One Decade to Midnight (part 3): Failure Cascade

[@kensvideos1]

"This tree will make for good axe handles"

[@lachlank.8270]

Positive feedback loop 😢

[@sprobablycancr4457]

@@lachlank.8270 hang on a minute...

[@caveyful]

Axe handles! No we need to make shovel handles to plant more trees with due to all the trees we are cutting down to make shovel handles. Maybe just stop buying useless shit off amazon would be better.

[@clintmichigan9112]

@@kensvideos1 gold star to you sir

[@brokenrecord3095]

"this femur will make a pretty good billy-club"

[@clintmichigan9112]

Soren Kirkegaard once wrote “A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that's just how the world will come to an end: to general applause from wits who believe it's a joke.”

[@JasonDennisLynch]

Yessir. " Don't look up "

[@granttucker8451]

That’s happening right now in the US, and the clown wears orange makeup 🤨

[@Johny40Se7en]

I heard a similar one, only it was the Jester, not the clown. Either way, it's a powerful little story, which unfortunately, would indeed happen nowadays...

[@latetotheparty184]

Great comment. You nailed it!

[@Rnankn]

A man walks into a bar. The bartender says, “What’ll it be?” The man replies, “A punchline. But make it self-aware, with a touch of existential dread.” The bartender nods, pours him an empty glass, and says, “You get it?” The man stares at the glass, laughs a little too long, and whispers, “Yeah, I do. Unfortunately.”

[@Ming64]

Collapse has arrived. It's just not evenly distributed.

[@andybaldman]

👏👏👏

[@ernestogerena7419]

I am already at the bottom, so I do not have much to loose. ;)

[@Jamesthomas12187]

Kinda how the system of capitalism is supposed to work...

[@Jamesthomas12187]

​@@ernestogerena7419 no place but up. Awesome place e to be. Every day can be gains.

[@beguinemystic]

i think one of the best things you can do to mentally prepare for the inevitable is to acknowledge the lifestyle sacrifices you will likely have to make without getting lost in mad max doomsday prepper fantasies. you will probably not be able to eat fruits that are indigenous to the opposite side of the globe anymore, but how desperately do you really NEED bananas? you won’t have access to a constant stream of new clothing options, but is it really that impossible to care for and mend a pair of pants you already enjoy wearing? there are many small things we can do to stay cognizant of the modern systems of consumption and prepare for the adjustment of those systems without falling into despair. just don’t take anything for granted.

[@robertr.5765]

Well, yes sure a few adjustments. Good one. I am pretty sure I know who this "we" is that you mean. Speaking from a privileged position to a privileged audience. Maybe you should give the video another try before writing out of your ass to think you state something smart. Don't ever try to lecture people who are already in despair!

[@roysmith5597]

No reason to fall into despair, but the lifestyle sacrifices we face are not on the scale of bananas and new pants. We are talking financial / banking ruptures, the end of GDP growth, and the breakdown of all spending (private & public) that stems from those. We should anticipate this by the mid 2030's. The 2040's bring physical decline in global food production; not an absence of tropical fruit, but the emptying of grocery shelves. It is the collapse of complex civilization. Mentally prepare for life without it. Mentally prepare for depending on people, not the system.

[@Robert_McGarry_Poems]

(Taking notes furiously) Learn stuff, have values... Seems like great advice. 😊

[@SomePotato]

I just moved to an island completely depending on imports, including food and water. I'm fucked.

[@crabbyalthegrump641]

I already do this. I wear clothes out and repair what I can. I keep my diet simple and inexpensive but still healthy. I live in a van instead of working myself to death for a job that doesn't really help anyone except the business owner and the state. I only have to survive, and most days I wonder if that is even necessary.

[@davidsheilds7191]

I daresay sir, possibly your Magnum Opus. Truly exceptional. Keep up the stellar work.

[@postholocene]

the easter islander who cut down the last tree was thinking the same thing we all do, every day: 'if i don't get it, someone else will'.

[@postholocene]

poor mofs could see the local totality from their damn hilltop and they couldn't do a thing to stop their overshoot situation once it was underway. we have no chance. our totality isn't even immediately accessible or relevant to an individuals experience - we have overshot an entire biosphere. the only thing that will stop us from strip mining the planet into a barren wasteland is the energy cliff.

[@Pseudo-Fraxineus]

yeah, exactly, it's likely to have been a race to the bottom.

[@postholocene]

@@Pseudo-Fraxineus poor mofs could see the local totality from their damn hilltop and they couldn't do a thing to stop their overshoot situation. everyone knew what was happening and who cut down each and every tree lmfao.

[@onyourleft5648]

“My fishgiver won’t give me my 3 daily fish if I don’t chop down this tree, I’m not sure this is a good idea and it makes me anxious yet the system at hand has me feeling forced into this solution as there are so few boats that my fish giver has said he will need the wood for repairs. I wonder if we will ever fix the problem of trees as I can’t see any left, I have watched as the island become barren, I am become chopper of worlds” *Thud*

[@chistinelane]

​@@onyourleft5648better yet "My wife and children NEED to eat tonight. And I can't find any other trees to chop down." *Whack* *Thud* And for another few nights, things were okay again. For the last time.

[@adriancoria2584]

When i was a kid like 9 or something, i saw a dead fox in the road when going to the landfill with my dad, i knew what death was but that is when i understood it, i couldn't sleep for weeks after that, i didn't had nightmares or anything i wasn't even afraid, i just felt anxious that there wasnt going to be anything after and that kept me awake, it was like a heavy sensation in my chest, these series of videos have brought such happy child memories of dread, i really appreciate it

[@volkerengels5298]

The 9year old is in peace now?

[@bashisobsolete.pythonismyn6321]

9 year olds, eh? glad i never was one.

[@Johny40Se7en]

A child should never have to feel anxiety, it's awful enough to deal with as a fuckin' adult...

