So many people are worried about climate change or global warming as the biggest threat for humans. I disagree with that, and actually I think it’s pretty far down on the list. Here are several things that scare the bejesus out of me a lot more than climate change.
Weaponized Virus – These days, gene editing and other biotech is readily available, as is the knowledge of how to weaponize a deadly virus. It’s safe to say that someone with biological training and a vendetta could create such a virus for under $10,000. Given the number of innocent people that the US government has tortured and murdered around the world in the last 20 years, it’s hard to believe there’s not a biologist somewhere who has a grudge against America. In fact, it’s somewhat surprising to me that no one has unleashed such a horrible thing on the world yet. I think “12 Monkeys” is a reasonable scenario for the future, unfortunately.
Environmental Degradation – I do believe the degradation of the environment is a serious problem, but not from fossil fuel emissions. Our modern agricultural systems use poison as a primary input, killing all organisms that aren’t the cash crop. Factory farming of both plants and animals is incredibly destructive of the environment. Already scientists around the world are reporting a 70% drop in the number of insects in many places. Human sperm counts are down 50% globally. There’s practically an epidemic of children with the A-diseases (allery, asthma, autism, auto-immune disease, etc). The food system is centralizing around half-a-dozen or so nutritionless commodity crops. If we don’t kill off our own species with this behavior, we may end up collapsing the ecosystem (which is, after all, a complex nonlinear dynamic system, so the collapse could be catastrophic).
Financial Collapse – Inept government intervention in the economy and financial markets has brought us massive imbalances never before seen in history. Public and private debt, wealth concentration, zombie companies, inflated currencies, negative interest rates and a host of other problems are the order of the day. A total, global collapse is not out of the picture. If global supply chains and financial systems break down, we may not be able to restart the economy, given the level of complexity we have now. This could bring on a humanitarian disaster.
Surveillance State – If we do manage to survive all the systemic risks, we may end up living in an Orwellian dystopia where every purchase, post, and communication is recorded and monitored, and deviation from “proper” behavior is punished. Even now in China, if you have posted anything critical of the government on social media, you might find yourself unable to obtain a mortgage, or even rent an apartment. Since the ruling elites always assume they are enlightened and us plebes are ignorant, they delight in this sort of control. At this point, what is the meaning of being a human being?
Nuclear War – Finally, the oldie but goodie. These days with Trump Haters and Neocons gleefully pushing the US government into ever escalting confrontations with Russia and China, the risk of nuclear war grows larger. We have tanks and missiles rolled up around Russia’s entire western border, and we sail warships through Chinese waters, playing a game of chicken where the lives of billions are at stake. One small mistake could lead to a huge calamity.
Humanity would have to safely navigate all of these threats to even get to the spot where climate change is the biggest threat. And by that time, we have a much better chance of having advanced technologies that could help to solve the problem. Who in 1920 could have predicted today’s technologies?
Divergent Nexus 