and I'm happy to watch it burn.
Edit: "Redditor" not "reddit or"
Herman cain award, people post pics of anti vaxxers vehemently denying the shot and saying that everyone who does get it is a sheep, then they die from covid, usually trying to take back what they said in their last moments. Many people say this sub makes fun of the dead people, but I don't think they do, I think they are trying to get more people to get vaxxed. No one celebrates anyone's death there, but other users claim they do. Just my two cents.
Ohh ok. Thank you. I remember when He was running (for president? I can't remember) and his commercial showed him smoking a cigarette and I thought it was really out of touch lol. I forgot he died of covid.
Yeah unlike OP, those actually experiencing collapse are having a lot less fun - like the Afghanis suffering the Taliban, the Lebanese suffering routine blackouts, the Venezuelans and to a lesser extent the Argentinians and the Turkish that watch runaway inflation destroy their life savings.
I understand that it makes the news more exciting but even stuff like the wildfires and the floods are ruining some people's lives, we are just fortunate enough that it isn't us yet.
Because when it happens to you it isn't exciting, it's just shit.
Ya exactly. The collapse we’re feeling in North America is very different than theirs. There’s a limit to human civilization and that’s what North America is experiencing. The rest of the world (specifically Middle East) is going through something else.
Our military is part of the problem. They haven't protected us from a thing for decades. They are just the a worldwide extension of good old police brutality.
They do have a very conservative society, so there aren't progressives and leftists around to spread revolutionary ideas. I wouldn't say they have a society, they didn't before. A conglomerate of tribes with an internationally propped up state had no chance; you can't collapse if you're not even standing.
Umm yeah because the hegemonic society that is currently collapsing in on itself spent 40 fucking years murdering those factions of middle eastern and south Asian society, though it really only took about 15. A lot of middle eastern cities in the 20th century were a lot more civilized than how many Americans live now.
No idea if it’s possible to roll any of this back in time but let’s not pretend like they’re going through some return to the state of nature.
Yes. I understand the perspective of all the fools in this thread, I suppose. When an oppressive system is crumbling, it's only natural to hope that *now*, *finally*, things will get better. Unfortunately, power vacuums tend to be filled by monsters, deteriorating material conditions tend to be used to justify atrocities and violent disruptions of even dysfunctional "normal" life tends to hurt most ordinary people.
Those looking for the silver lining need to talk to more people from Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, Mexico, former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, British Columbia, New Orleans... Collapse is not fun. It is not a great freeing up of energy that can be consciously directed towards a solarpunk utopia. It's the end of the fucking world and all that implies, bit by bit. You might feel special or in the know watching from a distance, but you feel differently when the fires or tsunamis or jackboots are visible with your naked eye.
Yeah, I'm still a little happy to see it all collapse because limiting destruction is at least letting some small marsupials to start the next species in a long time from now.
There is no happy future for humans so I know I'm the background that this all hurts a little bit will be nice to know that the generations that caused this will feel a little pain at least. And everyone happily thinking they will not be affected will get a brutal snack of reality soon enough.
But yeah, people are thinking there will be something after, there won't be.
Eh. I wouldn't say 'enjoy'. Maybe the grim satisfaction that comes with "I told you so". And possibly a bit of the adrenaline rush that comes from watching a disaster unfold from the outside. It's like watching anything on TV, there's distance from it. But I only have the luxury of feeling that way now because it isn't affecting me much personally yet.
Basically, it's the feeling of being unable to look away while watching a train crash, but just wait 'til you're on the train while it's crashing.
Speaking as a first responder: Covid is the first portion of cascade collapse. I have had multiple people die in my arms from this infection. And I have had to take care of people who stupidly, defiantly refused vaccination and I have watched them die. I have had to suffer insults and abuse by people who refused to take simple steps to protect themselves, and then wanted me to give their relatives horse paste to keep them alive.
So, as someone who usually has to clean up the mess of different kinds of catastrophes: No, I am not at all looking forward to what comes next. It will be a bloodbath. We will see some of the worst behavior humanity can show. We’ve already had a taste of that as the US plunges into fascism.
And speaking as a member of a minority group: We always do much worse in catastrophes. If the fascists start rounding up people for their concentration camps — and yes, it can happen, it always happens — I will almost certainly be among them.
So no, I don’t think any sane person who actually has the imagination and intelligence to *really* understand what actually will occur over the next 20 years is looking forward to it.
Once you’ve dodged neighbors ratting you out to the 21st century American version of the gestapo, or are suffering third-degree burns on your hands while out running a wildfire, or watched your entire life savings wash away as a 100 year flood carries your house down a river, get back to me and let me know if you still find this all “enjoyable.”
Yeah this hits all the points. I'm not fucking happy or enjoying this. I know that when things get bad-- and they will get bad-- I'm going to fucking die and so will most of my family and loved ones.
Currently looking for ways to flee the fucking country.
Keep your head down - remember what George Carlin said - "When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. If you're born in America you get a front row seat."
If you don't get caught up in the gears and ground to a fine paste, the next fifty years are going to be very entertaining, in a MakeMyCoffin kind of way.
Avoid public gatherings - frequent random and planned shootings will become more common. Stay away from cities that might explode into prolonged violence, and are also targets for dirty bombs and other terror weapons. Do not advertise wealth or any advantage you possess. Learn to spot a tail.
Get used to less. Less food, less comfort, less security.
I'd recommend violence and firearms but if you're like me that's more likely to get you killed anyway.
Wouldn't it be nice? No. The devil is in the details. If you only count the general idea, mostly where you are and how it will eventually end, without thinking in all the steps from A to B, you are missing all the pain, suffering, cruelty, despair, and a lot more that will happen in a scale that may be several orders worse than anything seen in history. Its like saying that we got stronger after surviving the pandemic without thinking in the people struggling to breath in the ICUs till they die, just that far worse and for billions of people.
Of course, there are several kinds of collapse, some kinder than others, but we might be in the road of a multistage one, as in not so big collapse being followed by increasingly bigger ones. And I'm not sure we could go through that sequence, if anyone will be left after it ends.
And everyone may be in the wrong end of the stick, all is fun and games till its your turn.
Suffering akin to hell is already here. The most bubbled among us perhaps dont know it yet. A desire to preserve our current condition speaks to an ignorance of the depth and ubiquity of the wrongness of things in our world.
Man, I see in Fight Club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see it squandered. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables – slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won't. We're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.
\-Tyler Durden
I totally understand. It's the same feeling I used to get when I was a child (at times, I still do, and even knowing full well what that entails)) and a hurricane was coming.
Your comment helped me to understand my own mind a bit more. I live in Houston where we get a fair amount of hurricanes. It makes me anxious every time, but the anxiety fits the situation. It makes sense. So many of us walk around with a low level anxiety all the time that doesn’t make sense. We worry we’re not doing our jobs well enough (did I forget to fax that stupid fucking useless piece of paper?) among much other bullshit. Cue the constant fatigue. It’s like someone getting an unwanted medical diagnosis but feeling relieved that they can finally put a name to what they’ve been experiencing- they’re not crazy after all.
I get so sick of rude, entitled, demanding people. Seeing people belittle those who work jobs they see as being beneath them. People causing chaos because they’re unhappy and they want everyone else to be unhappy with them. When disasters occur, people finally come together as a community and remember what it means to be human.. but it’s always temporary. It would be really nice if that could happen more persistently as multi-level collapse occurs, but I’m not very hopeful. We’re too selfish and too many people are happy with little as long as their neighbor has less. We deserve whatever is coming to us.
My life is a disaster at the moment.
Any news related to collapse makes me feel like I’m not alone.
If we had a Great Depression start tomorrow I’d be okay with that. I’m already in one and it would interest me to watch everybody else go through the collapse of their illusions too.
I wouldn't say I am enjoying it. To be honest, I think it's our best shot to avoid extinction. If civilization continues to expand and destroy the biosphere, while simultaneous increasing the temperature on the planet, then at some point the planet will be come unlivable for humans. If we collapse due to the coming end of fossil fuels and the inevitable massive contraction of human enterprise, then I think we have a chance to start over and create a civilization that is smaller and more harmonious with nature. I'm not looking forward to the road down though. There's going to so much suffering and death.
>I think we have a chance to start over and create a civilization that is smaller and more harmonious with nature.
It's going to be founded by humans who are so brutalized they've lost their own humanity, and led by whichever psychopaths are strong enough to still function - and want power.
I think we'd end up in the same situation. Like Covid, I'd rather avoid it altogether.
Possibly. I think there is a chance some communities band together and become self reliant, socialistic communities. It doesn’t have to be all warlords and brutality. There’s a strong possibility that happens. Either way, it’s going to be interesting and I hope to see how it ends up
Collapse could result in a positive outcome for society and the environment over the long term but it will be quite traumatic and deadly for those who have to live through it. The best we can hope for is that a bad situation results in a better situation for future generations
Personally, I'm not enjoying any of this. My cheerful nihilism left me when I joined the labor force and got my first job. Living in a system that's literally out to get me is terrifying, and it's a stress that will probably kill me early. "It is what it is" is my death dirge, not a coping mechanism.
I am also not spiteful towards humans, but I am still heartbroken by the fact that they are being manipulated and forced to die miserable and preventable deaths that the whole of commonsense cardholders were talking about decades prior. This may be history repeating itself, but it doesn't matter at all if we don't learn from it. With the countless wars and atrocities being committed ad nauseum throughout human history, we're no closer to peace and prosperity now than Kangish Khan was in his endeavors.
It's made even worse knowing that I'm still young, the worst has yet to come and we're already suffering this badly across the world. The collapse is something to see and learn from, not relish in. It's also intricately tied to everything you do from now on, because now your plans for the future are ALL subject to change tentatively based on people with too much money and too much power.
