Key Atlantic current could collapse soon, 'impacting the entire world for centuries to come,'

[moniss]

33. Yes but extrapolating a collapse from thousands of years ago

and the ability to migrate to survivable areas is not really useful in thinking about today. The times in the past did not have the density of population, the weapons technology regarding battles for resources, the degradation of water resources or the instant worldwide communication and awareness of moves for survival. That last one may be one of the most important regarding survival then versus now.

Those previous civilizations did not have to deal with others instantly knowing that a "survivable area" was inhabited or obtainable. So today if a particular area of countries are looking far more "survivable" the communication of that fact to the billions of people on the planet will be immediate and the stampede will be on along with whatever political/military pressure is employed against the "survival countries" to allow the influx. If we try to curtail the influx to areas where people can survive better then we are basically enacting extermination policies perhaps dressed up under nicer labels. Not too unlike some of the resistance to efforts to migrate that we see today.

We can't just feel we can just "move somewhere else" because, other than the Arctic/Antarctic, pretty much has population and claim/governance by others. Our ability to provide clean fresh water for ourselves is constantly going in the wrong direction for all the known reasons while the ancients did not have this struggle of having diminished so much of the world's water quality.

But it goes even beyond that because there are far more things that happen when civilizations collapse and survival attempts take place. It is not just a matter of immediate survival things like food, water and shelter. Huge changes happen within people and social dynamics as well. Far too often when we read items about climate change, environmental degradation of species etc. we usually are seeing climate scientists, biologists etc. talking about the physical impacts. Rarely do we see anywhere near the amount of "ink" given to sociologists, psychologists etc. talking about the changes in the social dynamic and in us as people when these "change scenarios" are discussed.

A good book to read about the question of "us" is "Commander One" by Peter George from 1965 and was a "sequel" of sorts to "Red Alert" which Kubrick used as the basis for "Dr. Strangelove". In "Commander One" Peter George tells the story of a world in which China plots to get the US and Russia to destroy each other so that China can take over the world. The story also is about the US having prepared for the scenario of "doomsday" and potential survival by having a plan for "survivors" to go on board a submarine to an area in the South Pacific that would be the least impacted by fallout. The scenario becomes all too real. But the storytelling ability of George is nothing short of monumental and what happens is not what one might expect one way or the other or for reasons we might have thought. The ending of the book is one of the most extraordinary things in literature I've ever seen an author do. I won't give it away because to say it is to negate experiencing it and George wrote this to be experienced rather than described or recited.