[@Osiris02]

I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it. -Mark Twain

[@Sthuont]

It's important to be aware that no matter how much more fossil fuels we emit, there is just not the quantity in reserves to arrive at the point of ending the world, destroying all life, melting the planet, driving humans to extinction etcetera etcetera... Our civilisation(s) have a very significant possibility of collapse, and certain nations have a very significant likelihood of collapse. I'd argue most nations, although the developed nations have a much better prospective outlook. However, our societies seem almost intent on self destruction even without climate change anyway. Ultimately though, even if worst came to worst and all our civilisations and societies collapsed, the planet would survive, life would survive, and humans would indeed survive. If you are genuinely concerned about the future, then your likely best bet is Australia. I am obviously biased but when I try and objectively analyse the pros and cons of different nations around the world and take into account their geographic realities, then Australia really does stand out to me as being dealt the most fortunate hand. A goldilocks landmass that is not too big and not too small, surrounded by an expansive water moat, in glorious isolation and largely removed from the rest of the world, yet a dozen or so moderate island hops off the north coast act as stepping stones to Eurasia and the wider world, adrift in the southern hemisphere which comprises mainly ocean acting as a huge thermal bank moderating both extreme cold and extreme hot temperatures, a vast and comprehensive suite of mineral resources, substantial agricultural production well in excess of local population needs and vast scope for massive production expansion, encompassing wet tropical, monsoonal tropical, subtropical, oceanic, Mediterranean, semi-arid, arid, montane, and even alpine climate zones and biomes allowing agricultural production of any crop to be feasible in at least some part of Australia, a population a little under 30 million which provides demographic depth without being overwhelming, multiple notable teaching and research universities spread across the nation, along with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) facilities providing a significant repository of knowledge and intellect to continue with and revive civilisation. You just need citizenship so I guess you'll have to marry an Australian because why do it the difficult way?... and hey, I'm Australian and single and haven't made any rash marriage decisions since my ex-fiancé broke off the engagement almost two years ago! How the fuck does this comment even relate to what you said though?! 😂🤦‍♂ Wow drugs ARE bad...

[@Aerosol_Masking]

H.P. Lovecraft wrote “It is good to be a Cynic--it is better to be a contented cat--and it is best not to exist at all. Universal suicide is the most logical thing in the world--we reject it only because of our primitive cowardice and childish fear of the dark. If we were sensible we would seek death--the same blissful blank which we enjoyed before we existed.”

[@wvhaugen]

As I say so often, "If YOU would have listened to US fifty-five years ago, WE wouldn't be in trouble NOW." I started saying this in 1980 when the date line was ten years. As I look back on a lifetime of antiwar and environmental activism, I think about what I thought - back in 1970 - that I might be doing now at the end of my life. It was: living a simple life growing my own food. So what am I doing now? Living a simple life growing my own food.

[@curiositycloset2359]

Hold on, the date line was ten years, forty years ago! I guess you can't trust a hippy

[@Erwachsener1492]

I think anti-war and eco are dependent on each other. You cant have one without the other. Warmachines like in the present NEED industrial systems. Industrial systems IMHO dont work with eco. At least powerful industry doesnt. But the problem then is: If not all on Earth agree on this, those who keep producing warmachines will simply overrun those who dont. Then they will be enslaved to toil away in their industries. Im not saying there never were alternatives. But it was always very unlikely that it would work out due to human nature.

[@christinearmington]

Bravo 👍

[@ElEscolta]

Thank you, i was doomscrolling the comments and this one from you took me out of it. I hope your life stays simple and your food is tasty, i think ill have to learn that as well...

[@ryuzakikun96]

There is no way you're able to grow enough food to feed yourself, let alone your entire family

[@RinoaL]

Everybody in a developed society likes to think they aren't a part of that same problem, and yet they still contribute in ways they dont have to. They buy shit they don't need.

[@bashisobsolete.pythonismyn6321]

plastic dildos from amazon. about 200 of them. in diddy's house. and they say "money won't change me"

[@flaming_ace]

to some extent yes, but nowhere near the same level companies do, even when we amalgamate all 8 billion of us. why blame the individual when the companies are the ones shaping the world we live in? most of the pollution which neo-liberalism attributes to the individual buying "unnecessarily polluting" items, in fact comes from a company deciding to do the thing which provided them the very most profits. give people cheaper options which are less pollutant, and they will gravitate towards those. the issue is the way companies are allowed to seek maximum profits, to the direct detriment of the people. dont blame the individuals doing what society encourages until we get corporate greed cut out of at least our bare necessities, if not every part of our economy

[@Johny40Se7en]

Of course they do. You go to a busy City in Britain or America on a weekend for example, and you'll see all that vile shit in action. Docile, dismissive, ignorant bubble dwellers, waddling about on strings, buying utter shite they don't need or even want, it's just "the new shit". And saying things which would make a lot of folk cringe 🥴

[@Mcgif21]

@@flaming_aceWho do you think keeps these companies running?

[@Hakor0]

I'm sort of interested who invests in the stock market in these comments

[@darkranger116]

and this is why Command and Conquer 3 is actually a documentary

[@mrmagoo-i2l]

It’s also why BkackAdder needed someone with charisma. Georg”!” is a vacuum. A bitter Londoner that could have been good. A true tragedy.

[@_thebigsteve]

Covid made me realize however the world "ends" it will be much more disappointing than we expect. It will be incompetently managed, largely ignored until its too late, and no matter what we will still have to get up to work, and do our taxes doing it.

[@Robert_McGarry_Poems]

How does that make any sense?

[@_thebigsteve]

@Robert_McGarry_Poems I think it's pretty self explanatory but I guess the overall point I'm getting at is that it's easy to believe the "end" of the world/civilization/ the status quo as we know it seeing some cinematic catastrophic event it's actually a lot more agonizing and slow due to the realistic gradual decay and breakdowns of the institutions behind the power mechanisms of what we conceive as the way the world just is, and the ensuing psychosis of people trying to cope with the harsh realities.

[@Robert_McGarry_Poems]

@@_thebigsteve right, so what's the point in continuing to prop up the system that is destroying us? That's the part that doesn't make sense. I get wanting to be comfortable, I've been homeless before due to health care issues.

[@_thebigsteve]

@Robert_McGarry_Poems I'm so sorry to hear that man, but I hope your living better days now. I'm not trying to say keep those systems afloat at all. I was just expressing how underwhelming the "end" we got a taste of with covid feels.

