Higgenbotham wrote:
> This relates to the news thread and whether White Americans will
> be able to survive this collapse. It's pretty clear to me that
> they don't have what it will take. Their only skill lies in
> destroying what little is left of the topsoil and other natural
> endowments.
> I've modified my opinion quite a bit over the past 2 years and now
> believe there will ultimately be very few survivors from the core
> industrial civilizations after this collapse takes place and it
> winds down to the bottom. I think humans will be forced into a
> primarily hunter gatherer or nomadic existence and the only
> industrialized humans who will survive will be those who are found
> useful to the hunter gatherers or nomads who predominate after it
> hits bottom. Current humans in a good position to survive and
> prosper after the collapse are the tribes in the Amazon who still
> hunt with blowguns as their ancestors did centuries ago or the
> descendants of the Mongols who still live a nomadic life on
> horseback as their ancestors of centuries ago.
> Guns and ammo and meals ready to eat will allow some to avoid the
> initial death wave that takes the bulk of the population.
I describe myself as the gloomiest person in the world, so I'm always
surprised when you describe a more dystopian future than I do. I see
that your two years in the cave have pushed you even further in that
direction.
I would hardly describe my own view of the future as optimistic, but
apparently it's more optimistic than yours. As I've said many times,
I expect the war to kill some 3-4 billion people from nuclear weapons,
ground warfare, disease and famine, leaving 3-4 billion people to
rebuild the world. There will still be many universities and research
centers around the world that will survive, at least partially, and so
even in the worst scenario, the world will be well past the
hunter-gatherer stage within 5 years or so.
Even the United States will mostly survive. There may be no
electricity or running water for a couple of years in the big cities,
but almost all rural areas will be liveable. There will be gangs
going around killing people, but that's no different from the
aftermath of any war that doesn't end the world. And unless Donald
Trump starts a war with Mexico, there may not even be much of a ground
war on American soil, unless a billion Chinese learn how to swim long
distances.