Societal Collapse by 2040

[OP1]

I recently watched a video titled "MIT Has Predicted that Society Will Collapse in 2040". The video makes reference to a 1972 study made by MIT-affiliated researchers titled "The Limits to Growth":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Limits_to_Growth

The original 1972 study does not predict a societal collapse in 2040 specifically, however. It's rather an updated version of the study conducted by another researcher that reaches that conclusion. The video also suggests that the study's conclusions were confirmed by KPMG, whereas the excerpt below from the wikipedia article indicates that it was rather a study made by a lead analyst at KPMG, but in a personal capacity.

In 2020, an analysis by Gaya Herrington (Sustainability and Dynamic System Analysis Lead at KPMG in the United States but in a personal capacity) was published in Yale's Journal of Industrial Ecology.^[50] The study assessed whether, given key data known in 2020 about factors important for the "Limits to Growth" report, the original report's conclusions are supported. In particular, the 2020 study examined updated quantitative information about ten factors, namely population, fertility rates, mortality rates, industrial output, food production, services, non-renewable resources, persistent pollution, human welfare, and ecological footprint, and concluded that the "Limits to Growth" prediction is essentially correct in that continued economic growth is unsustainable under a "business as usual" model.^[50] The study found that current empirical data is broadly consistent with the 1972 projections, and that if major changes to the consumption of resources are not undertaken, economic growth will peak and then rapidly decline by around 2040.^[51][52]

It's not clear how much of the "rather sudden and uncontrollable decline in [...] population" predicted in the original report would come from decreased birth rates, and how much would come from increased mortality, though mass-scale starvation seems plausible in the worst-case scenario.

[neonspectraltoast]

2040 seems a little optimistic.

[Meliai]

I read an article yesterday where scientists are predicting the ocean is going to be fucked by 2040. One big dead zone fueling warmer temperatures on land.

looks like 2040 is going to be the year yall.
Carpe diem, we've only got a few years left on this rock

[Din Djarin]

Just american society

[Undies]

You know, I don't think there's been a major end of the world prediction since 2012. It's about damn time I say.

[OP1]

You know, I don't think there's been a major end of the world prediction since 2012. It's about damn time I say.

I guess if this were something invented by Alex Jones, or just a claim that the Maya said the world would end on a particular year, I'd be very skeptical, but

1. It's the product of a serious scientific study

2. Its predictions have accurately described what has actually happened for almost 50 years

3. The basic thesis of the study, that one can not have unlimited growth when resources necessary to growth are finite, is undeniable.

This study is also, strictly speaking, not an end of the world prediction, but rather a prediction of the eventual collapse of the current global economy and sudden decline in population and industrial output.

My guess is there might be some room to debate the exact timing of the collapse, or to argue that new technologies will just suddenly emerge to avert disaster, it seems we are very clearly on course for collapse unless something changes dramatically.

[Pete's Draggun]

I was born in 1972.....hummmm ?

There must be some connection......

Anti-christ?