[@Robert_McGarry_Poems]

@_thebigsteve Iguess I understand your point. I'm not trying to put words in your mouth at all. I am, marginally, better than outside, thanks... but even just 'accepting' it or things or our lott is my point. Why is it something we just have to give into? I'm not incapable of doing things useful to society, but since I can't do commercially viable physical labor anymore, I'm what obsolete to capitalism, so I should just accept watching the rest of my life wither away in front of me because rich people want it that way? I spent 12 years fighting wildfire while trying to put myself through college, got a stomach ulcer 14 credits short, and my insurance denied the claim for whatever reason I can't remember. I can't go back to school. I don't have any money. I can't get a job. I don't have a degree. Any other work is schedule oriented. My stomach can't handle that... I'm callous, sorry about my passion, and I don't blame individuals. I just can't stop existing in my true world because comfortable people don't want to hear it. I'll still be in the same boat tomorrow. If decline and inevitable downfall are the end results anyway, why not stand up now instead, while Earth still has a shot at hosting human life... just a thought. I don't know you, my life is my life and yours is yours. I can't pretend to know what you think, I'm just talking.

[@axelprino]

We were really born just in time to see the world go to sh*t in front of us while being too late to fix it

[@TheMysteryDriver]

Eh. Notice that he doesn't really say what's going to collapse. Also he doesn't point out that certain places will be able to live out the deaths of billions until equalization.

[@antonyjh1234]

You could have said the same thing as a slave while they were building the pyramids. It's just complete system change, no biggie.

[@slowtrigger]

​@@antonyjh1234it's not really the same. before the industrial revolution resources were plentiful and easily extractable. at this point we have consumed all of these readily available resources. what's left of copper, oil, gold, etc is of lower grade and much harder to extract efficiently without complex modern processes.

[@antonyjh1234]

@@notinsane4165 Sorry, Imagine you are a young alien looking out among all the slaves as the ship leaves, what hope of changing humanities course throughout time, other than the messages they left us, could that infant really have?

[@antonyjh1234]

@@slowtrigger Just to play the devils advocate..You could have said exactly the same thing then. I get your point but you seem to be ignoring mine, the point is we have the same ability to change the system as we did then and in reality it's better because we have this instant communication. It's not about trading our way out of this, we cannot buy our way to less consumption, change of the system to less consumption doesn't need more mining.

[@ironickrempt]

Should be noted, irrigation will eventually cause salinization of any land that isn’t wiped clean annually by silt-rich floods. Hence, Egypt was able to pursue irrigated agriculture for millennia, until the Nile was dammed a few decades ago. Now they face the same crisis as everyone else.

[@octopusmime]

i'm so glad i found your channel during the pandemic.

[@alfredadrianjr.4702]

I'm a child of the 70s, read Erhlich's book long ago and too a degree in biology. Ended up teaching bio and earth sci. Almost got fired twice because of irrate parents who claimed evolution & climate change are not real. We can't fix stupid. Some will get it and prepare, most will ignore it all and party on without a care. Because I have limited resources I'll wait it out on a tropical island in my dotage. When the collaps comes there will still be papayas, tubers, fish, coconuts, and a chicken now and then.

[@gottimw]

Just no trees cuz we need some now

[@ellisprescott1415]

And maybe no island by then!

[@alfredadrianjr.4702]

@@ellisprescott1415 That could be, a village close by is already going under water. Fisher folks and farmers here know it is happening, in the states propaganda reigns.

[@alfredadrianjr.4702]

@@gottimw Since the Industrial Revol an estimated 3 TRILLION trees have been removed. Of course, large lumber companies have replanted but it is estimated that in less than 200 yrs we will remove what remains of all forests. Those who believe business as usual is sane are frankly imbiciles.

[@alfredadrianjr.4702]

@@ellisprescott1415 That's a good point. All poorly educated fisher folks here in Phil will tell you the sea is rising- they witness it. They'll also tell you that the fishing is no longer easy or as profitable.

[@tamago2474]

Great work as ever Georg

[@RandyTemple-bs]

Most people in power are most concerned with keeping that power. So we ban books, regulate ways to suppress the ability to vote, and argue about who can use what bathrooms.

[@Cuddlestrike]

Damn George! What an absolute gem of a series of videos this has been! Just gotta give credit where credit is due, holy shit!

[@Druidity]

Man, amazing content from what was once as a silly movie analysis channel.

[@kasiahmura2816]

if the ai says "you should have done what they warned you about 50 years ago" they'll be like "oh no it's broken, maybe someday it'll be intelligent enough to agree with us :("

[@donaldobrien9171]

for every youtube video like this, I see a dozen bemoaning the drop in birth rates. Like infinite growth on a finite planet is a good ideology.

[@cocojeffrey8502]

😂 how to fix any problem: add more people.

[@blackfrancis33]

I’ve been looking forward to this. The KZbin video, not the end of the world.

[@solarwind907]

Your video is a good public service. You should be proud of it. Thank you :-)

[@WobblesandBean]

The Rapanui never died out. They *_did_* destroy the ecosystem, but they adapted and were always in low numbers because such a small island can only support so many. I will say though, humanity in general is not heading towards a good future. We're going to fly past the 1.5°C mark, all wildlife has been decimated by 75%, and we're already seeing the devastating effects of climate change. We need to do better, and we're just not.