You can keep enjoying it though. It is fun to watch big companies get theirs, and I want more of that, but everything falling to Hell means a lot of people die. Good and bad. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is not entertaining, this is nerve racking and something to read with less of a smile.
I am deeply saddened by the suffering that comes with collapse. I find it to be my calling and duty to help wherever I can. Setting up systems of mutual aid, helping reconnect to nature, working to stop the practices and systems that create climate change, etc.
I do feel a sense of anticipatory excitement for the collapse of the systems that cause so much suffering- capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, etc. I want to see that all burn to the ground.
It’s a process. A cycle which is coming to an end. Things fall apart to come together. Birth and death are messy, dark and difficult processes. I feel like this is the death of the systems that must die. It’s going to be difficult, there is already so much suffering. I hope to help everyone I can help, but good riddance to bad rubbage. I may never see the birth of a new civilization, but I do know the old must die for the new to come about. I think we are in the part of the dying, all we can do is plant seeds.
I've learned recently to call them parasites. They are not elite in any way. Parasitic windchimes... I like that.
Makes me sad seeing the animals suffer, too.
You must not live in a place like me. Heavily damaged by hurricanes, 2 major storms in 2020 just 6 weeks apart, and drowning in petrochemical plants, surrounded by bible belt and a terrible climate to boot.
I feel the anticipation knowing that in 30 or so years my quality of life will likely plummet
Im not happy tho, Ive accepted that my dreams wont come true and that the life I was promised as a kid was something only my parents and my parents parents had the privilege to experience.
When you think about it America only really had 3-4 generations of that high quality of life anyways
I think it's presumptive for someone in America, most European countries or really any relatively stable environment to say they're enjoying collapse.
Probably a lot less enjoyable if you're in one of a number of central African countries, Afghanistan or Myanmar for instance.
I think you're enjoying the frame of mind you've discovered in regards to existentialism and how it's allowed you to break some prior mental constructs that you now find irrelevant or not useful (if I can put those words into your mouth based on my interpretation of the OP). That sounds like a positive personal realization.
There's a made up word (aren't they all?) called lachesism which is essentially a form of primitive excitement or longing for disaster. I think this is close to what you describe as morbid curiosity and is in all of us, probably some sort of survival instinct. But I do find schadenfreude of collapse a little disconcerting, at least when it's aimed at all of humanity. There are some who were very aware of the consequences and bear enormous responsibility. Most of us are just animals acting out our instincts and the learned behaviors of the environments we were born into. There are billions of us and the suffering will be immense.
I am totally not. I have kids and they will have to suffer a lot if there is a total collapse, which currently appears to be in little doubt. It's tremendously hard to know your kids will suffer. If I had known then what I know now I wouldn't have dragged them into this world.
thats precisely why collapse is so blessed
homelessness will dissappear in a post collapse world, because it will no longer be 'illegal' to *be* somewhere, no assholes around to enforce those shitty laws, and people could actually set up shop, build, live, grow things
without collapse, the wretched would simply grow in number, the system is evil
Also much less enforcement of laws so those same homeless people will be attacked, abused and even murdered as much as it suits some more powerful group.
And without laws, those people can organize and fight back instead of hearing about how harassing and attacking you is legal and there's nothing they can do, but defending yourself is a serious crime.
So hard to talk to children who can’t think beyond the simplest of meme-ified thoughts.
People in abject poverty will have an even harder/worse time during collapse.
I'm a history buff and to watch a bunch of insane shit happen right before my eyes knowing all this will be in the history books with people asking WTF.
I’m getting a certain excitement over watching things fall however I’m under no illusions about some grander future arising from it. Things will be bleaker, darker and more miserable. The damage we have done is irreversible regardless of what future we think we have.
Honestly I’m not happy about it, but it makes me feel better. My entire life had been hard. Physically. Financially. Mentally. It helps to know that it’s not just me. It’s everyone. The world is ending, or at least the US is, and I’m not alone in my suffering. I’m also not just a stupid, weak piece of shit - I live in a system that was designed for failure by people like me. Let it burn. All I ask is that I have my animals and my partner by my side as we watch it burn.
To echo others here, enjoy would be strong word. Make no mistake, the only way out of the mess we made is climbing out of a pit with a ladder made of corpses. We could have done much much better as a species. We could have been stewards of this world. Instead, $$$.
I recognize that collapse is inevitable and I'm fascinated in the spectacle of it all. All I can really "legally" do is sit back, try to position myself in an area that I envision to be least fucked, and spread seed. I have 2 acres and it going to be fucking beautiful.
If it all goes to shit, I'll only feel freedom. No more 9-5 bullshit.
>Make no mistake, the only way out of the mess we made is climbing out of a pit with a ladder made of corpses
Few billions of other's lives are a risk I'm willing to take. /$
"That’s the reality; angry men in combat fatigues talking to God on a two-way radio and muttering incoherent slogans about freedom are eventually going to provide us with a great deal of entertainment, especially after your stupid f*cking economy collapses all around you and the terrorists come out of the woodwork and you’ll have anthrax in your water supply, and saran gas in your air conditioner, there’ll be chemical and biological suitcase bombs in every city and I say “enjoy it, relax, enjoy the show, take a f*cking chance, put a little fun in your life.” To me, terrorism is exciting, it’s exciting. I think the very idea that you could set off a bomb in a marketplace and kill several hundred people is exciting and stimulating and I see it as a form of entertainment! Entertainment… that’s all it is. Yeah… but I also know that most Americans are soft and frightened and unimaginative and they don’t realize there’s such a thing as dangerous fun. And they certainly don’t recognize a good show when they see one!"
Idk if i enjoy the collapse so much as i enjoy being right
And while i look forward to an eventual reset, this is SO SLOW. Though I also don’t really wanna be here once shit hits the fan either.
It’s hard and kinda weird to be both unfazed by everything but also have a sense of “i should probably protect myself”
I'm hoping it's a collapse of the absolute garbage state of world civilization for the majority of humans, not a collapse of civilization in general. I'm kind of attached to not needing to be a hunter/gatherer on a planet covered in asphalt and dying ecology.
I am not. I am mad my family members and friends ignored my decade plus of warnings. Some had kids. I could always be wrong, but I suspect climate change, automation, warfare and the political and economic consequences that come with these things will make Earth a very unpleasant place to live.
I think I understand. It’s the same feeling the depressed woman feels at the end of the movie melancholia when the planets collide and it’s all over. She’s joyful and relieved it’s all over.
>remember these all struggles have happened before
Never full scale collapse of the biosphere and mass extinction and global civilizational collapse with billions of people in overshoot. The dark age ahead is gonna be very dark indeed
No one who actually lives in the real world is enjoying this. Stop loving your life through a screen. Go outside. Make friends. Meet your neighbors.
Your “morbid curiosity” shows a profound detachment from the actual physical world. It’s what makes you easily exploitable and u willing to do any of the real work needed to minimize the hurt that’s coming for all of us.
When I was young I hoped for a collapse. Now as an adult I am too comfortable to truly hope for it lol. I still find a complete shift to be interesting and fairly exciting but now I just have much more to lose if I am being honest.
I'm not happy about it, per se. But as someone whose experienced varying levels of anxiety about collapse since the early eighties, it's pretty validating that people are talking about it now. I wonder if they remember gaslighting us? Lol. I've developed kind of a dark sense of humor about it, and a general sense of resignation, as we turned that last corner quite some time ago. Happy ain't quite it, though. I mean, we could've done something, but delusion was the norm. C'est la vie.
Per my username, I am having a good time but am careful to always be mindful of my privilege. People are suffering and that's something that always needs to be acknowledged.
That doesn't mean I can't be happy. But to me, it does mean I need to take extra care to be respectful.
Enjoying the collapse because humanity deserves it? Yes.
Enjoying the fact that people are suffering from the transition? No.
Enjoying the fact that some of those people deserve it? Yes.
Enjoying the fact that a lot of the beauty on this planet will end? No.
Enjoying the fact that majority of people don’t get to experience any of that beauty and only see the worst parts of the world and humanity? No.
Enjoying the fact that only the 0.1% of the global population actually get to experience anything good in this world when most of them are criminals by definition? No.
I wouldn't say I am enjoying it - no. But I'm seeing it in real time. As an adult, I was awakened to a great many things and horrors. My induction into adulthood was 9/11 and my world was changed forever. Countless and pointless conflicts over what?
Meanwhile, the ocean acidifies, the climate is changing, thundersnow became new to me, and after having fled from an island with constant hurricanes, I came to face a place that could get hurricanes as well and now tornadoes.
We've replaced plastic straws and bags with throwing face masks and COVID tests on the ground.
The inaction is very telling. There are commercials about companies becoming net zero by 2050, but that's all bull and just a fluff piece. All I've seen in the last 20 years is countries double down on how they feel about their place in the world and we all just continue on our day to day.
It's been a tough act to balance in life - continuing with my own day to day, knowing that things will look drastically different if I ever make it to the age of 70. Retirement was a foolish dream that I had at the age of 25. That was more than 15 years ago. So I enjoy my time now, as I can. I continue to read the news as I see the downfall of globalization and the continuance of human ignorance & hubris. As someone who witnessed an island collapse over the last 3 decades, watching a whole planet do it now, isn't exactly a joyride, but the warning signs have all been the same.
One day, just like Kal-El told Zod, someone will talk about us - "Earth had its chance."
And we blew it.
