Dilema

[OliX]

Judging by the world economical situation and specialy after watching shocking documentary The Planet with all the facts I just can't decide between ONLY 2 possible choices to chose.
One is to concentrate on geting "back to the roots" and learn to live with nature. By that I mean grow and hunt your own food and stop being consumer in order to survive and "make a possible future for my kids".

Second one, much more complicated, is to join this goup of creative people made from scientist to artist in way to think out possible solutions to todays problem of transportation, energy and many others. That means something like accelerated science in way to "keep our lifestyle" while not destroying our mother planet.

Deadline is set to 30 years so what would you chose? Would you be ready when "world comes to a end" or do you got other solutions?

[StolenName]

I'd like solution 2! Can't live without the finer things in life and I'm lazy as fuck.

[Morning Glory]

30 years? well that's a generous estimate. i'd say more like 10 to 15.

technology (and more broadly every facet of our industrial civilization) objectifies things into a utilitarian world-view. this can ONLY lead to destructive impulses by it's vary nature of value (that which uses and that which gets used). trees into cardboard, animals into mcdonalds, mountains into skyscrapers, oceans into garbage dumps, humans into consumers, the world into the consumed. as some say the conversion of the living into the dead. and since these things cannot last infinatly, paradoxally it also requires the constant importation of resources so you can bet on war, disease, famine and pestilance, the apocalypse is here and now.

The only technology that was and will ever be sustainable is the stone age. The good news is that we're the only one's dumb enough not to see it. a couple billion people banging thier heads against the wall, everything else is pushing in the right direction, it knows where to go. it only needs to be left alone to do what it always has.

my only (and greatest) fear is that the collapse of society won't come soon enough, that it will linger on and the death machine will devour everything until it's the only thing left and when it finally extinguishes itself the world will be like a candle blowing out.

[StolenName]

30 years? well that's a generous estimate. i'd say more like 10 to 15.

technology (and more broadly every facet of our industrial civilization) objectifies things into a utilitarian world-view. this can ONLY lead to destructive impulses by it's vary nature of value (that which uses and that which gets used). trees into cardboard, animals into mcdonalds, mountains into skyscrapers, oceans into garbage dumps, humans into consumers, the world into the consumed. as some say the conversion of the living into the dead. and since these things cannot last infinatly, paradoxally it also requires the constant importation of resources so you can bet on war, disease, famine and pestilance, the apocalypse is here and now.

The only technology that was and will ever be sustainable is the stone age. The good news is that we're the only one's dumb enough not to see it. a couple billion people banging thier heads against the wall, everything else is pushing in the right direction, it knows where to go. it only needs to be left alone to do what it always has.

my only (and greatest) fear is that the collapse of society won't come soon enough, that it will linger on and the death machine will devour everything until it's the only thing left and when it finally extinguishes itself the world will be like a candle blowing out.

that's such an awesome description of the world dying.

[CherryCola]

2nd seems for more productive 1st evn if you live clean up your kids would still be screwed by everyone else better chance to make a diffrence with ppl behind you

then again im cynical i just except that we are screwed when i have kids im gunna ban them from having kids so i dont have to worry about my family :p

[Lady Alias]

But the cheerleader was saved.

[OliX]

15 years... my calculations suck then... this project looks very interesting... I got a friend living on 120$ per month... he just stoped consuming and he's living outside in very cozy tent with home build led diod lamps powered from solar panels... he works 1 day in the month and that's enought to pay all bills over a month. and he still continues studying

I still thinks that's hardcore living but not impossible if neccesary. I'm very interested to join this organisation because science was allways my thing

[mmmcherry]

that sounds like the way i would do it.. i would love to live out in the wilderness... as long as the bears dont eat me...

[Bondage Clown]

Sweet... Lets go back to Aboriginal beginnings... *straps on loin cloth, and sharpens spears*

[mmmcherry]

i could totally do it, im part native american anyways (yeah id say indian but in canada thats considered derogatory... lame hey?)

mmmm loincloth...

[Velvet-Tongue]

In the end what would probably happen is a mixture of both. The cultural elite would have small tech-havens with advanced filtration technology, greenhouses, etc. While the majority of the world would revert to feudalism with Warlords controlling land and farmers.

Thats my idea anyway.

Oh..well you said I only have two choices? Well obviously i'd want the second one since technology rocks, but I doubt everyone could get their stuff together and we'd all die anyway. So best to focus on farming and survival skills.

[Jebadiah]

I like the version from the 80's "end of the world" flicks.

Punks always do well in those.

[DeviantMommy]

Yeh,I just want a good seat when it all goes to shit..I say we got what we paid for. Maybe it's not to late,but I feel the same about global activism as I do about voting..not enough people care to make any signifigant change.

I think I'm going to start building my fall-out shelter.. I want to be a survivor so I can loot all the stores and drive all the abandoned cars around,the apocolypse should atleast be interesting.

[StolenName]

I like the version from the 80's "end of the world" flicks.

Punks always do well in those.

In the end rats survive *stabs gutter punk* . joking joking haha

EDIT: Half my mates would have killed me for that hahahaha

[Gabriel]

Okay, CIA World Factbook reports the population of the world to be at 6,525,170,264 as of 2006.
The total land mass of the earth (including Antarctica) is 57,500,000 million square miles. This works out to 113.5 people per square mile of surface area.

Now, let's subtract Antarctica = -5,405,430sq miles = 52,094,570
Subtract the Sahara desert = -3,320,000sq miles = 48,774,570
Subtract the Arabian desert = -900,000sq miles = 47,874,570
Subtract the Gobi desert = -500,000sq miles = 47,374,570

According to Wikipedia, places I had thought to rule out such as most of Siberia and Greenland, and even a lot of northern Canada, are surprisingly habitable. So with our new (and horridly inaccurate) HABITABLE land mass at 47 million 374 thousand and 570 square miles, this makes for 138 people per square mile.

Now right at this point we've got FAR too many people to survive on hunting and foraging. We've also got FAR too many people to survive on controlled domesticated ranching. And I don't "know" but I'll guess that we might be taxing the land available for that many people to survive on agriculture.

Of course, not NEARLY all of that available land is good land to farm, it would take some seriously impressive irrigation to make a lot of it even livable. That would require an unreal amount of cooperation with one's neighbors.

So, we choose option 1 and end up starving off or killing off HUGE volumes of population, which depending on who you ask, may not really be a bad thing.
OR, we choose option 2 and end up trying to stay out of it while the rest of the world goes about starving off and killing off medium volumes of population, which according to almost everyone you ask is a bad thing.

In the end, though, it all comes down to which option lets me keep this internet IV plugged into my vein.

[Mr Karl]

the first hurdle though, getting all those creative, artistic and scientific temperments to work together......good luck with that

But don't worry, the world is going to keep on going and going and going and going regardless of what us insignifcant little specks do or don't do, a few well placed volcanoes can wipe us out a lot faster than we ever could do ourselves, and that's just one possibility