[@luizmonad777]

Wildlife was decimated by our activities, not by climate change indirectly. without even any climate change the wildlife would have the same fate. That's what bothers me, we should treat the planet like a garden and tender it, but instead we treat it like if we were aliens and external, humans are part of the system. We have to find a way to balance our industry and needs with the biosphere needs so both systems can actually work together. People keep crying and wanting to go back to a pristine nature state, which never existed to begin with, and its a hard sell to most people that don't want to get rid of the little they have. Its the old Malthusian idea all over again, I hate it. For ex, most wildlife in the oceans died because we ate it, how about we just stopped and only ate tank grown fish, this is much more important than the average temperature. We focus too much on abstracts instead of trying to fix things bottom up, you're never going to be able to fix the ecosystem by just controlling the average temperature. And reducing the power generation will just make the problem worse and accelerate the collapse of civilization, and what's the point of "saving the planet" if everyone is dead ? Part of the problem is wanting to have a global government, I don't think this is a solution. Climate change is the least of our problems, most of the problems are caused by bad management of resources by centralized authorities, crying for "climate change" only ever give them more power. We have to adapt to living in a hotter climate, it is not going to be the first way we have to adapt to change, nor the last one. Who care's about who's guilty of doing it, it doesn't matter. Trying to guilty people isn't working, specially if that would make their lives worst. Its totally possible to survive the worst climate if we accept not everyone will survive and that we have to invest heavily into infrastructure to cope with the changes, this is the life, can't save everyone, but we can save the species and even a slower smaller part of the industrial civilization.

[@thezucc575]

fly past? we’re currently at 1.6 degrees celsius above the preindustrial average, how do people not know this?

[@cleft_3000]

Nobody cares

[@cocojeffrey8502]

Climate change is a fraud, because it's not an issue due to resource depletion. If the masses realised it is the 1% taking way more than their share, we would have a chance at winning.

[@marcelljambor2529]

I bet that after the last three was cut off, the elders blamed the next generations woodcutting skills, because when they were young, they had no issue finding and cutting skills

[@Pablo668]

Great work Georg. I do shudder to think about the level of preparation that goes into making a vid like this. Sleep walking into a societal collapse is one thing, driving headlong into it knowingly and willingly is another. It's like collectively we can't stop ourselves. I also feel that not enough people in the world look upon the economy as a thing we have to keep going in order to keep it going. No matter what it destroys.

[@crawkn]

The problem with innovation solving the problems isn't that it can't, it is that it is not allowed to by a system that prefers business as usual. Business as usual is already profitable, and already proven, while the solutions, many of which have already been innovated, are not. Obviously mass recycling and composting are viable solutions to many shortages, but they are less monetarily profitable than raw resource exploitation. Easter Island could have innovated by planting groves of trees to replace those they were exploiting, and they did not choose to do so.

[@whnvr]

i think this entire series on the polycrisis is extremely and indelibly valuable. would you consider making an extra video or two on what preparations have been proposed, are being explored, or should be explored, in order to soften the inevitable blow and safeguard peoples? i feel like that would illuminate some concrete actions and pressure points to apply to governments, powers, and policy makers.

[@kaliyuga1476]

I agree

[@flamingdog76]

too late

[@bashisobsolete.pythonismyn6321]

Pointing out problems provokes the audience to think of solutions. Offering solutions attracts lazy, cynical doubters and nay sayers

[@whnvr]

@@bashisobsolete.pythonismyn6321 what a horribly defeatist response - you care too much about the 'naysayers' when they will always be in opposition to any kind of drastic change or unpopular preparation regardless of the changes proposed. i can't think of anything more powerful than the free flow and exchange of ideas. i, for example, am interested in microgrids, decentralisation, and local self-sufficiency - yet i know little of agriculture, so welcome anyone sharing information on that subject (especially permaculture) with open arms. ultimately, how do you propose an 'audience' shares any ideas or solutions they come up with without eventually declaring them in a public forum? do you propose they remain an audience forever, passive and impotent? the delineation between audience and platform is illusory, we are all 'of the people' - including george. why should he withhold from proposing or consolidating solutions, yet the audience should, yet the audience should not share these for fear of 'naysayers'? that's just circular and irrational. do you live your entire life in fear of what lazy, cynical doubters might think?

[@SocialDownclimber]

The one child policy of the CCP was probably the biggest and best intervention anyone could do. I don't think any other governments on earth have strong enough control of their population to accomplish this.

[@maboiteaspamspammaboite9670]

the AI saying "bleep, bloop, bleep, you should have done what donnela meadow said 50 years ago..." would be considered a bug. They would adjust the model so it sticks to their delusions, their sickness, doing so they would hand over humanity's futur to a broken numerical version of itself. yeaaaahhhh.

[@KarmaSpaz12]

Then it'd say "We'd like to take you home with us We'd love to take you home"

[@NarcissistAU]

This is my biggest fear with AI, it starts spitting out things like 'billionaires should not be a thing' and 'natural monopolies exist', and their owners respond by sticking digital blinders in until we get Friedbot telling the proles 'computer says no'. Can't argue with Friedbot.

[@djkramnik1]

Nitwit here. I listened to this whilst making bolognese.

[@triton62674]

How as the bolognese

[@zswqade3q24]

Yes how was it

[@WLADIMIR_MDR]

Greate serie of videos ... congrats. I hope more people understand what is comming next and is able to change ourselves.

[@dairallan]

The guy that cut down the last tree on Easter Island was saying "Deforestation is not real and Ill prove it by cutting down this tree".

[@sudd3660]

this is impressive work Georg, i was hoping for you to make a video talking about these topics. what will fail first always fun to ponder....... i see the tech addiction that recently hit us hard, that one is making us more complacent and believe in tech to save the day with magic thinking that waste precious time we do not have. you can literally not walk down the street without seeing the problem.....

[@earthlyexpat]

Archeologist, Mara Mulrooney casts an optimistic theory about the indigenous people of Easter Island that actually serves as a poster child as how humanity should come together. The island is still a great metaphor for our finite planet but indeed was brought down by plague-carrying Europeans. The natives there were very adaptive to the island's changes. The more cynical theory is a projection of our current profit driven society.

[@gnardawgyt]

Great series and important topic everyone would rather ignore, thank you

[@janedoe3043]

I wish everyone on Earth would watch these three videos. I am so tired of trying to explain why we can't solve our problems with any of the status quo thinking. No one ever listens, maybe a well made with an English accent video would help convince them.

[@Zephyrion__]

We’ll learn the hard way once we’ve collapsed

[@Kacpa2]

People are just too stubborn, dumb and tribalistic for this. Just look at politics. Its moronic shouting fests and prosecution of the other side if they get particularily nasty and in power. They preffer to keep blaming everyone but themselves, and make everything into a braindead shouting matches, just like in Dont Look Up. That movie was a tragy-comedy and a warning and noone listens. Maybe because it was too focused on being ridiculous and funny.

