To ask how you think the UK will survive these?

[wheresmymojo]

Linked to another thread but I don't want to take that one off on to too much of a tangent.

Things don't feel brilliant in the UK right now, it's not the first time we've had 'bad times' though.

However I feel it's different this time because we have four massive looming global changes coming...usually when you're in 'bad times' there aren't four much, much bigger problems already on their way.

I'm interested in how people think the UK will fair, I spend a lot time trying to understand / imagine what the world will look like after some of these things but haven't remotely wrapped my head around what all four combined would look like?

The four things I see on the horizon are...

• The impact of climate change (personally I think 1.5c+ change is pretty inevitable now)

• The aging population / huge decrease in working age population

• The potential for AI to become more intelligent than humans

• The decline of the West and rise of the East

The population is ageing but healthier and working longer. Most will be working until almost 70.

I didn't think healthy life expensive had grown much vs life expectancy which is the problem?

We're fucked, basically.

Look through history. Civilisations rise, have a golden period of innovation and prosperity and then go into decline. That's what is happening here. It's what always happens.

Seems this time we're taking the planet out with us.

I believe we're experiencing catabolic collapse, which isn't a singular event, but a process which can take between years and decades. It can't be reversed.

There is nothing we can do. We can only try to manage the situation and adapt

They aren't though.

It used to be common for people to have a short, sharp illness and die quickly and relatively young by today's standards.

Now, the final 10-20 years of many peoples' long lives are plagued by chronic illness.

Vote labour so less poor people starve in the short term. And the middle class might get their holidays back.

UK generated less than 1% of global emissions.

Of course our percentage contribution to global emissions is relatively low because we don't manufacture very much, we import our fast fashion, plastic tat, tech etc from elsewhere. If our emissions were measured by consumption rather than production it would be far higher than 1% because we are a developed nation.

The UK makes up 0.87% of the global population so even if our emissions were only 1% were still contributing too much.

This is why I don't have children. I would be condemning my kids/grandkids/great grandkids to a life of extreme temperatures and water wars. That isn't fair.

As for each doing our bit, where do we start?

I recycle, but think it's all been a bit of a con. I live in a small town and often walk rather than use my car. I typically take 1 short-haul flight a year. I don't have kids. I get the train to work once a week. A lot of my furniture is second hand. I eat meat free meals more often than not. I dont typically buy fast fashion. I don't buy much for the house or in the way of gadgets, clothes and accessories as I'm a bit of a minimalist.

But when The Range, B&M Homestores, Homesense and the like exist - piled high with tat that none of us really need - and there are thousands of YouTubers regularly posting 'haul' videos, I struggle to give much of a shit.

Brits are so doom & gloom.
Problems have solutions.

After WW2 (decline of Europe), the blitz (environmental destruction) & threat of nuclear war (scary technology), rationing & conscription (authoritarian actions)... just how bad did prospects look in about 1950?

Japan continues to be major economic power in spite of massively aging population.

Humans have long survived climate change (doesn't make it ok, but boy are we resourceful)

Luddites also predicted demise of human society due to technology

Power centres fluctuate, places that haven't been colonised-occupied in last 150 years tend to do well anyway (with lots exceptions where even the colonised are doing well, eg. Ireland, South Korea, Czechia, Hong Kong...)

Thank goodness our children will be here to look after you when you're old. You can regale them with stories of doom.

@Highandlows that's simply your own view , so please don't try to present it as if it's fact. The gvt have allowed almost 700,000 immigrants in the last year- we aren't talking people arriving on boats- and most of this is from India, phillipines, Pakistan, Hong kong andAfricaxetc- I work in a business centre that also has a company there doing the face to face visas - I see hordes of families coming in every day and we aren't talking all brain surgeons- plus they have trailing families- it puts the numbers of mainly young single EU people that were here totally into perspective. Other countries in the EU were far more pragmatic about this without making a huge hoo ha - this could always have been predicted- strangely you didn't see it written on the side of a bus or coming out Farages or Johnson's mouth - so I think using the 'labour will be worse' mantra is the words of a gvt who have nothing positive to post and realise by going along with every undereducated bigot out there (and a load of posh self interested people too) they have dug themselves a very large hole

The decline of the West and rise of the East.

Hopefully the ‘decline’ of the West and our wanton materialism will have a positive impact on climate change.

The UK will do just fine because of its historical privileged position.

How are people calling those that are realistic 'doom mongers'. Seriously, wise the f up. We all need to give a s and do our individual best to make good choices. It's not doom, it's already happened.

It’s crazy - 700,000 a year so 3/4 a million a year -we only have 67 million population now - all this we need careworkers but how many million care workers do we need?
The number of nurses, midwives and nursing associates registered to practise in the UK has grown to a record total of 788,638. Just to give you an idea of numbers. (From google)

These are families coming in who need medical care and schools and big houses.

The British self deprecating, modest stance on everything is INFURIATING!

The latest is- we are a fading country post Empire. Bullshit. The British are hard as nails, the strategise, explore, try new things and see the bigger picture. They stab enemies in the back while smiling to their face. They ally well and negotiate. People are so desperate to say “everything is terrible, woe us me” whilst being propped up by free healthcare and a generous benefits systems and living in a temperate climate with friendly people. If you really feel that way would you like to experience the joys of being a woman living in Mexico? No? Strange that!

Does anyone remember the Hole in the Ozone layer? You know, the one that was going to kill us all? It healed. We will survive and we will adapt and we will thrive.

Some of you need to get your “The End is Nigh” board on and parade around the town centre. I need a laugh.

People are so desperate to say “everything is terrible, woe us me” whilst being propped up by free healthcare and a generous benefits systems and living in a temperate climate with friendly people.

Why are you assuming people who criticise are on benefits?

Can someone just give me a very brief rundown of what the actual problems are here and how we are all now irreversibly doomed??

The hole in the ozone layer didn’t just go away on its own
and yes it is absolutely a fading country post empire. People forget that a few hundred years ago, India and china were all powerful until Britain went in and screwed them over. They are now recovering and building strength and Britain is declining. It’s cycles of power and that’s ok. I also am not sure stabbing people in the back is something to be proud of

History is measured in centuries.

One wonders what the Britons waving goodbye to the last of the Romans in 410 were thinking. I'm guessing they didn't think it would take the better part of a millennia to recover.

You know that without the Gulf Stream, uk would be like Greenland don't you? And the Gulf Stream is... well, fucked as a consequence of climate change?

@celeteeleste i think they expressed themselves poorly but I do agree to some extent is it really going to continue being appropriate to keep people alive past there natural expiration regardless of quality of life? I think these conversations will need to be had sooner or later if we want to keep some sort of free at the point of use healthcare and have conversations around what we will continue to provide and treat etc

We arent irrevocably doomed but if no one is prepared to acknowledge potential weaknesses then no one can plan to mitigate them. Just as if you dont know your strengths you cant build on them.

My water and waste supplier is currently not great. I should be able to look to political parties who should propose different ways to get water supply great again and pick between the parties on the basis of which i think is best.

We know my bit of the uk is getting drier, we know someone elses bit of the uk is flooding more - wheres the plan.

We know population is ageing. But noone seems to plan for it.

fail to plan you plan to fail.