I've seen enough end-of-the-world movies to know that when the end does come that The Rock will not be there to save my lazy self from impending doom.
Life isn't like the movies, sad to say. The relationship humans have to the world is remarkably unhealthy, and as we continue to reckon with the consequences of big business running the world, exploiting resources, and pushing us ever further toward climate catastrophe—
*takes a deep breath*
Sorry, got a bit carried away there... the anxiety is real.
I promise there are some more humorous answers sprinkled in this article, thanks to the efforts of Redditor User34884, who asked the online community:
"What will cause the fall of Western civilization?"
"As someone raised..."
"Not just Facebook. The whole internet has a role to play, from social media to hacker access points to constant entertainment to the collapse of locally owned businesses to such dependence on google that we no longer know how to do anything or deal with uncertainty or even read a map.
As someone raised before the internet was a thing, who had a front-row seat during the radical changes of the last 35 years, I truly believe the internet is the most amazing thing humanity has ever created and it will be our downfall."
Seeing the power big tech companies have over our discourse is remarkably unsettling.
"A lot of us..."
"Getting too comfortable. A lot of us don't know how good we've got it already, and fail to realize how bad it can really get."
This is true. If quality of life dips, a lot of people will not know how to handle it.
"A rogue nation..."
"A rogue nation + A bunch of nukes.
Haven't seen this one on here yet, it has some potential."
"If artificial intelligence..."
"If artificial intelligence doesn't wake up and destroy the species, I think western civilization will fall because it will stop doing all the things that made it rise."
After watching Westworld, I can see it.
"I doubt..."
"I think we might just be seeing it. Mass migration for climate and poverty issues. Rising prices and supply problems causing civil unrest. Increasing political division.
I doubt it will be a collapse, but I think there will be a major world-changing 'event' building up."
We are already seeing it, and it's exacerbating tensions worldwide.
"Making sweeping decisions..."
"Post-truth politics. Making sweeping decisions of global impact based on emotion and 'doing your own research' rather than paying mind to experts and specialists."
"The most likely thing..."
"The most likely thing... climate change. Climate change making fresh water and arable land very scarce. This will cause violent migration of billions of people, particularly those who live in deserts or places that get destroyed by pollution or natural disaster. This will of course lead to war, as the places with arable land and fresh water will want to defend their resource for their own population, but migrants will face certain death if they don't move, so they'll fight to the death for their survival."
This is the big one for me. Now we just wait.
We have already passed some irreversible tipping points.
"Influencer culture..."
"Inability for most people to differentiate truth from fiction.
News overload means we just read headlines.
Influencer culture means everyone is writing from a platform. Even those who lack insight or perspective.
Data illiteracy means statistics can be abused to mislead us.
And social media is like a collective consciousness that failed because each node can adulterate what it sends to the collective. And nodes can lie."
"Which is of course..."
"Ignorance. Which is of course ironic since we have a lot of excellent schools and sources of information, but too many people sticking to believing BS that suits them instead."
"As a result..."
"Western Civilisation.
The downside of freedom, capitalism, and democracy etc. is that it can be very easily turned against a nation from the outside as by its nature there is a lack of control on the general population.
As a result, we have very little to offer to stop enemy activity. As long you are following the rules you can entirely destroy the west. While groups that don't put high stakes in freedom can just block any group they don't like to defend themselves like that.
Ultimately this will be a game the west won't win from nations like China. Which have already mastered it."
Sorry to depress you.
I think we just all might be tired of living through such major historical events. These are truly interesting times.
Have some suggestions of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
Want to "know" more?
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
@annewheaton/Threads
@richardadlof/Threads
@mikeisaphreek/Threads
@daisymouze/Threads