[@Kacpa2]

As for real life example, just look at progressive stupidity of denial and ignoring climate change itself by people. Its quite hopeless. Maybe humanity needs a reset switch, we went too long without a world war and disaster to remind the world what it is, and even if there was one, there would just be another boom of consumerist optimism and "growth" after that.

[@vadepierce4542]

Seriously… no one listens when I say this is so much worse… there have never been 8 billion people before…

[@clintmichigan9112]

Don't bother trying to explain. The planet will solve all the problems but not in a way that anyone will find amenable or able to accept. Just keep in mind when the situation is hopeless there's nothing to worry about. Extinction is the rule survival is the exception. Unfortunately this time we'll take all the inhabitants of the biosphere with us.

[@renimon100]

Actually now scientists think that the Easter islands deforestation were caused, at least partly, by climate change as well. Even now on the island there are not big trees, maybe some shifts in climate zones have contributed to the human use of the natural resources.

[@flaming_ace]

my favourite anecdote of the collapse being near is how the rcmp recently made headlines by claiming a major risk to our future is young canadians realizing we wont be able to afford a house, NOT the fact we wont (and currently cant) afford housing, just the fear we may stand up to the status quo if we realize it doesnt let us put a roof over our heads. who cares about any of the issues leading canadians to be unable to afford housing, clearly the problem is if/when the yunguns start to change society for the better. it was hilarious reading their claims as well, as they seem to believe we still think housing is affordable while it is delivering ponzi-scheme levels of returns to those who invest in property. for the americans reading this, check how far american housing prices fell in the 2008 crisis, and then realize the canadian housing market didnt suffer anywhere near the same, and rather than correcting the average house price, it has just kept going up under the continual ignorance of affordable housing, turning it instead into the types of properties most profitable for landlords. basically the advantages we have over yall in pro-labour legislation is counteracted by the insanely privatized and entirely profit-driven housing market, leading to a pretty similar situation for the working class on either side of the border. if you can live in america but work from home at a canadian job, and have a way to deal with the currency difference, you get the best of both worlds (which isnt even all that worthwile but if you want more you gotta demand political change and probably get called a commie as a counter to you caring about improving other humans well-being)

[@jric5097]

Jared Diamond's theory is in doubt. There's a really good video called "Easter Island - Where Giants Walked" by the podcast Lost Civilizations. They do a good job of going through these different theories. The Easter Islanders were actually pretty good stewards of their island home. Using Easter Island as a metaphor for planet earth does run into some problems

[@jking1343]

Find me one theory that doesnt have detractors and ill tell you to wait a month.

[@curiositycloset2359]

​@@jking1343global warming, apparently.

[@Sthuont]

All of Jared Diamonds arguments are highly dubious. He's just a patronising racist who tries to intellectualise a deceit that Europeans were just destined to succeed by accident, because if he doesn't do that then he has to confront that he believes Europeans succeeded despite the profound limitations dealt to them by their geographic location because he thinks they are innately superior. He's like the contemporary incarnation of "the white man's burden".

[@Pes._]

?? Did u even slightly think that through?​@@curiositycloset2359

[@SigFigNewton]

@@curiositycloset2359well yeah if we has direct observation of the Easter islander population decline pre European contact, there presumably wouldn’t be detractors of what was observed.

[@AndreyKurenkov]

fantastic series of videos, was not aware at all of these ideas prior to watching - kudos!

[@thishandleistacken]

This has been really fantastically written, researched, directed, edited and delivered. Well done. Thanks for all the sources :)

[@Red_Neck]

You are my favourite bald KZbinr.

[@rebeccajenson2164]

Bleak but brilliant trilogy. Thank you

[@sprobablycancr4457]

You should look on the bright side. Before this really kicks in hard, we will probably witness, if well placed to do so, the molten fireballs of technological ingenuity.

[@RBEmpathy]

Technological ingenuity isn't going to solve this issue, since any and every technological advance would only enable the capitalist paradigm further. Infinite growth, constant growth, incentivizes exploitation of all resources. Making a technology that makes things 35% more sustainable only slightly delays the inevitable collapse that's coming our way.

[@sprobablycancr4457]

@@RBEmpathy What I meant with "fireballs of technological ingenuity" was literal fireballs. (Nukes)

[@RBEmpathy]

@@sprobablycancr4457 lol well in that case, my apologies. I hope that doesn't happen.. but the sad thing is I could see that happening in the future

[@GeorgRockallSchmidt]

Poetry.

[@thezucc575]

“a container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans”

[@robinsandquist]

Great series Georg! Have a nice life you as well!

[@wowYoubett]

Our lives when the rubber meets the road will i think be like a modern version of the stories i remember hearing from my greatgrandmother about life during the great depression. All the technology of the day still exisited and was being itereted, albeit more slowly, luxuries existed, and could be bought occasionally. But there was a distance from them caused by un oart the fact that there simply wasnt time to dwell in them as she was busy working a job and working the gardens as a community to survive and thrive in a human way i feel like we've lost a bit of.

[@LachieDazdarian]

Thank you for this brillaint breakdown of the theory in question. I must admit, I had a sort of superficial "technology will probably solve it" POV you mention at some point, but your analysis introduced me to the reality of compounding scarcities. Although in some grimmer ruminations of the issue, I felt the only alternative to the fall of our civilization (however it may look like) would require a truly massive technological jump, as tapping into free energy. Now after seeing these videos, I feel it's the only alternative to a collapse (which I don't think would be an extinction event, but most humans dying doesn't sound pretty either).

[@OffendingTheOffendable]

That stocken rush sure is crushing it as CEO

[@granttucker8451]

Great series George, while Grim, the subject is necessary to be raised time and again. But the reality is, we will some day soon, eat our last apple, and then cut down the last apple tree too, and nothing can be done because no one will do it.

