A dismal view of our future ...

[dogtag]

An interesting read which tempts me to visit Safeway
in search of more canned soups.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/12/can-history-predict-future/616993/

You can't have too many canned soups.

[lyman]

the atlantic,,


did you hack togor's list of bookmarks?



meanwhile,

[dogtag]

It was meant to be read, not to invite dumb comments.

[Vern Humphrey]

“Not all of human history,” he corrected me once. “Just the last 10,000 years.”

Hello!?! Writing was first invented in Sumeria around 3200 B.C. That means there are no records that go back beyond about 5,200 years -- only about half as far as he claims.

[clintonhater]

China is the future--aggressive & militant, & sure as hell not worried about bedwetter Hiden.

[togor]

It is an interesting read, DT, thanks for the link.

Too much wealth at the top, a surplus of elites, some of them attack the system itself, and then the line of credit runs out, and finally the sh*t hits the fan. In this analysis Trump is an anti-elite attacking the system, but if not him, someone else.

[lyman]

It was meant to be read, not to invite dumb comments.

still a valid question,

[togor]

DT,

I categorize Limbaugh as another of the anti-elites discussed in the article. Economically he's up there with many of them, but not really accepted as one, and so he allies with the common class, using a perception of their diminishing fortunes to wage a war against the elites, to tear the edifice down. I mean, Limbaugh himself would heartily agree that has been the sum total of his life's work. The thing is, these anti-elites for all of their wanting to bring stuff low, don't present a clear idea of what gets built out of the rubble. Even true of the MAGA movement. Which is why I don't regard any of them as conservatives in a positive sense of the word. They're too eager to tear stuff down.

Great piece, I hope the Biden administration and Congress all read it and take it seriously. Better to avoid the worst of it, with China out there, waiting to pick up the pieces.

[togor]

Also, DT,

If the guy's timeline is right, the next 5 years are doomed to suck, possibly worse for having Trump in office.

Stuff has been brewing for awhile, I've watched it slowly build, and wondered what will be the state of firearms ownership in this country afterwards if the political zit pops in a bad way.

[lyman]

have either of you read Foundation?

[clintonhater]

Better to avoid the worst of it, with China out there, waiting to pick up the pieces.

Wish they'd take DC, NYC, Atlanta, others too numerous too name. I'd volunteer to help.

[clintonhater]

The thing is, these anti-elites for all of their wanting to bring stuff low, don't present a clear idea of what gets built out of the rubble.

If the best you can do is tear down what you know is rotten...that's a good start; Hiden is rotten & his partner, much worse. I prefer the rubble.

[togor]

Wish they'd take DC, NYC, Atlanta, others too numerous too name. I'd volunteer to help.

Of course. But that's not trying to conserve anything is it.

So after the residents of these cities are speaking Mandarin, what's next?

[togor]

have either of you read Foundation?

Asimov? Yeah. Similar idea.

A related article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/m...circ&fellback=

Interesting quote:

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the total net worth of America’s billionaires, all 686 of them, has jumped by close to a trillion dollars. In September, nearly 23 million Americans reported going without enough to eat, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Whatever problems those 686 billionaires may have, they are not the same as those of the 23 million who are hungry. Insisting that they should not be allowed to blur together puts not only “society” but also collapse into a different sort of focus. If societies are not in fact unitary, problem-solving entities but heaving contradictions and sites of constant struggle, then their existence is not an all-or-nothing game. Collapse appears not as an ending, but a reality that some have already suffered — in the hold of a slave ship, say, or on a long, forced march from their ancestral lands to reservations faraway — and survived.

[dogtag]

Also, DT,

If the guy's timeline is right, the next 5 years are doomed to suck, possibly worse for having Trump in office.

Stuff has been brewing for awhile, I've watched it slowly build, and wondered what will be the state of firearms ownership in this country afterwards if the political zit pops in a bad way.

Seems as though who is at the helm won't matter although Biden could
literaly hand everything over to China. When the dam breaks whoever's finger will be inadequate.

- - - Updated - - -

have either of you read Foundation?

Yes, I have, but I'm a SF fan with a collection of 1st editionn hardbacks.
That trilogy is not one of them however except in an omnibus edition.