Are You Ready For The End?

Social Forums Non-Philosophical Chat
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I’m 23 years old. I had a nice childhood. I have a steady job. I have a great girlfriend. I’m pleased with life right now. But today something happened, something that hit me like a shit ton of bricks (that’s a metric shit ton, by the way). I realized I am completely and utterly unprepared for the end.

Here’s what I mean. There is a potential depression looming on the horizon. Just as with the first depression, specific and accurate reasons why it happen can only come after the fact. The folks in the 1920’s might have had some indicators that something was coming, but the far reaching effects it would have on a person’s every day life couldn’t be predicted. Nobody expected to be standing in line, starving, waiting for a bowl of soup.

Any generation after the depression can’t possibly understand what it was like. We live our lives, and we experience reality in the only way we can, never knowing what people went through at that time. And it’s safe to say, we’ve generally had a golden age of economic prosperity relative to the depression for the past 70 years, so our generations cannot fathom what it’s like.

That being said, this headline appeared on Fox News’s (I know, I know) website: Powerful Solar Storm Could Shut Down U.S. for Months.

Okay, it’s a rare possibility, but think about that for a second. No power, potentially for months. Absolute chaos. People flooding the stores, looting, stealing as much food as they can. Riots. Absolute anarchy. And if it’s not solar disaster, . It could be the volatile grounds of yellowstone. Or the San Andreas fault. A sunami. A meteor. No longer are we under the delusion that God is going to protect our planet. The universe is a cruel place, and doesn’t give a rats ass about our measely lives.

That said, I realized today that I am completely unprepared for any of it. I have no stockpiles of food. I have no propane heaters that could heat my house in the dead of winter, if it occurred then. I have no emergency supplies. I have no gun. I have no savings that would last me through a depression. I would be one of those in the mad, crazed throngs of people looting the stores, fighting for my life. Starving. No money. No job. No house.

I don’t know, maybe I’m just fear mongering. Maybe I’m being unrealistic. But there is always that little voice, like an itch in the back of my mind, whispering “what if…?” I would be caught with my pants down.

Are you ready for a global depression? Are you ready for a disaster that could shut down the world for months, or even years? Considering I believe this is the only chance at life that I have, I am just coming to the realization that without better preparation, the future, and my chances of survival, are much bleaker than I ever realized…

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eschatology, ftl

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The point obviously went over your head. If you need me to explain it to you, pm me.

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I forgot where I was for a second, thought I was in the philosophy forum. I’ll explain eschatology for you. It’s the study of last things. Like your money, from what you’ve just said. Most of the world survived the depression. good luck.

More about eschatology

Eschatology has also been a belief shared, sometimes theorized on, by philosophers. Saint Augustine stressed the allegorical method of interpretation. He was greatly influenced by Origen.[2] He was followed by Ibn al-Nafis[3] and Hegel with their philosophy of history, and, some (such as the author Albert Camus in ‘The Rebel’) have argued, Karl Marx. Theodicy has gathered together most Enlightenment thinkers, among whom are Kant and Rousseau.

More recently, many involved in futures studies and transhumanism have noted the accelerating rate of scientific progress and anticipate a technological singularity in the 21st century that would profoundly and unpredictably change the course of human history.[4] Artist/futurist Michael E. Arth, for example, speculates about the emergence of a hive-like distributed being that would be self-conscious, integrated into a future version of the Internet, and also able to exhibit any individualized form, or speak any language. This collective intelligence, UNICE: Universal Network of Intelligent Conscious Entities, would connect everyone on the planet before it spreads outward into space.

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This is an excellent thread. You’ve put your finger on something that I for one have thought about in tiny doses during the last few years. I’m not ready either, mainly because I’m busy with other things and because I think there’s a fair bit of time left before “it” comes.

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Nietzsche, I still don’t understand…I’m not talking about a technological singularity…

And the definition of eschatology I’ve found deal with theology. Maybe the philosophical definition is different.

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Dork. forget the singularity.
There are no metaphysical signs about the end of the world, that are not mumbo-jumbo.

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Where did I mention anything about a metaphysical sign…maybe this is where the confusion lies.

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It’s just the thread title. It just sounds like one of those cartoons where the bearded, ragged, weirdo is walking around with a sign that reads “The End is Near”.

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So you’re saying you only got as far as the thread title before you responded? Or were you making a joke that I completely missed. #-o

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I have very sensitive radar for musings on “the end”. Jesus said the world would end before he died. That oviously didn’t happen. Christians have been trying to say they are the body of christ, and the world will end when they do, …for the last 2000 years.

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Yes, people have been saying “the end is nigh” and such like for centuries, but the difference between now and all before is our current (and rising) level of technology. This is something that is objectively new.

I think our species will survive, but not without some b/s to deal with first.

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buy canned food/veggies/fruits/spam
bullets/guns
batteries/steel wool
matches/lighters
good sharp knives and axes (and a whetstone)/shovel
first aid kit
rope/fabric

boy scout handbook to tell you how to use the above

-Imp

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I just don’t think it’s outrageous to claim that we’re overdue for some kind of disaster…aside from the usual hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.

I mean, even if enormous solar flares only happen once ever 500 years, it wouldn’t have had any noticeable effect before the invention of technology that would be adversely affected by it.

A meteor could hit the earth. A major earthquake could tear our nation apart. Yellowstone is a major disaster waiting to happen. I’m not saying the end of the world is inevitable, nor am I saying it’s religious in any way. This is simple science.

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Hi Imp,

Thanks for the suggestions…

Do you have the supplies you mentioned, and did you acquire them specifically for unforeseen circumstances?

And what’s the purpose of the steel wool?

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and then some… I live in the country

steel wool (besides being a nice cleaning tool) and a nine volt battery make fire… in case your matches get wet or your lighter is out of gas

-Imp

p.s. it might be a good idea to learn how to hunt/fish/clean your kill…

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I thought it might have been for crack, jk.

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I’ve long considered the ideas you’re describing, Dorky. I’m not very well prepared at the moment, either. I used to own quite a few guns but over the last decade I’ve sold most of them due to not really having any place to shoot or hunt and not a lot of time. My reloading gear is all packed in a box and has been for a decade and a half. :blush: Since quitting my full time Chef job to return to school I don’t have a lot of money in reserve either. Right now I’m about as unprepared for “The Big One” as I’ve ever been. Funny, there are a lot of armchair survivalists that make lists of gear, chat endlessly about it and argue over how to best prepare yet never do anything about it. I tell myself one of these days I’m going to work on my disaster preparedness plan but someday never seems to come.

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I take the impact of depression seriously, I think it’s NOT comparable to the 1930’s because we’re much more suburban/urbanized and not nearly as agrarian as those times. People haven’t the need for basic survival skills because they’ve been able to get what they need from stores or other places. I also believe that there are aspects of society (like a huge and already unstable underclass, for one thing) that creates serious vulnerability.

I’ve discussed this with some close friends who also entertain the idea that the basic foundation could crumble dangerously. The idea has been raised that we’ll form a small collective and locate to someone’s rural property in Mexico. But at this point, it’s mostly conjecture.

I was living in Rome when Y2K hit (for what it was worth, ha ha) and I’d stored up on a lot of canned goods, basic supplies, water and money. But I didn’t have the motivation to arm myself…not sure I even could shoot someone who comes to take what I have in a chaotic time. I’d like to think I could, but I simply don’t know. Now I have children; I didn’t then. That makes a big difference.

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Handy. 9V - are those the little rectangular ones…?