People have been predicting the end of civilization for centuries. I recall reading a book detailing the many “The End is Near!” movements. The first of these was just before 1000 CE; Christians were certain that God would end things on that banner year. Why they picked that year, I cannot fathom; there’s nothing in the Bible saying that humanity would end in a millenium. But they believed it. The Black Death in 1348 convinced many Christians that God had lost patience with humanity and was wiping it out.
Of late, however, the frequency of predictions of doom has been increasing. Here are just some of the “We’re all going to die!” articles:
https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-collapse-is-coming-will-humanity-adapt/
https://www.livescience.com/collapse-human-society-limits-to-growth.html
https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/civilization-collapse-climate-change/
https://populationconnection.org/blog/are-we-nearing-global-collapse/
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024EaArX...X5G404K/abstract
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190218-are-we-on-the-road-to-civilisation-collapse
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/social-collapse-harvard-paper-prediction-b2104214.html
Of course, we must keep in mind the fact that stories saying “Everything will be just fine” won’t attract as much attention as “We’re all going to die gruesome deaths!” Still, such stories do appear to be popping up more frequently. I think that some of these are influenced by the related but separate topic of the collapse American government:
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4414582-five-reasons-american-decline-appears-irreversible/
https://www.salon.com/2024/03/17/facing-three-global-crises-the-american-empire-may-be-nearing-final-collapse_partner/
https://fortune.com/2024/04/12/american-armageddon-economic-collapse-biden-presidency-ipsos-poll/
https://www.heritage.org/budget-and-spending/commentary/has-america-entered-the-fall-rome
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/with-trump-american-decline-becomes-self-fulfilling-prophecy-by-joseph-s-nye-2024-02
I have joined the chorus of doomsayers with essays such as these:
Complexity is Destroying Civilization
The American Century is Over
Progress Leads to Extinction
The Revolt Against Modernity
The Disintegration of the American Body Politic
But I’m not done yet. I’ll be writing a series of articles detailing what I believe to be the driving force behind the coming collapse: the loss of respect for truth. In each of these articles, I’ll address one of the examples of mass idiocy on the part of Americans.