[@blupunk01]

One key factor, especially in the most highly developed countries reliant on the most complex systems to sustain our daily lives, will be human reaction as more and more parts of the system are impacted by disruption. We are panicky creatures because that helped keep our ancestors alive when predators showed up. In modern society, that very useful instinct, unfortunately, creates chaos as a whole bunch of homo sapiens panic and start trying to make sure that they and their immediate circle don't suffer privation. Think about how stupid people got about toilet paper during what was really a fairly minor supply chain disruption concurrent with the pandemic (I personally saw someone with a shopping cart stuffed as full with t.p. as you could get it). Now, imagine the first real disruption in this same society to grocery store shelves not stuffed full of food, and not temporarily as with an approaching natural disaster, but as a new normal condition.

[@davidmorton8332]

A good reminder it's never a waste of time to plant trees ( if they are the right sort in the right place ). Any sucessor civilisation will need them. If nothing else find a decent tree planting/natural regeneration charity and give what you can afford. It'll make you a good ancestor.

[@lucaswilkins9217]

You're vastly underestimating how long it would take for a new civilization to emerge

[@akraen1858]

Careful which trees you plant! Here in northern Norway they cut down almost all the trees a century ago. They replanted with "sitka gran" Picea sitchensis which was a very bad idea, it crowds everything else out, grows so densely even wildlife struggles to pass through, and is impossible to control. We're morons even when we mean well!

[@pauldowney6856]

Oh dear! I've always thought Norwegians were a lot smarter than the rest of us Europeans living to the south of you. Have I been wrong all these years 😢 ​@@akraen1858

[@kylegonewild]

Yeah but for real don't just go around planting random shit in places. Farmers were singing the praises of Kudzu right up until it swallowed up the South and bloated to a crazy expensive thing to fix that the government doesn't want to spend the money on. Either find a trusted non-profit or do research on your local ecology so you know what species of flora won't be harmful. The plant kingdom has experienced plagues and disasters the likes of which humanity has yet to truly experience and likely couldn't recover from, you don't wanna be the person who planted a yearling that had some foreign insect which rapidly wipes out billions of individuals.

[@flaming_ace]

the issue is the ultra wealthy looking for short term profits, we cant demand the individual stand up and make the change, we need to instead look at joining a movement. one individual worker has no power over their boss. the entirety of that bosses workforce though has complete control over the boss, if they make the demands together. the wealth of the boss comes from the workers efforts, and we must simply band together against the global wealthy to a similarly large amount. we dont need to go down this path, the top 1% may have wealth, but what can they do when the bottom 99% doesnt accept the rule of the top 1%? it takes effort yes, but the short term effort leads to long term rewards. all we need is to properly lay the blame at the feet of the wealthy and force them to finally for once take action.

[@yuglesstube]

Very important presentation. Thanks

[@ad265ad265]

That was grim, I am now going to watch Threads (1984) to cheer myself up.

[@michiganjack1337]

My go to is Brazil...oh wait that's just a mirror to our current society.

[@jellis3194]

I prefer the remarkably predictive optimism of Children of Men

[@michiganjack1337]

@@jellis3194 That's a great movie! Well played.

[@normanmacfarlane6724]

Yes , that film and Anyway The Wind Blows and Tokyo Boy . There's a fun day for ya 😂❤

[@normanmacfarlane6724]

​@jellis3194 a complete classic😂❤

[@j.s.t.6515]

Wow, failure cascade is a phrase I thought I'd never hear again now that my father doesn't speak to me anymore. Ahhh, the memories...

[@apantulanevgiosul7353]

Your father was an EVE Online player I take it.

[@kenon6968]

I don't know if this joker is just trying to chase the algorithm with all these feel good videos

[@CarrotConsumer]

Negative videos do way better than positive ones.

[@Akita_NeruDen2]

@@CarrotConsumer the joke is he was saying its positive when its not dum dum

[@TechTehScience]

To be fair in response to the last comment, that is more or less what happened with the Haber-Bosch process. We were running dangerously close to the limit and starting to starve industrial fertilizer production and then the process was discovered and it's been key in safeguarding food production and not having a growing, suddenly starving, global population back in the early 20th century.

[@joeking8734]

Years ago I remember watching a documentary called Surviving Progress based on the book called A Short History of Progress by Donald Wright. After watching that documentary, I still think even all these years later that we're living in a progress trap (term from Donald Wright) and that we're all just slowly perpetuating the circumstances for our collective demise. I never understood the stubbornness of those who believe in the system, almost fanatically. But I guess that's part of the trap.

[@Fleshcut]

Loved the trilogy, Georg! I want more sad facts. And on topic of that ex-google CEO going all in on AI, I'd love to know what he would do if he really doesn't like the answer.

[@fishsayhelo9872]

very gud video, very gud trilogy :thumbsup:

[@s7robin105]

Can only hope the capitalist need for endless growth gets replaced by a desire to find actual solutions and work towards them. Unlikely unfortunately

[@kparker2430]

why doesn't any one ever think in terms of benign fungal infection. Like Zombies but different. The fungus has control but it does what mushrooms do. Nice peaceful kind humans that are kind to the environment as a mobile inoculated sub strate that produces a couple of crops per season. Just tweaking the climate right now. Patience mycelium.

[@myleswillis]

Easter Islanders in 1600: Cuts down the last tree. Bankers in 2024: Cuts down a tree that does not exist.

[@ThomasGray-g9e]

this is why i want to get into the railway industry. we're going to need greener transport and I'd like to be part of the solution

[@Aloemancer]

You think there's a solution to this?

[@TheBfutgreg]

@@Aloemancer Aliens bruh, and free energy, I heard it on reddit

[@loungelizard3922]

Thanks for this series. I'm approaching middle age and don't believe a comfortable retirement is waiting for me in 25 years. I have no doubt that the western world ends by everything becoming too expensive to own or operate. Cars, housing, food. It will be slow and won't come for everyone at once. The billionaires will be completely isolated from it of course, but their children and grandchildren? I don't think so. Canned food and shotguns won't be enough.

[@chungang7037]

I am in the same boat. There seems to be two ways to go. Do only what you want and go into debt enjoying life, live in the now believing our generation is likely one of the last. Or go full minimalist, or as much as possible, find new ways to save money. Some buy a piece of land away from the cities, learn survival skills, full prepper without or with the politics who cares. Doing this we might live a bit longer than the previous group. But does it really matter which road you take? maybe not.

