People who believe in a coming "collapse" - when do you expect it to happen, and how?

submitted by Aureus from self.AskSaidIt

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[–]CarlDung 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I once read a book about the collapse of Roman empire, and it was something the citizen couldn't actually see from within. Rome was sacked multiple times, but Rome never ended through a singular event. The central feature through those times was the growing carelessness which people began to express towards their culture, customs and civil disobedience. They had no resources to maintain the order through the empire, so the regions which were vital during the end times, receded back and isolated themselves where they formed comfortable boundaries against hostile world, and these bases were in most cases old legionary camps. Naturally farmers and artisans who supported legions built their businesses around those camps to feel more secure, and slowly the system that could maintain itself during the time of crisis became foundation of medieval feudalism.

[–]Jesus 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It also had plenty to do with a growing oligarchy that cares little about the laborer and common person. Extracting all the wealth for their own misdeeds and extravagance. Debt and usury was just one cause of Rome's collapse.

[–]CarlDung 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The thing I'm wondering mostly, is the difference between collapse in historical societies and modern times. We are depending on networks which either provide natural resources or components mined or manufacture in differents parts of the world. These networks are hard to secure for just to a handful of people, as the upkeep today is distributed to the whole consumer base, and the cost of infrastructure is funded by national tax revenues.

Nearing the collapse, these logistics begin to decline, and the distributed production network becomes economically unfeasible / inefficient. The elite back then had their own estates which could provide most of the stuff elite used to fancy back then, but today most of the electronics rely on rare earth elements which they can't secure for themselves without expensive power projection in the locations where these minerals are extracted from the ground / sea bed.