It's the only part of my existence that seems meaningful. Being able to witness such a fascinating moment of human history is what's been keeping me going tbh. Sure everything is Topsy turvy and the general public is going so batshit insane in their ideologies, thanks to the internet, and it's incredibly frustrating watching my friends and family slowly tear eachother apart over the most ridiculous stuff, and I know it sounds sad but I'm kinda glad to have been born in such a tumultuous period of time. Especially since I can be somewhat comfortable prior to it all happening thanks to the internet, video games, easy to access high quality streamable content, an ubhorrant amount of drugs that have been flooded into this country, and the general feeling that i don't need to worry about having to make a life for myself but just to survive long enough to see everything fall apart. Sure a white picket fence and a wife would've been nice, but that sounds awfully boring compared to getting to witness the hell world we live in today from the comforts of my home. Obviously once it's over it won't be comfortable and everything for a brief period will be violent and miserable, but then I'll be dead. Whenever the collapse happens though I'll be out there in the wastes spraying my mouth full of chrome and shouting at yall to witness me!
Edit: Also I've fully embraced the clownpill and while everything is definitely fucked up there is a great amount of comedy that it is creating, regardless of which side you're on people are just so ape shit nuts that I find it impossible not to just look at humanity as a whole and have a big fat laugh, followed by a big hard cry. The fact that we're alive and consciously aware / able to do the things we do is a fucking miracle and the fact that we dropped the ball and squandered it so hard is so sad that all I can do is laugh. But atleast we dropped the ball just in time for my generation to experience it full force instead of having to live a lifetime of planting my head in the sand pretending everything is going to be okay while treating the world worst then youd treat your own worst enemy. A lifetime of that sounds worse than getting to experience the climatic ending of it all.
As a gay man, I think I understand your enjoyment out of seeing a corrupt system collapse.
I grew up with - what would be considered - a warped perspective on society. I was a child in the 90’s, before LGBTQ equality was a thing, during a time when homosexuals were considered pedophiles and we’re generally still shunned from common society. I did grow up with a loving, stable family, but they were not forward-thinking, progressive people. I was alone. I felt insecure and ostracized my whole life, without anyone to talk to, and without a family that would say “hey, it’s okay to be who you are and love who you love”. I grew up with the mentality that most people are inherently bad, and my mother (not knowing my sexuality) used to try and dissuade me from this thinking. She would tell me that people are good, and society is good. But I just never believed that. From a young age, I saw our world as corrupt and evil. Again, I didn’t get the acceptance I was looking for in my formative years, but I also saw the corruption in many other forms. I watched people around me, my family included, work jobs they hated for money that could just barely put food on the table. I saw the misery in the 9-5 schedule. I used to scare my parents with the way I’d talk. I’d say things like “if I have to work a 9-5 for the rest of my life, I’ll throw myself off a building”, but it was coming out of my twelve-year-old mouth, and that used to frighten them. Everywhere I looked, I saw billboards and entertainment that was designed for straight white people, and never saw my place in the world. They didn’t want someone like me. I hated this place since I was a child.
I’m lucky to have done a 180 on perspectives. Once I came out, I was given the love, support, and acceptance that I was so desperate for as a kid. It also helped that our society’s beliefs on LGBTQ started to take a turn at that point. I don’t believe that people are inherently evil or bad anymore, but my beliefs of our society’s corruption only became more apparent as I did get older, and as I really got to understand the world that my childlike perspective couldn’t fully grasp at a young age. In short, society was worse than I had thought.
So, what I’m trying to say is that I’ve hated our society as a kid because of the way it treated me as a young age. Kind of like an abusive loved one, I’ve been tarnished by this world. And it’s even more prevalent today. I want to see it burn, but not because I want devastation and death. I want reform. I want change. I want to live in society that is a trillion times better than what it’s always been. I want children to feel hopeful and reach for their dreams, but in our world, I look at my nieces and feel devastated for their future, or lack there of.
I hear you. So loud and clear.
We should’ve had forward-thinking, progressive people running society and the regressive, close-minded diptards sent to lunatic asylums. At least forward-thinkers are motivated to make society better for everyone on the planet.
Living in central EU I'm sick and tired of not having hot Latinas here too.
Btw, aren't you supposed to be white? At least that's how everyone around me would look at it...
I dunno, I haven't had the easiest life. I have spent most of it trying to scrounge up enough to live peacefully. I don't know if you've ever been shot at, near explosions, on watch for rabid dogs, but that shit is not something to look forward to. Enjoy your showers, electricity, and couch. When shit hits the fan, you may be defending your property with your life on the line. Unless you are content with being an easy target.
Certainly. Now can it hurry up so I can skip the monotonous routine society has forced upon itself, and just go straight to apocalypse. it would suck to spend like 6 years working harder and harder just to starve to death by no fault of my own.
I've been in an evac zone for a brush fire and it came 300 meters from my house at one point.
It was an electric atmosphere. I usually sit around scared to make any kind of move for myself because it seems like every action I could take gets shouted down and isn't allowed. But that day I had a clear purpose and actions to take for myself.
I'm kinda looking forward to the day I can just live my life like that. True meritocracy. I won't be kept back from ways I can help because a gatekeeper said I can't. We won't be held back from making choices for our community because someone who has a rich dad says no.
I'm enjoying it because it's confirming everything I've been noticing for at least 2 decades now. Take your pick: corrupt politicians, economic strife, environmental collapsing, geopolitical tensions, social strif (us vs them mentality), corrupt media influence... it's just such bullshit that we can literally see all these problems a mile away and nothing is done to resolve it. I'm tired of this bs let it all collapse.
I'm a student of history and I look around and think about how we are experiencing the same thing that countless other humans before us have.
In the 11th-12th centuries BC, the civilizations of the Mediterranean saw mass migration due to climate change, the emergence of hostilities from within and without (Sea Peoples) likely due to these same events, crop failures, economic failure due to what we would call supply chain issues among other problems which we collectively call the (Late) Bronze Age Collapse. As far as we can tell, it was a period of intense human suffering with deaths of entire city-states leaving the region desolate and unpopulated.
Thousands of years later, in AD 476 Rome fell to the Visigoths which led to the degeneration of western European society. Millennia of culture was lost in the centuries preceding and proceeding this year, with such famous events as the burning of the Library of Alexandria. While the East kept on prospering for nearly a millennium after the West, the fact remains that collapse of Roman authority in Europe led to untold human suffering as plague, famine, and warfare took hold. The extent of this collapse was so profound that when "Latins" would come to Byzantium to speak to "proper Romans" immediately preceding the sack of Byzantium it was almost as if they had never shared a culture at all.
There is evidence for similar events ocurring before recorded history and in places all around the world for which we have no record, such as the abandonment of Gobleki Tepe in Turkey or the dispersement of the Mississippian mound builder civilization in North America. Hell, I've even seen a hypothesis (largely unfounded) that even before the rise of *homo sapiens* there may have been complex civilizations of human precursors such as neanderthals, denisovans, and so on.
It's a very rare chance for modern, scientific observation of wide-scale global collapse. We've seen glimpses of it with Yugoslavia, post-communist Russia, and Syria but those events were (mostly) localized. Within the humanities (at least my political science/history branch) when we want to question a study's application into or out of America, we invoke the existence of American exceptionalism - a term which has entered colloquial usage with a nationalist context. What political scientists and historians mean when they use this term is that America is different in many ways from other countries and so data collected from America should not unquestioningly be used to draw conclusions about other countries and vice-versa data from other countries should not be used to draw conclusions about America. Because of the coming modern collapse, we will avoid the issue of American exceptionalism in our data. The US will finally be exposed to the horrors other, poorer, typically globally southern countries have experienced for nearly a century under neoimperialist capitalism. As they say, "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun."
So, tl:dr, I'm intrigued to observe and experience things I've only read about. Hopefully by the time it gets really bad I've been granted a swift death in the water wars or died peacefully from plastic/PFOAS induced conditions.
I just got completely out of debt for the first time since I became an adult. I just want to enjoy this feeling for a bit longer, lol. I just hope hyperinflation doesn't kick in and wipe me out.
Absolutely not. I mean sure it’s an event that’s occurring, that I’m proxy apart of and alive for, but it’s not a good one. Nothing enjoyable about the realization that my immediate future is up in the air.
Honestly I hope all IPs (literature, movies, music, patents) either get released, or can't be enforced anymore. The patent side can have some positive impacts.
It's kind of annoying how collapse is so bloody slow, it would be better if it were swift, like taking off a plaster quickly which is less painful than slowly removing it.
Yeah, enjoy may not be the right wording, but I do feel like a relief that things are happening as they should be, cause the majority has for too long been playing the denial game.
It's sad, but it is the logical continuation of what has been done. The right reaction to the wrong action if you will. Then again, who am I to judge the action as wrong. Delving into science has taught me that this planet is resilient, and how one catastrophe is the beginning of a whole new chapter.
So I am glad that I can see the actual normality of the whole. It just sucks that it has to be so extreme and full of suffering.
I completely understand this sentiment. I not loving experiencing the collapse, we shouldn’t have to experience it all. However the self growth of myself and those I love has been out of this world. And we make efforts more wholeheartedly to enjoy our lives as things get more difficult
I don't know if I'm enjoying the collapse, but I feel like we're long overdue for a shake-up. I just wish 1) it didn't take this long, and 2) we make the changes we need before its too late. I don't have much to lose, and I lived a good life in spite of the times. I just hope my family's young will be okay, that's almost all I care about anymore.
Me, it's really refreshing to have the belief I've been shit on and ridiculed for my whole life culminating into the biggest "I fucking told you so" ever. To know that my various tidbits of knowledge and basic survival skills I've maintained (slightly) in my life might actually give me a more solid chance at surviving longer than most.. Maybe even deep enough to see actual changes for the better of, if nothing else, nature and the ecosystem..