[@bentuovila5296]

I see the same thing. I wonder if it's even worth putting the money into a 401k or if I should go full paranoid and put all that money into harder assets.

[@johenderson3742]

​@@chungang7037Looking into reverse equity loan on my house tomorrow! ❤

[@emilieread9616]

There is a reasonable alternative theory of Easter Island: Polynesian rats may have been transported there along with the humans. Apparently, they enjoy the roots of palm trees

[@MoonBerryShrimp]

Why keep inventing theories to explain something that didn't happen? Easter Island's population was stable and growing.

[@robertsyrett1992]

Just a wonderfully informative series of videos on a topic of vital importance delivered with amazing wit. Thanks for putting this out into the world.

[@sethheristal9561]

I think that an aspect of the crisis is forgotten: the prices increase do not simply communicate the increased cost and that's it: it produces, as a whole, a different mentality on the human. Stakeholders are not gonna say "this is the last tree", way earlier someone is gonna say "Now we need to get the trees from them". Places that have social cohesion and military force aren't gonna suck it up. Only the south will experience this hell, as already is: and migration is just it's symptom.

[@LordZordid]

Most people I talk to are very aware of the complex situation and the consequences. But their honest repsonse is almost always, it's not my problem, i'll be dead by then!

[@johenderson3742]

Yup. Stupid and selfish.

[@fiachhoffman9590]

And there will be many who shall say, "Come! Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die, and it will be well with us."

[@Douglas-eldouje]

Excellent work georg

[@djangofett4879]

I've been called Malthusian because I've talked about this limitation to infinite growth. people literally framing me as a villain for just stating the facts.

[@CarrotConsumer]

Do you not know who Malthus was? He wasn't a villain. This video and you are literally describing Malthusianism.

[@MrTooEarnestOnline]

Infinite capital growth has nothing to do with Malthus. Malthus argued that population was the problem. Population, while correlative does not necessarily need to result in infinite growth. The way capitalism is set up the ever expanding exploitation of the natural world has less and less to do with human flourishing. I argue Malthus is evil and one half of a step away from eco-fascism. I also find it very ironic how the people who argue most about ‘population’ being the problem come from the parts of the world we’re there is the least population growth but the vast majority of ecological damage and pollution.

[@Sthuont]

Infinite universe, infinite growth... sounds legit to me 🤷‍♂ Also yeah, as carrot boy above said, you are actually being Malthusian and no he wasn't a villain... you may be confusing him with Machiavelli who was actually kinda evil... or at least wrote a book outlining how to be, and defending being, evil.

[@Malforian]

What stories are we telling ourselves now... damn that ending.

[@curiositycloset2359]

Millenialism, for one.

[@paolostrada93]

Fantastic series. Though I rather imagine the AI saviour's first words will be something more along the lines of "bleep bloop bleep. You have my sympathies."

[@glenmccarthy8482]

The writing was on the wall when we mastered the use of fire.

[@donpiedrabuena8054]

Awww that 2010ish youtube vibe... noice!

[@Studeb]

I considered sharing this series on social media, but people can't even handle day to day bad news, I know they would not even spend a minute diving into reality. A shame that people prefer cozy lies to harsh truths.

[@neilwilson5785]

I'm sure some people will like it. Realists still exist.

[@squigglymilton1312]

@@neilwilson5785quietly bc even if I’m not a conspiracy chaser (that’s what they are) they wanna make the act of chasing, synonymous with the act of theorizing … it’s our job to Theorize but okay

[@Studeb]

@@neilwilson5785 I did share it in the end, pretty drunk now, so not sure I sold it well. :D

[@JamieAlice92]

The human brain evolved to deal with immediate problems like food and shelter. It isn’t equipped to deal with anything much bigger than that.

[@antonyjh1234]

We probably all use oil other people have been killed over and our lives revolve around it, we all have our blind spots.

[@GorgonautAnimation]

These have been both chilling and utterly remarkable. Amazing work.

[@jamespires3383]

The easter islanders thought they would eventually create a canoe that would allow the top of the social strata to move abroad. Add in competition between social groups on the island and poof - you have an extinction. The space race stopped because going to space was a huge drain on resources. Now we have these space movies like elysium, ad astray, even nolans interstellar. So even though we know we are doomed, humanity still looks to the heavens and wonders - what if? Great video series Georg, really got me thinking

[@FredBloggs919]

Reckon NASA is doing things we can’t imagine - there was a guy who hacked in and found files of alien contacts. Gary something.

[@luizmonad777]

its the only way out, not because we ran out of energy or space, but we ran out of social space. Either that or the managerialism collapses and we go back to City-States.

[@lightwishatnight]

That is not why the space race stopped. You should keep reading, you've assimilated too much propaganda. Car addiction in North America alone consumes more energy per month in 2024 than the whole Apollo program consumed in its entire history.

[@MoonBerryShrimp]

Easter Island had a stable population and reached the Americas before Columbus.

[@postholocene]

@@jamespires3383 this is the structure of the overshoot loop. scarcity -> class struggle -> escape/revolution -> scarcity. it's only a dieoff if there's nowhere to go. 😜

[@jellis3194]

Good sh*t, though in a dark, "where did I put my Xanax" kind of way.

[@joensuu123]

Exceptional trilogy, yet obviously very depressing. I just wish there were anything that could be done - sometimes feels like all we are achieving is to one day be able to say 'told you so'. Economics traps everyone in it's vortex - we all need to take on debt to struggle to get to a position where we might be able to influence a change, only to realise we're now too old, too weak and too under-empowered to do anything. It's usually the hope that kills you - I don't feel much hope :(

[@antonyjh1234]

I think we all need to understand more about money, we get told money is important but then find it's nothing more than debt, that taxes make money disappear and bankers debt issued at a cost of four cents per hundred dollars to create, is not something to strive for. Once people realise all money is debt and that all it has ever been is choice, then we can forge a way forward. It's that money while a great means of exchange is realised as worthless I think is when people can make a difference, no matter their age. Elderly people asking what are you going to do for a job is part of the problem these days.

