SURVEY: What is the biggest problem facing us?

[Scott]

Although the list of what is considered as the biggest problem is exhaustive, these three show up in various threads.   Which do you consider as the most urgent threat facing the planet?

 

Please feel free to leave a comment.

[Tug]

Climate 

[TopDeadSenter]

In light of the limited options I chose overpopulation. Normally this would not be considered an existential threat per se. But, over the last 20 years the sea change in national border integrity and illegal migration rights/encouragement has led to any concept of sustainable population levels being thrown out the window. The 1st world just can not take in all these billions of unskilled foreigners and nor can they afford to give them all the trappings of 1st world life ie free medical care, beemers and iphones. Their relatively low carbon footprint from being hunter gatherers back home is nothing like what it would be when they are dropped into the civilized world. This end of the age of responsible parenting and the overpopulation it brought - is a real threat to life as we know it.

Edited January 6, 2019 by TopDeadSenter

[zydeco]

None of the above. China.

[puukao]

Median IQ falling.

 

When you have more dumb people, well, we are doomed.  

 

Gotta get the smart people to breed....  

[Chippy151]

Kids and teenagers staring at all types of screens most of the day.

Can we teach them to talk to each other again? Maybe play outdoors sometimes. They might enjoy it.

They are the future after all.

 

[HAKAPALITA]

Political Correctness.We know whats wrong but banned/deleted from saying it.

[Grouse]

I would have said Thaivisa service reliability but that's been fixed. So climate change.

[ballpoint]

Solve overpopulation and you go a long way towards addressing the other two.  (And that doesn't mean a mass cull, but a gradual reduction through better birth control and sterilisation - either voluntary or forced if absolutely necessary).

[Bluespunk]

Climate change is the greatest threat.

 

If we don’t deal with it overpopulation and environmental damage will be solved by the fact the planet will not support human life. 

Edited January 6, 2019 by Bluespunk

[CGW]

Social media ???? pointless use of time which produces data that will be used against us ???? freedom off speech has already gone - what next?

[wump]

AI.

Please quote me on this in 2027. That is, if the slaughterbots haven't already got you.

[Becker]

1 hour ago, HAKAPALITA said:

Political Correctness.We know whats wrong but banned/deleted from saying it.

Come on now, don't be coy. What is the problem that faces us that you can't even describe in the vaguest terms? Or are you trolling?

 

PS. Who are "we"?

Edited January 6, 2019 by Becker

[ivor bigun]

As has been said before overpopulation,the world cannot sustain so many .
But before that happens ,western style civilization will be destroyed by the masses of uneducated(must be PC) people that will overrun it. Of course before that happens some idiot nation may start a nuclear war. Iam just so glad i was born in a wonderful time and had so many good times,but i do fear for my children and grandchildren.

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Grouse]

58 minutes ago, ballpoint said:

Solve overpopulation and you go a long way towards addressing the other two.  (And that doesn't mean a mass cull, but a gradual reduction through better birth control and sterilisation - either voluntary or forced if absolutely necessary).

You first!

[connda]

None of the above.

 

The 1000 kg Gorilla in the room that every country on Earth is ignoring is the very cyclical eruption of intense X-Class Coronal Mass Ejections that happen approximately every 150 year.  The last event was the Carrington Event of 1859 that happened during a Solar Grand Minimum.  We're now overdue and we're in another Solar Grand Minimum. 
The expense to harden the primary grids in the US would cost about 2 billion USD.  Basically a paltry sum of money, but Congress being what it is can not see beyond a 2 or 4 year election cycle and campaigning while in between time they spin their wheels engaging in vitriolic partisan politics and endless wars- the people of the country and the globe be damned.
So, with the world's electric grids fully exposed to the devastation that a Carrington level CME will bring - it will be Lights Out literally and figuratively.  The modern world and distribution of food and supplies run on electricity.  The multitude of nuclear power plants globally cool using electricity.  So, the day the lights go out, cities run out of food in three days and civilization becomes a thing of the past.  In the ultimate irony, the most backward, agrarian populations on the planet who still live without electricity and running water, or those farming cultures who still remember they days when they lived without electricity and running water will be those who have the means to survive.  Well, until the city folk come with their guns and weapons.  Roll back the clock 500 years and societies will be back to feudal city-states with war lords fighting each other for resources.  Well, for awhile.  After the Lights Go Out humanity will be faced with the Mother of All Gorillas sitting the the room - and that's the melt-down of the 454 active nuclear reactors around the world.  Imagine 454 Fukushimas!  Those not in underground bunkers are not going to survive that.  And for the Morlock Elites who go underground.  I can't even imagine - those psychopaths will eat their own young.

So, am I worried about man-made global warming and climate change?  No

Am I worried about environmental degradation?  Other than the entire planet being dosed with radiation? Nope
How about overpopulation.  I'm I worried about that?  Rotflmao    Definitely not!

