Furtive Glances into the Abyss

A report published in 1972 (Limits to Growth) suggested a highly likely scenario in which, by 2040, a precipitous and uncontrollable global decrease in population and industrial capacity will take place…unless significant alterations are made in resource utilization and environmental destruction. Several updates to the original report (including Beyond the Limits; The Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update; and Limits and Beyond) subsequently were published. Gaya Herrington, a Dutch econometrician, researcher, and women’s rights activist published one of the most recent follow-up pieces; her analyses found that the original model’s projections are broadly consistent with current trends. In other words, things still look bleak for the near-term experiences of human society. I am under no delusion that I will be alive to watch the catastrophic collapse. But, then, I suspect that may be exactly what I am watching every day—the “sudden” implosion of social structures that took thousands and thousands of years to build. The speed of the unraveling of society—compared to the tempo of its development—is blindingly fast. There it is again, that morbid fascination with the brutally painless decay of what could have been tomorrow…a thousand years hence. Eyewitness to emptiness.