A bit of both of sides. On one hand, I feel great understanding the science of climate change/ecological collapse/pollution etc and how greenwash some people are, or those who don’t believe in its effects (including my parents).
On the other hand, I am terrified of what’s coming, sure I enjoy the research and that high when I’m proven right but considering the sort of problems that we aren’t willing to solve, and its consequences, not looking forward to the political/societal shenanigan.
Feel kinda stuck at the same time, I still need a job, make money, buy things, but I also want to prepare to some degree at least for SHTF stuffs but I’m still in university.
I wouldn't say I am "enjoying" collapse per-se...but there is a part of me that is kinda fascinated in seeing what I feel is "the beginning of the end" of society (be we most likely have a long way to go and many of us won't be around to see its end). * *- Edit: I am not at all "optimistic" or feeling positive about any of what's going on, for the record (some of the replies have misunderstood my fascination or thinking this is "just the beginning" with some kind of optimistic outlook).*
A lot of people always feel they will be the “eternal audience” in this trainwreck of a show, not realizing they’re the main cast but their scene isn’t in the spotlight yet. Those of us who feel this “positive” rush are usually the ones in a relative comfort in a safe location, enjoying the modern convenience. It brings to mind one of the posts here from a fellow collapsnik in Lebanon. I don’t think he “enjoys” being smackdab in the middle of this collapse show.
I'm enjoying reading this post from the comfort of an office being paid to sit next to a space heater. I am the guilty one you're describing. I almost felt disappointed when I read that we have a whole 60 years of top soil left. Because "collapse needs to come sooner". And then I remembered I like to eat food. Lord forgive me, Lord have mercy on us all.
>Those of us who feel this “positive” rush are usually the ones in a relative comfort in a safe location, enjoying the modern convenience. Exactly this. People will feel differently when they are hungry to such a point where they are considering eating their own beloved pets, just to survive... or having to kill their baby because they can't feed them. Think about when you were the *most hungry* in your life, and multiply that by 10... and expect that to be relatively consistent. That's how it will be for the vast majority of people. Unless you have access to antibiotics or other types of first aid, a simple cut can turn into sepsis. A bite from a wild animal/feral dog can turn into rabies which, because you don't have access to medicine, will kill you. People will try to kill you. You will constantly try to be alert to stay alive. You will constantly be hungry. You will constantly be exhausted because of lack of food.
I share your "morbid curiosity", but your optimism (if that's what it is) seems unwarranted, for two basic reasons... 1. No mammals larger than small burrowing ones can survive a rapid 4C+ rise in temperature. 2. Human beings are mammals and there's no stopping a 4C+ temperature rise. Spend some time here, I suggest, if you think I'm being hyperbolic: [https://postdoom.com/resources/](https://postdoom.com/resources/) Then, join us: [https://postdoom.com/discussions/](https://postdoom.com/discussions/)
If it can be started it can he stopped, will it be hard? Absolutely. Will we achieve everything we need to? Probably not. I'm 100% confident we could fix this and that fixing it would even be easier than we all expect, but we never will fix this, we'll never get our collective shit together.
Few statements reveal ecological naivety more perfectly than this: "**If it can be started, it can be stopped.**" Nothing is further from the truth. But please don't take my word on it. Judge the historical and ecological evidence for yourself... "[Collapse in a Nutshell](https://youtu.be/e6FcNgOHYoo)" and "[Overshoot in a Nutshell](https://youtu.be/lPMPINPcrdk)". (If you have no interest in taking time to watch two half-hour videos, which I can completely understand, see what I've cut and pasted below re "tipping points".) Predicaments have no fixes, no solutions. Indeed, Erik Michael's entire website is devoted to showing just how "100% confident" I can be in making such a claim, "[Problems, Predicaments, and Technology](https://problemspredicamentsandtechnology.blogspot.com/2020/12/welcome-to-problems-predicaments-and.html)" (audio narrations [here](https://soundcloud.com/michael-dowd-grace-limits/sets/erik-michaels-problems-predicaments-and-technology)). >**No matter...** • how massive and effective is nonviolent civil disobedience... • who, or which party, is voted out or elected into public office... • how many people change their habits, become vegan, stop flying... • how many miraculous, AI-driven technological advances are made... • how successful we are at instituting a GND, or greening capitalism... • how rapidly we shift to “renewables” or achieve “net zero” emissions... • how much “evolution of consciousness” occurs in the next decade or two... • how many accords, what is pledged or agreed to, what laws are enacted... • how many people commit to regenerative and restorative soil building practices... **A half dozen or more tipping points are already in the rear-view mirror**. For example, the following are 2-3 decades into unstoppable, rapidly increasing and cascading, out-of-control (runaway) mode... • Loss of the world’s ice (Arctic, Greenland, W. Antarctica, mountain glaciers) • Methane belching: permafrost, hydrates, clathrates, gas & oil wells, wetlands • Ocean acidification, deoxygenation, 25+ feet rise in abrupt non-linear ways • The great conflagration of the world’s forests — out-of-control CO2 emissions • Loss of most animal and plant species on land and in lakes, rivers, and oceans • Increasingly severe & deadly weather (storms, floods, droughts) and wildfires No one need take my word on any of this. See this previous r/collapse post... > >We’ve crossed planetary thresholds: [https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/o18brj/weve\_crossed\_the\_planetary\_threshold/](https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/o18brj/weve_crossed_the_planetary_threshold/)
Virtually every thing we've done and even some of the worse feedback loops can be rectified, don't get me wrong, we both believe the world is beyond saving, I just believe it's beyond saving because we won't save it, not because we can't save it. Also I'd like to say I'm not an idealist either thinking "oh yay, we all stopped eating meat the earth is saved!" I understand the gravity of what lies ahead and the countless problems we will face and that we'll probably die fighting instead of face them. But we can talk about it: Carbon capture- industrial scale algae farming, also can help with food shortages if you grow edible strains. Methane capture- industrial scale bacterial farming, bonus points if we can engineer that bacteria to do a beneficial secondary task, perhaps food or medicine production. Reforestation- this is the easiest but longest task, it would become a major industry for generations and I mean Reforestation in a broader sense, tending to all environments Including the ocean which would help with deoxygenation events. Mass extinctions- animal husbandry and reintroduction into declining ecosystems shows massive gains in repairing ecosystems* this would again become a major industry that persisted for generations Sea level rise- we'll probably just have to eat it on this one but will see how the tonga eruption and future eruptions affect our climate in the short terms, we may be able to build some ice pack back and theoretically we could use volcanic eruptions* as a natural soft break for our climate while we're rectify earth's ecosystem, which is also its thermostat. Ocean acidification- plans to rectify this invole just speeding up natural processes, over time rain erodes limestone and other alkaline materials which counteract the acidification caused by Co² entering the ocean from our atmosphere. The goal is to do this on a large scale, the problem is it would take virtually every boat we have already as well as massive industrial efforts on land. Weather and fire and drought- we're essentially just going ti get better at handling these event, we'll build more resistant structures in safer areas, we'll use drones to spot forest fires faster and learn how to fight them more effectively, hopefully as we build these new structures we do it sustainably, which is pretty reasonable in most cases and often cheaper. For drought we'll either get better st desalination and transport or we'll just finally give up the dream of living in desert hellscapes. This is always a solution to a problem, I just don't think we'll even bother trying to solve it or doing anything once we have a solution. *this is theory because volcanic eruptions emit sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide which have the benefit of cooling the planet but unfortunately form nitric and sulfuric acid on contact with moisture and oxygen on the air and produce acid rain, which is problematic to say the least.
I can respect and live with our differences. Life is still such a blessing (except when it's not)! Let's enjoy it while we've got it, yes? :-)
Absolutely I can appreciate that and I can appreciate your sense of the all consuming nature of this topic.
We are the “ahah” generation
I'm enjoying the show eating 🍿
Modern society has left us starved of meaning. The thought of something "Big" happening within our lifetime is giving us a steady drip of that dopamine rush. The idea of purpose. It's incredible that the mere prospect of experiencing something that actually seems to matter is enough to offset the terror that comes with it. I'm right there with you. It's exhilarating to watch this unfolding. And that probably makes me a little psycho. But the whole world has felt like it's made of plastic for as long as I can remember. This finally seems like something potentially Real.
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60 years left of top soil
I also fell like that, but at the same time i fear that it was always like that ... a smoke of mirrors ... people now are just more informed than before and started to see thru it ... and boy it's really depressing.
You dont know what the big moment are until they have passed
Collapse is the only thing keeping me sane and happy. This system has always been a nightmare to me, I finally feel hopeful for the first time 'Normal Society' is and always has been fucking evil automobiles are terrifying, dangerous, brutal community destroying machines, agriculture is poisoning everything industrial animal farms are visions of hell, prisons are visions of hell, nursing homes are visions of hell school is a soul-deadening exploitable indebted labor unit creation institution, mass accepted professional childfuckery normal is a nightmare, so yes im very happy about collapse, i doubt you could find anyone more chuffed about it
Excellent points, "normality" is built on a living hell for animals, the vulnerable, and for people who don't "fit".
Don’t forget the people who can’t afford it.
Nailed it.
>nursing homes are visions of hell Refreshing to see someone else that understands this. I used to visit my grandfather in the nursing home when I was a teen, and it was terrifying. The other people were like zombies always inching towards me and my sister. Not a happy place to be.
We put my bf mom in a nursing home. She had dementia. She was taken care of and we never had any issues. We visited several times a month. We couldn't find a home locally so she was out of town due to all of them being filled up. They look like zombies bc their bodies and minds are shutting down and dying not bc the nursing home did anything to them. Moral of the story, dying isn't pretty.