So, what am I worried about?  Not much.  Everybody dies.  And if humanity succumbs  to an extinction level event due the massive hubris of it's elite rulers -- to paraphrase Stalin, 'The loss of one life is a tragedy; the loss of 7 billion lives is a statistic." 
Speaking of hubris, it's the hubris of man to think that humanity is so special and somehow above an extinction level event.  That's laughable.  The lost of humankind is no more of a tragedy that the loss of dinosaurs, or Woolly Mammoths or Passenger Pigeons, the later being totally avoidable, just as the extinction of mankind due to a massive Carrington level CME is completely avoidable.  But the elite rulers of countries and governments do nothing.  As such, humanity's fate is sealed.
Is this sad?  Not really.  Even in an irradiated planet life will go on, albeit, adapted to radiation.  And the Earth will heal up just fine and after a time, the damage done by men will not even be reflected in artifacts.  In a universal sense, all will be well.  Peace on Earth.
 

[Scott]

A troll post has been removed.  

[soalbundy]

3 hours ago, zydeco said:

None of the above. China.

I'd say at the moment it would be America.

[soalbundy]

It all depends on how old you are.

[high plane drifter]

None of the above,,  

 

politicians are the problems

 

[worgeordie]

I wanted to vote for all 3 but wont let me,

regards worgeordie

[Guest]

None of the ones, which were available for selection.

 

Nuclear war, intended or unintended is by far the largest threat to our existence. By far.

 

Nuclear war and the following, much more dreadful, nuclear winter will solve the overpopulation problem, but it will cause both environmental disaster and climate change. Most of flora and fauna will simply die as it can't cope with the sudden global winter. We humans die mostly of hunger. The few hundred million who die during the few hours of war are the lucky ones.

 

Over the years we have come quite too many times, very close to tricker nuclear war by accident. It will happen one day, specially when the relations between nuclear power states is getting more and more heated. Unfortunately it's not if, but when. The time is now 23:58. Two minutes to midnight.

 

So let's enjoy the life while we still have one. 

Edited January 6, 2019 by Guest

[gamini]

nationalism and Trump

[baboon]

3 hours ago, puukao said:

Median IQ falling.

 

When you have more dumb people, well, we are doomed.  

 

Gotta get the smart people to breed....  

I couldn't agree more. Low IQs and fleeting attention spans breed demagogues seeking to capitalise. Just look at the UK and US...

[canuckamuck]

Luciferians controlling the economy.

[Roadman]

3 hours ago, puukao said:

Median IQ falling.

 

When you have more dumb people, well, we are doomed.  

 

Gotta get the smart people to breed....  

Agree. We need Darwins saber tooth tigers back to cull them but we have to many socialist governments around the world encouraging them to bred.

[Roadman]

4 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

In light of the limited options I chose overpopulation. Normally this would not be considered an existential threat per se. But, over the last 20 years the sea change in national border integrity and illegal migration rights/encouragement has led to any concept of sustainable population levels being thrown out the window. The 1st world just can not take in all these billions of unskilled foreigners and nor can they afford to give them all the trappings of 1st world life ie free medical care, beemers and iphones. Their relatively low carbon footprint from being hunter gatherers back home is nothing like what it would be when they are dropped into the civilized world. This end of the age of responsible parenting and the overpopulation it brought - is a real threat to life as we know it.

Over population and the ability to feed them has been a falsehood fed to the world for the last fifty years. Reality is populations especially in the western world and even vast population areas  like India have peaked, and technology and our ability to produce vast amounts of food have increased beyond our needs. Jeez under Trump US farmers are ploughing under vast fields of crops so that Trump can pay huge subsidies to crops that would normally be sold to China to make himself look more of a d!ckhead. And you can always have your Big Mac courtesy of the latest lab grown technology. 

[steve73]

The Earth has continually been exposed to (and its life has reacted to) climate change.  It's a completely natural occurrence, and life will adapt to any future changes, at least over the next few millions of years. Of course whether humanity will be able to adapt fast enough remains to be seen.  Whether the current changing climate is due to human activity is still debatable. 

 

Certainly, the current level of population has been made possible by utilising the stored energy from hydrocarbon resources collected from solar energy, and deposited over a few hundred million years, and we have consumed a significant proportion of this over just the past hundred years or so.  Unless this is replaced with renewable energy directly from the sun, the current population CANNOT be expected to be supported.  Also as the worldwide population strives to live to "western" standards, it's energy consumption will continue to increase many-fold.  And it's not just energy, the consumption of all resources increases, putting further strain on population numbers.  

 

But, as the current population uses and subsequently disposes of much of the trappings of modern life, this results in the byproduct that we give the general name of "pollution", be it CO2, other gasses (such as CFC's, although apparently the Ozone hole has largely repaired itself), plastic trash, etc.

 

So for me, overpopulation is the most serious problem we face.

 

And of those not listed, nuclear war, mega-eruptions, CME's, virus epidemics, etc., any of these are likely to severely reduce the population problem.   

  

[Roadman]

Actually after reading the “can you figure it out” essay accordingly to connda who in reflection got closest to the actual question or is the question wrong in that it should have asked what is the biggest risk to humanity? The planet will survive in spite of the idiotic population we are grooming, nuclear warfare, climate change which it has adjusted to many times etc. So the biggest risk to the planet as the question asks is probably a stray asteroid or sun moving orbit closer to us or some other like minded item that my booze laden mind is struggling to comprehend the night before the Xmas break ends and I return to the grind tomorrow of saving more morons from Saber tooth tigers. 

 

[IAMHERE]

Reduce the population by about half and the other problems take care of themselves.