“Is Civilization on the Brink of Collapse?” | Kurzgesagt reaction

Kurzgesagt attempts to answer whether Civilization is on the brink of collapse. Talking the Roman Empire, deadly plagues and human resilience.

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[Stogie]

All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

[chocolate-teapot]

I wouldn't say collapse, it's slowly melting, who knows what mould it'll pour into.

[Jamie-lwsy]

Is it possible literally see intelligence. And if so is it possible for someone so beautiful to be so intelligent? She's literally perfect.

[gio-ozgf]

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, surviving over a thousand years after the western half collapsed. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in the Mediterranean world. The term "Byzantine Empire" was only coined following the empire's demise; its citizens referred to the polity as the "Roman Empire" and to themselves as "Romans". Wikipedia.

[MH-brth]

The scary thing is that this modern age of high technology is incredibly fragile. If large swaths of the population loose access to fuel, electricity, or food then we would collapse overnight. We've been conditioned to rely entirely on these things being provided to us in exchange for money. Take any one or a combination of the three away and there is really nothing to fall back on. Yes there are a few people who live in rural areas that have livestock and can burn firewood but that is nothing close to the majority.
I would give any 1st world society less than a week before collapsing into complete chaos should such a thing happen.

[cortecz]

"Where can I get the whole pie for a dollar?"
If you find that, I wouldn't advise eating it.

[vblake]

Having Younglings like you gives me hope for the species.

[epicadventureturtle]

Most humans werent mentally ready for the tech we have now like social media, dating apps, bots, AI. They get tricked, exploited, become depressed, isolate etc. That itself is already bleak, but computers and AI are also technology accelerators, so this gap between technological challenges and human understand will increasingly grow larger.

[notmee]

Many miss this, but the comic book and TV show THE WALKING DEAD, is about just this. Civilization collapses, and humans go back to square one, acting as hunter/gatherers. The zombies could be seen to represent predators or disease. As the show progresses, they organize in agriculture, walled cities, wars, trade, multi-city alliances etc., facing similar pressures to what humans have gone through over the ages. The comic, which is now completed, ends with humanity nearly reestablished at a level about the start of the 20th century after the course of a human lifetime.

[JuandeFucaU]

have you ever noticed how nobody ever says a civilization is on the brink of beginning?
it reminds me how humans are fixated on the afterlife and don't even really have a word for the beforelife.

[morrismonet]

Albert Einstein: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

[subatomicparticle]

As George Carlin said all you would have to do to break down our societies is to completely eliminate electricity but as the video suggests humans are resilient.

[PeterSedesse]

The printing press changed all of this. the part to remember about the Roman empire is that most technical knowledge wasn't systematically preserved. There weren't books detailing how the roman's made cement or built roads. It was all apprenticeships and experts. If those people were killed or scattered for a generation, the knowledge was lost. Unless all our libraries were burned, we wouldn't be knocked back to the iron age no matter how few of us survived.

[wprobe]

The Calhoun experiment a study on a rat utopia intrigued me. Personally I don't think were near being overpopulated, but in the last thirty years here in the west we are mimicking some of the characteristics of some of the rats such as not seeking mates, narcissism, and depression. Western governments have taken using immigration to grow their population and providing tax incentives to have children. I think a lot of this is due to social media, i get I'm saying this on social media. I'm a simple person and I try to make sense of things in simple ways. In my opinion we are heading to a tipping point.

[chriswatson]

The 14th C saw a reduction of the world's population, not just because of the bubonic plague but also because of famine and other diseases. The Spanish flu is listed as causing more deaths than the Black Death, but the world population was much bigger and growing rapidly.

[alundavies]

Civilisation is evolving, that is what happens. Empires rise and fall. Innovation leads to new ways of living. Nothing new here. Don’t panic.

[WillFlyTheLightingGuy]

“Seeking A Friend For the End of the World” by Chris Cornell.

[oddpoppetesq.]

Civil disorder is at an all time high in most advanced civilisations today. That's why Rome fell.... And I've only just started the video, but I know where Kurzgesagt is going to say.
Humans are doomed to repeat their mistakes over and It's inevitable.

[mikesee]

Archaix anyone? The phoenix is coming.

[Enigmatic..]

The question isn't could we rebuild? but should we rebuild?
How many time do we need to repeat the same mistakes before we get the hint.
Humanity isn't meant to live like this, its the reason we have so much unhappiness and depression.