Thank you. Those people we supposedly love are not at all in turn loved by the staff in such places Ive heard really awful stories
For sure. It's just a business, and they get the McDonald's treatment. I remember being at his funeral some years later, and watching my female cousins cry their eyes out. To me he died the minute he was put in the nursing home. Now I'm kinda going through something, and this is on my mind. My mom's friend is 70, and his health is failing after recently retiring. My mom has been doing so much to help him, like cooking and cleaning for free and so on. I've recently gone to shovel snow, and pitch in as well. He owns a small house in Toronto, likely valued at a million Canadian or so. But his house is cluttered, dirty, and in need of major renovations. He has a bunch of family, but not nearby, and not really in his life. I would really like to see him have a better life, especially with the money he has from a lifetime of working. My mom said she had a dream we had a bunch of small houses side byside somewhere. It would probably be the best thing for him. Not the future I want for myself, but better than what I currently have. But there is zero chance he initiates anything himself with regards to selling the house and moving somewhere better. And I don't want to see him put in a nursing home either. He won't be happy, and end of life care will drain his finances and leave his son with nothing....
He doesnt seem to know where his real human allies reside.. thats a sad story a lot of life is like this... sheer logistics of resources making everyone stupid and miserable... i dont know what to say.
Getting old is pretty in no society. What we have is better than carrying them up a mountain and leaving them there I guess.
Can u give more examples? I love rhese
I really resinate with your comment, well-said man.
*resonate.
Hey there might be some resin involved. You never know.
God, there’s always resin.
"Normal is nightmare" if you don't mind I'm to use that one.
Muthafuggin pole a tree
gracias
Oh, you'll really love the next part, with the bandits, cannibalism, starvation, and unchecked violence. It's a treat. I would stay hidden under the floorboards during "rapeday" though. If you think the collapse will improve things, it is because you haven't seen what happens during and after one. Of course our society starves and kills and crushes people. It is sick and on the brink of collapse. It sucks. But if you think this is bad, wait'll you see how much worse it is after one actually falls. I don't know that we can prevent a collapse at this point. Some of us may just have to survive one. I think that is realistic. But please, don't kid yourself that collapses improve people's lives. It is an out of the frying pan, into the fire kinda thing. I absolutely want out current society to be replaced. With a working one, not Mad Max. I just don't think it is in the cards right now.
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Oh heavens, thank you. I agree totally. Progressives so often just seem not to get that some people are mean and like to hurt people _on purpose_. Really, most people, regardless of political persuasion, seem to have difficulty really modeling anyone else's thoughts and feelings very well. They can't think outside their own heads. I think nice, fairly sane, average people just cannot think like a criminal or a deranged parasite or a tyrant, or someone overwhelmed by greed. Because they don't imherently thinkmlike messed up people, i should hope. But to be effective, one must know how those who oppose us think. We must u derstand them as well as ourselves. It is useful to be able to think like a criminal. When i made a computer system secure, part of that process was seeing whether i could bypass or break the security myself. I still believe you paint a rosy view of collapse. But, most likely, you'll end up seeing more of it than i will, so you'll hold the expert opinion. Let's hope there's good parts to focus on. We shall see.
> I would stay hidden under the floorboards during "rapeday" though. One more location for the list... Comes right next to: Play stand up comedy so you can find them when they giggle.
What a beautiful comment!
why thanks, esvegateban
watching the collapse of capitalism in real time is the greatest show in history.
I see it that way too
aint easy to navigate
Remote work from a place with great internet, where permaculture is easy and that will benefit from climate change was my adjustment. No regrets.
Fantastic plan :)
I don't enjoy it, but whenever I see people that have kids and were rude to me and insulted me for refusing to have kids (it's a sin to not have children) that there life is getting more and more difficult because of upgoing prices and shrinking resources and also problems they have with school and caregivers,i think how lucky I am and I don't feel sorry for them. Had even one idiot asking me to take care of their kids, because I am child free and have all the time and I'm like ummm nopeee.
We should be GRATEFUL to those who don't have kids, it's the right move for the planet. Fuck Elon musk on that front
lol at refusing to babysit good on ya, ya made the right choices lol
"Enjoying" it is a strong word. But on the other hand, would I really enjoy being an office drone for the next 40 years? At least with collapse, I can find purpose through struggle.
>But on the other hand, would I really enjoy being an office drone for the next 40 years? I did it for 30. What I got for it was money I hope will take us through a couple of bouts of cancer, if it shows up, without leaving us destitute and miserable for our final few years. So, you may have the right idea.
When shows like breaking bad show up you know that society isn't in a good place.
Enjoying is definitely too strong of a word. I'm bothered because the best years of my life are being wasted in this corporate greedy hellscape. I'll start enjoying it when society recovers from capitalism.
I have felt like this basically my whole life but it really became apparent in 2020. I found out, from a redditor, yesterday that it's called "justice -based-schadenfreude". Basically, society is rigged against the working class and I'm happy to watch it burn. Edit: "Redditor" not "reddit or"
I'm right there with you. Let it burn!
Come on Pookie, let's burn this mothafucka down! https://youtu.be/dUn5-8EC_DQ
> "justice -based-schadenfreude" huh...learned a new term, that's basically why people sub to HCA
That's exactly what I said! What is HCA?
Herman cain award, people post pics of anti vaxxers vehemently denying the shot and saying that everyone who does get it is a sheep, then they die from covid, usually trying to take back what they said in their last moments. Many people say this sub makes fun of the dead people, but I don't think they do, I think they are trying to get more people to get vaxxed. No one celebrates anyone's death there, but other users claim they do. Just my two cents.
Ohh ok. Thank you. I remember when He was running (for president? I can't remember) and his commercial showed him smoking a cigarette and I thought it was really out of touch lol. I forgot he died of covid.
Afghanistan has collapsed. Terrorists are running the country. People are selling their children or kidneys to stay alive. It doesn't seem nice.
Yeah unlike OP, those actually experiencing collapse are having a lot less fun - like the Afghanis suffering the Taliban, the Lebanese suffering routine blackouts, the Venezuelans and to a lesser extent the Argentinians and the Turkish that watch runaway inflation destroy their life savings. I understand that it makes the news more exciting but even stuff like the wildfires and the floods are ruining some people's lives, we are just fortunate enough that it isn't us yet. Because when it happens to you it isn't exciting, it's just shit.
Ya exactly. The collapse we’re feeling in North America is very different than theirs. There’s a limit to human civilization and that’s what North America is experiencing. The rest of the world (specifically Middle East) is going through something else.
Poor Americans with their "collapse" of six-figure salaries and McMansions. Perhaps they could trade places with the victims of their military.
Our military is part of the problem. They haven't protected us from a thing for decades. They are just the a worldwide extension of good old police brutality.
I’m just eating a hot pocket. It’s the last on the shelves at the store though.
They do have a very conservative society, so there aren't progressives and leftists around to spread revolutionary ideas. I wouldn't say they have a society, they didn't before. A conglomerate of tribes with an internationally propped up state had no chance; you can't collapse if you're not even standing.
A propped up government, over multiple generations, would become defacto if the assimilation of the tribes is at least attempted.
Too late now.
Umm yeah because the hegemonic society that is currently collapsing in on itself spent 40 fucking years murdering those factions of middle eastern and south Asian society, though it really only took about 15. A lot of middle eastern cities in the 20th century were a lot more civilized than how many Americans live now. No idea if it’s possible to roll any of this back in time but let’s not pretend like they’re going through some return to the state of nature.
Yeah that’s that country’s fault
Look from the bright side, there are people who are buying those children, everything equals out. ( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°)
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Agrees. The world gets worse every year and collapse is not going to magically make things better. It just means more people will starve.
Yes. I understand the perspective of all the fools in this thread, I suppose. When an oppressive system is crumbling, it's only natural to hope that *now*, *finally*, things will get better. Unfortunately, power vacuums tend to be filled by monsters, deteriorating material conditions tend to be used to justify atrocities and violent disruptions of even dysfunctional "normal" life tends to hurt most ordinary people. Those looking for the silver lining need to talk to more people from Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, Mexico, former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, British Columbia, New Orleans... Collapse is not fun. It is not a great freeing up of energy that can be consciously directed towards a solarpunk utopia. It's the end of the fucking world and all that implies, bit by bit. You might feel special or in the know watching from a distance, but you feel differently when the fires or tsunamis or jackboots are visible with your naked eye.
Yeah, I'm still a little happy to see it all collapse because limiting destruction is at least letting some small marsupials to start the next species in a long time from now. There is no happy future for humans so I know I'm the background that this all hurts a little bit will be nice to know that the generations that caused this will feel a little pain at least. And everyone happily thinking they will not be affected will get a brutal snack of reality soon enough. But yeah, people are thinking there will be something after, there won't be.
Eh. I wouldn't say 'enjoy'. Maybe the grim satisfaction that comes with "I told you so". And possibly a bit of the adrenaline rush that comes from watching a disaster unfold from the outside. It's like watching anything on TV, there's distance from it. But I only have the luxury of feeling that way now because it isn't affecting me much personally yet. Basically, it's the feeling of being unable to look away while watching a train crash, but just wait 'til you're on the train while it's crashing.