[@lowrads3653]

There is one fantastical option for cheaply moving a lot of materials around our solar system, and that is asteroidal spin energy. A 1km radius asteroid masses something like 20 million tonnes of mass according to this advanced napkin. Long steel cables could realistically impart substantial amounts of delta V to spacecraft or other objects, and with precision guidance, it can even be removed and stored. There are somewhere between 100k and 1000k of these, which suggests that it might be sensible to invest in a large scale effort to catalog and characterize the more promising candidates. The number of smaller usable objects isn't quite infinite.

[@hummingpylon]

The dopamine must flow...

[@dominictarrsailing]

I think they probably didn't cut down the last tree. they were like, still some trees left! but then the trees died and didn't grow back. trees find it harder to grow on their own they need a forest

[@xponen]

naturally there's phased to it, like grassland, then shrubbery, then trees. This took long time. Like, if goat eating grasses, then grassland can't transition into shrubbery, and if giraffe eating shrubbery then it can't transition into forrest (trees).

[@russellschaeffler]

It might just be easier to mine the moon than the deep sea bed of the earth.

[@russellschaeffler]

Helium crystals that will run fusion reactors.

[@djkori5521]

The solution was space travel and we just rested on our laurels thinking we can make finite resources last forever. You conserve after you expand. /smh

[@bladdnun3016]

13:05 how is natural gas critical for the creation of ammonia? As a cheap source of hydrogen or as a cheap means of heating the reactor? Both seem replaceable.

[@crawkn]

We are far from capability of exploiting space, which does not share the weaknesses of having to support life, and limited resources, that the Earth has. And we will remain far from it until we make it a priority, but when we have done so, there genuinely can be abundance without inescapable catastrophe at its end.

[@YoYo-gt5iq]

I hit the thumbs up with your opening line.

[@alexxx4434]

"I'm gonna cut the last tree, because if not I then someone else will!"

[@annahall9610]

The ecological health of this earth must come first

[@SocialDownclimber]

The biggest change we need to make as a society is to collectively acknowledge the existence of our society and identify some shared goals. Not just the government, not just the UN, every single person alive. Collective action is the only way through this.

[@Robert_McGarry_Poems]

The bullseye effect. He isn't saying that people aren't thinking about it. He is saying that the people at the top have no incentive to care because they've built themselves into an ivory tower that only they get to occupy. It's called hegemony. They control that hegemony by disallowing all of the classes below them from understanding how to get to where they are at. It's the same type of thing that happens in the class system in india. But by disenfranchising themselves and the lower classes from each other, they get to buffer themselves from any experience or knowledge of existing in that other class. Therefore, some observations from that outside class may not be impactful enough to change the minds or the direction of the hegemonic class. Hence, today...

[@Robert_McGarry_Poems]

Meaning that we have done it to ourselves... by not checking this behavior when we had the chance. We've cut down our last tree, so to speak. We have hit "peak " resource. Meaning that we can only ever produce less and less stuff, as we manage depleting stores. And..... who do you think is doing to hoard those resources at the expense of every other human on the planet?

[@chimichanga3405]

Aka we're fucked

[@diabolicalartificer]

AI = They built a computor to answer the question of the meaning of life, the universe & everything. The answer was 42. They then built a bigger computor to find the question - answer = "what is 6 x 7" Think on, we are well & truely fucked. Thanks, this series of video's should be beamed into the homes of everyone on the planet.. no point, folk are too busy watching Strictly, Trumpington or MrBollocks on Utwat.

[@dralexsadler9099]

Just to say that flagging economic growth is not sufficient or necessary for a credit crisis. What's required is the loss of fiat capitalisation of private markets. But who knows what's going to happen if the government keeps printing and creating debt. My guess would be growing inequality.

[@johenderson3742]

Easier still would be GRID DOWN situation. Solar emp?

[@nagualdesign]

I used to compare Georg with Adam Curtis, but now I think that he (Georg) has become what Curtis only ever wanted to be. Never let go of that subjectivity, Georg. Let us know how you really feel. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ _5 stars_

[@robertr.5765]

He did! Georg knows how to quote Marx, without ever mentioning him. And that's exactly how it should be done!

[@MasterOilman]

Thank you for so skillfully articulating the modern crisis-hydra into a comprehensible three video series!

[@kaliyuga1476]

Thank you for your videos, what a synchronicity. Could you please tell us how are you preparing for this? What are your thoughts on daily life? Im 21 and this will hit me the hardest, should I leave my work, keep partying til the end?

[@wvhaugen]

Balance. Keep partying occasionally but spend most of your time working for positive things. Grow food using manual labor rather than expending a lot of energy working in an office.

[@xponen]

there's a saying "you should plant seed even if the world is ending". What it means is everyone continue playing the role in their community even if the world is dying.

[@johenderson3742]

​@@wvhaugenTrust no-one.

[@mickeydreamkey]

Philip Glass's Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack during the "society collapse" part. Very fitting.

[@BellaHyrule]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who heard that!

[@CraftyF0X]

The expectation that this mess will be solved by AI hides two very important assumptions: 1. Problem is still solvable 2. We will like the solution whatever that is (that's questionable at best)

[@rutessian]

If you don't believe a problem is solvable then you won't look for solutions and will never solve it.

[@CraftyF0X]

@@rutessian I don't even say it's unsolvable cause franky, I don't know. However stating that AI will solve it assumes - which is not proven - that it solvable. Also, the second part is very important, we can only accept a sufficiently aligned solution. After all, if the AI decide to kill 6-7 billion ppl this particular problem could get solved fairly quickly... it just we are not into this kind of solution.

[@Snivelbert]

Outstanding series, thank you. After reading Bright Green Lies by Derrick Jensen et. al. I realised 'technological solutions' are just a palatable way of continuing our over consumption of resources, and your videos have shown this in such a clear, interesting and convincing way, I will be sending this to everyone I know. Thanks again. Great work

[@vodkalatke]

Anti-civers were always ahead on this issue. John Zerzan, too!

[@devineleven514]

nope. they didn't use the tress for the statues. they also dug holes into the ground to grow food. Fall of civilizations has the best theory.

[@DM-mq6hx]

Thank you