Will modern civilization endure? I cannot find any reason why not. Mankind had overcome lots of disasters throughout history, and every disaster made mankind stronger if rational thinking was present. I believe even the global warming turned out to be a greatest disaster of mankind, modern civilization will still endures or even better.
Future can be predicted by looking at the history. According to history, society collapse usually not because of disaster, but education. Even the society collapse, with education, the civilization would be rebuilt. For example, during the late middle age, Black Death was all over Europe. Thousands of people die every day. At the end, over one third of the population in Europe was dead and the societies were collapsed. But not long after the end of Black Death, it was the Renaissance period. The Black Death was one of the reasons that people started questioning about the church and the Bible. They started thinking rationally. Within few hundred years, the European conquered the world.
Another example was the big economical crash in 1929 in United States. The society was basically collapsed. But within less than twenty years, United States turned into a world super power. The 1929 crash did not make United States collapse, but even stronger. I believe the reason behind it was because education and rational thinking.
Not every disaster would make a country stronger. The rational thinking and education are the key points behind it. China was pretty damaged after World War II and after the civil war. Instead of rebuilding the country, Chairman Mao chose to spread his religion of communist. Take the Great Leap for example. The point of Great Leap is to produce more steel than United States to show United States that the Chinese were better in terms of industry. Farmers melt their tools in order to produce steel. The result was obvious: no farmers, no food. Tens of millions people die because of hunger. The way of thinking “we need to prove that we are not weak” still affecting the Chinese today. Chinese government rather spends billions of dollars for Olympic or World Expo rather than helping the farmers or improves their citizens’ life. Riots are lot more common today in China and I believe there will be a huge revolution very soon.
Modern civilization will endure, as long as mankind keeps their rational thinking. I believe we will also able to transform ourselves into a sustainable society and vital ecosystem. However I think the Europeans will turn into a sustainable society early then the Americans. When the resource is running out, the Americans probably use its military force to get what it wants. The Europeans are not going to fight with the Americans, so what they can only do is find an alternative way, which is what they are doing now. The French has lots and lots of nuclear power plant and the German is promoting the solar power. I believe the Americans will turn into a sustainable society much slower than the European, just because it has lots of cheaper, easier options.
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