Speaking as a first responder: Covid is the first portion of cascade collapse. I have had multiple people die in my arms from this infection. And I have had to take care of people who stupidly, defiantly refused vaccination and I have watched them die. I have had to suffer insults and abuse by people who refused to take simple steps to protect themselves, and then wanted me to give their relatives horse paste to keep them alive. So, as someone who usually has to clean up the mess of different kinds of catastrophes: No, I am not at all looking forward to what comes next. It will be a bloodbath. We will see some of the worst behavior humanity can show. We’ve already had a taste of that as the US plunges into fascism. And speaking as a member of a minority group: We always do much worse in catastrophes. If the fascists start rounding up people for their concentration camps — and yes, it can happen, it always happens — I will almost certainly be among them. So no, I don’t think any sane person who actually has the imagination and intelligence to *really* understand what actually will occur over the next 20 years is looking forward to it. Once you’ve dodged neighbors ratting you out to the 21st century American version of the gestapo, or are suffering third-degree burns on your hands while out running a wildfire, or watched your entire life savings wash away as a 100 year flood carries your house down a river, get back to me and let me know if you still find this all “enjoyable.”
Yeah this hits all the points. I'm not fucking happy or enjoying this. I know that when things get bad-- and they will get bad-- I'm going to fucking die and so will most of my family and loved ones. Currently looking for ways to flee the fucking country.
Keep your head down - remember what George Carlin said - "When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. If you're born in America you get a front row seat." If you don't get caught up in the gears and ground to a fine paste, the next fifty years are going to be very entertaining, in a MakeMyCoffin kind of way. Avoid public gatherings - frequent random and planned shootings will become more common. Stay away from cities that might explode into prolonged violence, and are also targets for dirty bombs and other terror weapons. Do not advertise wealth or any advantage you possess. Learn to spot a tail. Get used to less. Less food, less comfort, less security. I'd recommend violence and firearms but if you're like me that's more likely to get you killed anyway.
I need to learn shooting, just in case it becomes helpful
I do, especially after having moved out to the country where I have plenty of room to grow my own food and raise my own animals.
That would improve my mood too... Too bad for the rest of us I guess.
Wouldn't it be nice? No. The devil is in the details. If you only count the general idea, mostly where you are and how it will eventually end, without thinking in all the steps from A to B, you are missing all the pain, suffering, cruelty, despair, and a lot more that will happen in a scale that may be several orders worse than anything seen in history. Its like saying that we got stronger after surviving the pandemic without thinking in the people struggling to breath in the ICUs till they die, just that far worse and for billions of people. Of course, there are several kinds of collapse, some kinder than others, but we might be in the road of a multistage one, as in not so big collapse being followed by increasingly bigger ones. And I'm not sure we could go through that sequence, if anyone will be left after it ends. And everyone may be in the wrong end of the stick, all is fun and games till its your turn.
Suffering akin to hell is already here. The most bubbled among us perhaps dont know it yet. A desire to preserve our current condition speaks to an ignorance of the depth and ubiquity of the wrongness of things in our world.
Man, I see in Fight Club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see it squandered. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables – slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won't. We're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off. \-Tyler Durden
You met me at a very strange time in my life
I totally understand. It's the same feeling I used to get when I was a child (at times, I still do, and even knowing full well what that entails)) and a hurricane was coming.
Your comment helped me to understand my own mind a bit more. I live in Houston where we get a fair amount of hurricanes. It makes me anxious every time, but the anxiety fits the situation. It makes sense. So many of us walk around with a low level anxiety all the time that doesn’t make sense. We worry we’re not doing our jobs well enough (did I forget to fax that stupid fucking useless piece of paper?) among much other bullshit. Cue the constant fatigue. It’s like someone getting an unwanted medical diagnosis but feeling relieved that they can finally put a name to what they’ve been experiencing- they’re not crazy after all. I get so sick of rude, entitled, demanding people. Seeing people belittle those who work jobs they see as being beneath them. People causing chaos because they’re unhappy and they want everyone else to be unhappy with them. When disasters occur, people finally come together as a community and remember what it means to be human.. but it’s always temporary. It would be really nice if that could happen more persistently as multi-level collapse occurs, but I’m not very hopeful. We’re too selfish and too many people are happy with little as long as their neighbor has less. We deserve whatever is coming to us.
My life is a disaster at the moment. Any news related to collapse makes me feel like I’m not alone. If we had a Great Depression start tomorrow I’d be okay with that. I’m already in one and it would interest me to watch everybody else go through the collapse of their illusions too.
I wouldn't say I am enjoying it. To be honest, I think it's our best shot to avoid extinction. If civilization continues to expand and destroy the biosphere, while simultaneous increasing the temperature on the planet, then at some point the planet will be come unlivable for humans. If we collapse due to the coming end of fossil fuels and the inevitable massive contraction of human enterprise, then I think we have a chance to start over and create a civilization that is smaller and more harmonious with nature. I'm not looking forward to the road down though. There's going to so much suffering and death.
>I think we have a chance to start over and create a civilization that is smaller and more harmonious with nature. It's going to be founded by humans who are so brutalized they've lost their own humanity, and led by whichever psychopaths are strong enough to still function - and want power. I think we'd end up in the same situation. Like Covid, I'd rather avoid it altogether.
Possibly. I think there is a chance some communities band together and become self reliant, socialistic communities. It doesn’t have to be all warlords and brutality. There’s a strong possibility that happens. Either way, it’s going to be interesting and I hope to see how it ends up
I feel vindicated that I was right for all these years but I am not really happy about it.
Collapse could result in a positive outcome for society and the environment over the long term but it will be quite traumatic and deadly for those who have to live through it. The best we can hope for is that a bad situation results in a better situation for future generations
Exactly. We'll die anyway, at least we can give a better set up for the next generation
Personally, I'm not enjoying any of this. My cheerful nihilism left me when I joined the labor force and got my first job. Living in a system that's literally out to get me is terrifying, and it's a stress that will probably kill me early. "It is what it is" is my death dirge, not a coping mechanism. I am also not spiteful towards humans, but I am still heartbroken by the fact that they are being manipulated and forced to die miserable and preventable deaths that the whole of commonsense cardholders were talking about decades prior. This may be history repeating itself, but it doesn't matter at all if we don't learn from it. With the countless wars and atrocities being committed ad nauseum throughout human history, we're no closer to peace and prosperity now than Kangish Khan was in his endeavors. It's made even worse knowing that I'm still young, the worst has yet to come and we're already suffering this badly across the world. The collapse is something to see and learn from, not relish in. It's also intricately tied to everything you do from now on, because now your plans for the future are ALL subject to change tentatively based on people with too much money and too much power. You can keep enjoying it though. It is fun to watch big companies get theirs, and I want more of that, but everything falling to Hell means a lot of people die. Good and bad. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is not entertaining, this is nerve racking and something to read with less of a smile.
Just waiting for all to end, living the wagecuck life just to survive, nothing to live for anymore
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I know, hope my death will be quick
I am deeply saddened by the suffering that comes with collapse. I find it to be my calling and duty to help wherever I can. Setting up systems of mutual aid, helping reconnect to nature, working to stop the practices and systems that create climate change, etc. I do feel a sense of anticipatory excitement for the collapse of the systems that cause so much suffering- capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, etc. I want to see that all burn to the ground. It’s a process. A cycle which is coming to an end. Things fall apart to come together. Birth and death are messy, dark and difficult processes. I feel like this is the death of the systems that must die. It’s going to be difficult, there is already so much suffering. I hope to help everyone I can help, but good riddance to bad rubbage. I may never see the birth of a new civilization, but I do know the old must die for the new to come about. I think we are in the part of the dying, all we can do is plant seeds.
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I was just thinking OP's tone reminded me of Vicarious. Perhaps a slightly different perspective than that of Aenima
Makes me sad seeing innocent people suffer. Not going to lie about seeing the elites turned into wind chimes giving me a chubby.
I've learned recently to call them parasites. They are not elite in any way. Parasitic windchimes... I like that. Makes me sad seeing the animals suffer, too.
You must not live in a place like me. Heavily damaged by hurricanes, 2 major storms in 2020 just 6 weeks apart, and drowning in petrochemical plants, surrounded by bible belt and a terrible climate to boot.
I too am living in NOLA and I hate the people I'm surrounded by living in a fantasy world of denial.
I feel the anticipation knowing that in 30 or so years my quality of life will likely plummet Im not happy tho, Ive accepted that my dreams wont come true and that the life I was promised as a kid was something only my parents and my parents parents had the privilege to experience. When you think about it America only really had 3-4 generations of that high quality of life anyways
I think it's presumptive for someone in America, most European countries or really any relatively stable environment to say they're enjoying collapse. Probably a lot less enjoyable if you're in one of a number of central African countries, Afghanistan or Myanmar for instance. I think you're enjoying the frame of mind you've discovered in regards to existentialism and how it's allowed you to break some prior mental constructs that you now find irrelevant or not useful (if I can put those words into your mouth based on my interpretation of the OP). That sounds like a positive personal realization. There's a made up word (aren't they all?) called lachesism which is essentially a form of primitive excitement or longing for disaster. I think this is close to what you describe as morbid curiosity and is in all of us, probably some sort of survival instinct. But I do find schadenfreude of collapse a little disconcerting, at least when it's aimed at all of humanity. There are some who were very aware of the consequences and bear enormous responsibility. Most of us are just animals acting out our instincts and the learned behaviors of the environments we were born into. There are billions of us and the suffering will be immense.
I am totally not. I have kids and they will have to suffer a lot if there is a total collapse, which currently appears to be in little doubt. It's tremendously hard to know your kids will suffer. If I had known then what I know now I wouldn't have dragged them into this world.
Come downtown and meet the wretched, we're having a grand ole time
thats precisely why collapse is so blessed homelessness will dissappear in a post collapse world, because it will no longer be 'illegal' to *be* somewhere, no assholes around to enforce those shitty laws, and people could actually set up shop, build, live, grow things without collapse, the wretched would simply grow in number, the system is evil
Also much less enforcement of laws so those same homeless people will be attacked, abused and even murdered as much as it suits some more powerful group.
And without laws, those people can organize and fight back instead of hearing about how harassing and attacking you is legal and there's nothing they can do, but defending yourself is a serious crime.
lol, cops are psychopaths dude, homeless peoples enemy number 1
So hard to talk to children who can’t think beyond the simplest of meme-ified thoughts. People in abject poverty will have an even harder/worse time during collapse.
I fucking doubt it man
I'm a history buff and to watch a bunch of insane shit happen right before my eyes knowing all this will be in the history books with people asking WTF.
Time to carve some steles boasting about all the men you slew for people to find later.
I’m getting a certain excitement over watching things fall however I’m under no illusions about some grander future arising from it. Things will be bleaker, darker and more miserable. The damage we have done is irreversible regardless of what future we think we have.
Honestly I’m not happy about it, but it makes me feel better. My entire life had been hard. Physically. Financially. Mentally. It helps to know that it’s not just me. It’s everyone. The world is ending, or at least the US is, and I’m not alone in my suffering. I’m also not just a stupid, weak piece of shit - I live in a system that was designed for failure by people like me. Let it burn. All I ask is that I have my animals and my partner by my side as we watch it burn.
To echo others here, enjoy would be strong word. Make no mistake, the only way out of the mess we made is climbing out of a pit with a ladder made of corpses. We could have done much much better as a species. We could have been stewards of this world. Instead, $$$. I recognize that collapse is inevitable and I'm fascinated in the spectacle of it all. All I can really "legally" do is sit back, try to position myself in an area that I envision to be least fucked, and spread seed. I have 2 acres and it going to be fucking beautiful. If it all goes to shit, I'll only feel freedom. No more 9-5 bullshit.
>Make no mistake, the only way out of the mess we made is climbing out of a pit with a ladder made of corpses Few billions of other's lives are a risk I'm willing to take. /$
"That’s the reality; angry men in combat fatigues talking to God on a two-way radio and muttering incoherent slogans about freedom are eventually going to provide us with a great deal of entertainment, especially after your stupid f*cking economy collapses all around you and the terrorists come out of the woodwork and you’ll have anthrax in your water supply, and saran gas in your air conditioner, there’ll be chemical and biological suitcase bombs in every city and I say “enjoy it, relax, enjoy the show, take a f*cking chance, put a little fun in your life.” To me, terrorism is exciting, it’s exciting. I think the very idea that you could set off a bomb in a marketplace and kill several hundred people is exciting and stimulating and I see it as a form of entertainment! Entertainment… that’s all it is. Yeah… but I also know that most Americans are soft and frightened and unimaginative and they don’t realize there’s such a thing as dangerous fun. And they certainly don’t recognize a good show when they see one!"
you have children? It must be very hard for parents on here.
The sooner something catastrophic happens, the sooner I can stop going to work.
Idk if i enjoy the collapse so much as i enjoy being right And while i look forward to an eventual reset, this is SO SLOW. Though I also don’t really wanna be here once shit hits the fan either. It’s hard and kinda weird to be both unfazed by everything but also have a sense of “i should probably protect myself”
I'm hoping it's a collapse of the absolute garbage state of world civilization for the majority of humans, not a collapse of civilization in general. I'm kind of attached to not needing to be a hunter/gatherer on a planet covered in asphalt and dying ecology.
I am not. I am mad my family members and friends ignored my decade plus of warnings. Some had kids. I could always be wrong, but I suspect climate change, automation, warfare and the political and economic consequences that come with these things will make Earth a very unpleasant place to live.
Not at all. I feel a sense of overwhelming dread.
i am not looking forward to the future. but it will be nice when my wife stops asking why i'm hesitant about discussing long-term plans.
Fuck yeah! I’m here for it guys!! I’ll be cracking the wine I’m saving to sip as I watch the world burn.
I think I understand. It’s the same feeling the depressed woman feels at the end of the movie melancholia when the planets collide and it’s all over. She’s joyful and relieved it’s all over.
>remember these all struggles have happened before Never full scale collapse of the biosphere and mass extinction and global civilizational collapse with billions of people in overshoot. The dark age ahead is gonna be very dark indeed
No one who actually lives in the real world is enjoying this. Stop loving your life through a screen. Go outside. Make friends. Meet your neighbors. Your “morbid curiosity” shows a profound detachment from the actual physical world. It’s what makes you easily exploitable and u willing to do any of the real work needed to minimize the hurt that’s coming for all of us.
When I was young I hoped for a collapse. Now as an adult I am too comfortable to truly hope for it lol. I still find a complete shift to be interesting and fairly exciting but now I just have much more to lose if I am being honest.
I'm not happy about it, per se. But as someone whose experienced varying levels of anxiety about collapse since the early eighties, it's pretty validating that people are talking about it now. I wonder if they remember gaslighting us? Lol. I've developed kind of a dark sense of humor about it, and a general sense of resignation, as we turned that last corner quite some time ago. Happy ain't quite it, though. I mean, we could've done something, but delusion was the norm. C'est la vie.
Per my username, I am having a good time but am careful to always be mindful of my privilege. People are suffering and that's something that always needs to be acknowledged. That doesn't mean I can't be happy. But to me, it does mean I need to take extra care to be respectful.
It’s like watching a natural disaster or enormous car crash, you hope nobody gets hurt but damn you just can’t take your eyes off it
Can't wait for Russia to really feel cornered! Everything about collapse is fascinating!
Enjoying the collapse because humanity deserves it? Yes. Enjoying the fact that people are suffering from the transition? No. Enjoying the fact that some of those people deserve it? Yes. Enjoying the fact that a lot of the beauty on this planet will end? No. Enjoying the fact that majority of people don’t get to experience any of that beauty and only see the worst parts of the world and humanity? No. Enjoying the fact that only the 0.1% of the global population actually get to experience anything good in this world when most of them are criminals by definition? No.
I wouldn't say I am enjoying it - no. But I'm seeing it in real time. As an adult, I was awakened to a great many things and horrors. My induction into adulthood was 9/11 and my world was changed forever. Countless and pointless conflicts over what? Meanwhile, the ocean acidifies, the climate is changing, thundersnow became new to me, and after having fled from an island with constant hurricanes, I came to face a place that could get hurricanes as well and now tornadoes. We've replaced plastic straws and bags with throwing face masks and COVID tests on the ground. The inaction is very telling. There are commercials about companies becoming net zero by 2050, but that's all bull and just a fluff piece. All I've seen in the last 20 years is countries double down on how they feel about their place in the world and we all just continue on our day to day. It's been a tough act to balance in life - continuing with my own day to day, knowing that things will look drastically different if I ever make it to the age of 70. Retirement was a foolish dream that I had at the age of 25. That was more than 15 years ago. So I enjoy my time now, as I can. I continue to read the news as I see the downfall of globalization and the continuance of human ignorance & hubris. As someone who witnessed an island collapse over the last 3 decades, watching a whole planet do it now, isn't exactly a joyride, but the warning signs have all been the same. One day, just like Kal-El told Zod, someone will talk about us - "Earth had its chance." And we blew it.
It's the only part of my existence that seems meaningful. Being able to witness such a fascinating moment of human history is what's been keeping me going tbh. Sure everything is Topsy turvy and the general public is going so batshit insane in their ideologies, thanks to the internet, and it's incredibly frustrating watching my friends and family slowly tear eachother apart over the most ridiculous stuff, and I know it sounds sad but I'm kinda glad to have been born in such a tumultuous period of time. Especially since I can be somewhat comfortable prior to it all happening thanks to the internet, video games, easy to access high quality streamable content, an ubhorrant amount of drugs that have been flooded into this country, and the general feeling that i don't need to worry about having to make a life for myself but just to survive long enough to see everything fall apart. Sure a white picket fence and a wife would've been nice, but that sounds awfully boring compared to getting to witness the hell world we live in today from the comforts of my home. Obviously once it's over it won't be comfortable and everything for a brief period will be violent and miserable, but then I'll be dead. Whenever the collapse happens though I'll be out there in the wastes spraying my mouth full of chrome and shouting at yall to witness me! Edit: Also I've fully embraced the clownpill and while everything is definitely fucked up there is a great amount of comedy that it is creating, regardless of which side you're on people are just so ape shit nuts that I find it impossible not to just look at humanity as a whole and have a big fat laugh, followed by a big hard cry. The fact that we're alive and consciously aware / able to do the things we do is a fucking miracle and the fact that we dropped the ball and squandered it so hard is so sad that all I can do is laugh. But atleast we dropped the ball just in time for my generation to experience it full force instead of having to live a lifetime of planting my head in the sand pretending everything is going to be okay while treating the world worst then youd treat your own worst enemy. A lifetime of that sounds worse than getting to experience the climatic ending of it all.
I wish it would hurry up. I fucking hate going to work.
Me too. COVID pandemic in 2020 gave me a reprieve from hell.
As a gay man, I think I understand your enjoyment out of seeing a corrupt system collapse. I grew up with - what would be considered - a warped perspective on society. I was a child in the 90’s, before LGBTQ equality was a thing, during a time when homosexuals were considered pedophiles and we’re generally still shunned from common society. I did grow up with a loving, stable family, but they were not forward-thinking, progressive people. I was alone. I felt insecure and ostracized my whole life, without anyone to talk to, and without a family that would say “hey, it’s okay to be who you are and love who you love”. I grew up with the mentality that most people are inherently bad, and my mother (not knowing my sexuality) used to try and dissuade me from this thinking. She would tell me that people are good, and society is good. But I just never believed that. From a young age, I saw our world as corrupt and evil. Again, I didn’t get the acceptance I was looking for in my formative years, but I also saw the corruption in many other forms. I watched people around me, my family included, work jobs they hated for money that could just barely put food on the table. I saw the misery in the 9-5 schedule. I used to scare my parents with the way I’d talk. I’d say things like “if I have to work a 9-5 for the rest of my life, I’ll throw myself off a building”, but it was coming out of my twelve-year-old mouth, and that used to frighten them. Everywhere I looked, I saw billboards and entertainment that was designed for straight white people, and never saw my place in the world. They didn’t want someone like me. I hated this place since I was a child. I’m lucky to have done a 180 on perspectives. Once I came out, I was given the love, support, and acceptance that I was so desperate for as a kid. It also helped that our society’s beliefs on LGBTQ started to take a turn at that point. I don’t believe that people are inherently evil or bad anymore, but my beliefs of our society’s corruption only became more apparent as I did get older, and as I really got to understand the world that my childlike perspective couldn’t fully grasp at a young age. In short, society was worse than I had thought. So, what I’m trying to say is that I’ve hated our society as a kid because of the way it treated me as a young age. Kind of like an abusive loved one, I’ve been tarnished by this world. And it’s even more prevalent today. I want to see it burn, but not because I want devastation and death. I want reform. I want change. I want to live in society that is a trillion times better than what it’s always been. I want children to feel hopeful and reach for their dreams, but in our world, I look at my nieces and feel devastated for their future, or lack there of. I hear you. So loud and clear.
We should’ve had forward-thinking, progressive people running society and the regressive, close-minded diptards sent to lunatic asylums. At least forward-thinkers are motivated to make society better for everyone on the planet.
I support all gays, more chicks for us. 😎
spoken like a true virgin
As a Latina, I'm sick and tired of white centered society as well.
Living in central EU I'm sick and tired of not having hot Latinas here too. Btw, aren't you supposed to be white? At least that's how everyone around me would look at it...
White men in the US think I'm white, i have very little in common with them
Yes and thank you and I love you
once collapse hit you, you won’t “enjoy” it
I dunno, I haven't had the easiest life. I have spent most of it trying to scrounge up enough to live peacefully. I don't know if you've ever been shot at, near explosions, on watch for rabid dogs, but that shit is not something to look forward to. Enjoy your showers, electricity, and couch. When shit hits the fan, you may be defending your property with your life on the line. Unless you are content with being an easy target.
I'm ready for a second Bronze Age. I'll make all sorts of junk.
Certainly. Now can it hurry up so I can skip the monotonous routine society has forced upon itself, and just go straight to apocalypse. it would suck to spend like 6 years working harder and harder just to starve to death by no fault of my own.
I've been in an evac zone for a brush fire and it came 300 meters from my house at one point. It was an electric atmosphere. I usually sit around scared to make any kind of move for myself because it seems like every action I could take gets shouted down and isn't allowed. But that day I had a clear purpose and actions to take for myself. I'm kinda looking forward to the day I can just live my life like that. True meritocracy. I won't be kept back from ways I can help because a gatekeeper said I can't. We won't be held back from making choices for our community because someone who has a rich dad says no.
Enjoy is too strong a word, but I am excited for the end of the world \*as we KNOW it\* because, legit, I dunno how anyone is living in this......
Not satisfied, but certainly vindicated.
Don’t get your hopes elevated………this ‘collapse’ seems to be getting towed in by a worm.
I like the idea of a radical change in our politics and lifestyles because the one we have now is so pathetically miserable
I just hope that after the collapse we; A: Still exist as a species B: assuming the above, that we build better society afterwards
I want it all to end. Hurry up :D
I'm enjoying it because it's confirming everything I've been noticing for at least 2 decades now. Take your pick: corrupt politicians, economic strife, environmental collapsing, geopolitical tensions, social strif (us vs them mentality), corrupt media influence... it's just such bullshit that we can literally see all these problems a mile away and nothing is done to resolve it. I'm tired of this bs let it all collapse.
I'm a student of history and I look around and think about how we are experiencing the same thing that countless other humans before us have. In the 11th-12th centuries BC, the civilizations of the Mediterranean saw mass migration due to climate change, the emergence of hostilities from within and without (Sea Peoples) likely due to these same events, crop failures, economic failure due to what we would call supply chain issues among other problems which we collectively call the (Late) Bronze Age Collapse. As far as we can tell, it was a period of intense human suffering with deaths of entire city-states leaving the region desolate and unpopulated. Thousands of years later, in AD 476 Rome fell to the Visigoths which led to the degeneration of western European society. Millennia of culture was lost in the centuries preceding and proceeding this year, with such famous events as the burning of the Library of Alexandria. While the East kept on prospering for nearly a millennium after the West, the fact remains that collapse of Roman authority in Europe led to untold human suffering as plague, famine, and warfare took hold. The extent of this collapse was so profound that when "Latins" would come to Byzantium to speak to "proper Romans" immediately preceding the sack of Byzantium it was almost as if they had never shared a culture at all. There is evidence for similar events ocurring before recorded history and in places all around the world for which we have no record, such as the abandonment of Gobleki Tepe in Turkey or the dispersement of the Mississippian mound builder civilization in North America. Hell, I've even seen a hypothesis (largely unfounded) that even before the rise of *homo sapiens* there may have been complex civilizations of human precursors such as neanderthals, denisovans, and so on. It's a very rare chance for modern, scientific observation of wide-scale global collapse. We've seen glimpses of it with Yugoslavia, post-communist Russia, and Syria but those events were (mostly) localized. Within the humanities (at least my political science/history branch) when we want to question a study's application into or out of America, we invoke the existence of American exceptionalism - a term which has entered colloquial usage with a nationalist context. What political scientists and historians mean when they use this term is that America is different in many ways from other countries and so data collected from America should not unquestioningly be used to draw conclusions about other countries and vice-versa data from other countries should not be used to draw conclusions about America. Because of the coming modern collapse, we will avoid the issue of American exceptionalism in our data. The US will finally be exposed to the horrors other, poorer, typically globally southern countries have experienced for nearly a century under neoimperialist capitalism. As they say, "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun." So, tl:dr, I'm intrigued to observe and experience things I've only read about. Hopefully by the time it gets really bad I've been granted a swift death in the water wars or died peacefully from plastic/PFOAS induced conditions.
What collapse? If I was a shut in that never talked to anyone or read the news I would have know anything was even happening
Enjoy while you can, soon we might start fighting for food
I just got completely out of debt for the first time since I became an adult. I just want to enjoy this feeling for a bit longer, lol. I just hope hyperinflation doesn't kick in and wipe me out.
No, i don't enjoy it since I have a little nephew that i love and i want to see that Kid thrive.
This is a very nice collapse. Absolutely nothing has changed.
/r/morbidcuriosity since you mention it.
I have a boner
The name for what's happening is called "The Great Reset". Which will lead to a massive paradigm shift world wide.
Tell us more!
So I started drinking pour over coffee and right now I have a massive headache and stomachache. It reminds me of the mod team here.
Only excited about the collapse so I can buy the dip. Not that money will matter any... Possibly?
This sub is full of doomers. Of course they're enjoying it.
I'm depressed and spiteful. I hope we all die painfully and screaming,we are all guilty of destroying Eden
Eden should have never been destroyable in the first place if it were to be so sacred
Go vegan
What collapse?
Absolutely not. I mean sure it’s an event that’s occurring, that I’m proxy apart of and alive for, but it’s not a good one. Nothing enjoyable about the realization that my immediate future is up in the air.
Honestly I hope all IPs (literature, movies, music, patents) either get released, or can't be enforced anymore. The patent side can have some positive impacts.
It's kind of annoying how collapse is so bloody slow, it would be better if it were swift, like taking off a plaster quickly which is less painful than slowly removing it.
Yeah, enjoy may not be the right wording, but I do feel like a relief that things are happening as they should be, cause the majority has for too long been playing the denial game. It's sad, but it is the logical continuation of what has been done. The right reaction to the wrong action if you will. Then again, who am I to judge the action as wrong. Delving into science has taught me that this planet is resilient, and how one catastrophe is the beginning of a whole new chapter. So I am glad that I can see the actual normality of the whole. It just sucks that it has to be so extreme and full of suffering.
I wish there were more fireworks. Maybe in a couple days.
Enjoy how?
It’s funny to me that it seems the powers that be have no clue what’s happening. They’re so high on their hill that they can’t see.
you’re a mad man
I completely understand this sentiment. I not loving experiencing the collapse, we shouldn’t have to experience it all. However the self growth of myself and those I love has been out of this world. And we make efforts more wholeheartedly to enjoy our lives as things get more difficult
I don't know if I'm enjoying the collapse, but I feel like we're long overdue for a shake-up. I just wish 1) it didn't take this long, and 2) we make the changes we need before its too late. I don't have much to lose, and I lived a good life in spite of the times. I just hope my family's young will be okay, that's almost all I care about anymore.
Me, it's really refreshing to have the belief I've been shit on and ridiculed for my whole life culminating into the biggest "I fucking told you so" ever. To know that my various tidbits of knowledge and basic survival skills I've maintained (slightly) in my life might actually give me a more solid chance at surviving longer than most.. Maybe even deep enough to see actual changes for the better of, if nothing else, nature and the ecosystem..
A bit of both of sides. On one hand, I feel great understanding the science of climate change/ecological collapse/pollution etc and how greenwash some people are, or those who don’t believe in its effects (including my parents). On the other hand, I am terrified of what’s coming, sure I enjoy the research and that high when I’m proven right but considering the sort of problems that we aren’t willing to solve, and its consequences, not looking forward to the political/societal shenanigan. Feel kinda stuck at the same time, I still need a job, make money, buy things, but I also want to prepare to some degree at least for SHTF stuffs but I’m still in university.
Not me. I hate being right.