Ever since the birth of Jesus Christ, people have been experiencing economic progress.
Wealthy civilizations have emerged with industrial and technological capabilities that were unimaginable to people who lived in the days Jesus Christ lived.
For roughly 2,000 years, the world’s population has steadily improved its collective circumstance.
But it was only during the past 200 years the collective behavior of the world’s population began to have significant and obviously detrimental influences on the welfare of future generations of people.
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the collective behavior of the world’s population has slowly become increasingly burdensome to future generations of people, even though substantial economic progress was still achieved.
There were significant pollution problems beginning when the Industrial Revolution began.
Also, wars became more threatening to future generations of people as time passed.
Starting about 65 years ago, wars became even more deadly with the advent of the nuclear weapon and the possibility for annihilation that came with it.
In the modern day, global warming is the new threat capable of ending all human existence.
Global warming’s threat posed to humanity is indisputable despite there being significant uncertainty regarding why atmospheric temperatures are steadily rising.
In addition, there is the problem of population growth.
Population growth may prove to be impossible to stop.
It also may eventually cause world society to face chronic shortages of critically important economic resources.
For this reason, population growth may eventually become the single most serious problem ever experienced by people.
The world’s population has likely grown exponentially larger through time for the past 2,000 years.
The world’s population appears to be continuing to grow exponentially larger at this time.
Earth is not as accommodating to population growth as it used to be and can rationally be expected to become even less accommodating of population growth in the future.
Finally, there is the possibility of the United States eventually experiencing a catastrophic economic problem due to the endless, large-scale borrowing practices of its federal government.
If such a catastrophe should occur, it might prove permanently destabilizing to world society.
There are other developments as well that are threatening to future generations of people.
However, prior to 200 years ago, no such problems appeared to be so obviously present.
If only people of the 21st century had a conscience that was protective of the interests of future generations of people, all the problems facing future generations of people might be solvable.
But today, most people on Earth do not appear to have such a conscience.
Furthermore, there is no institution present on Earth that is effectively influencing people to develop such a conscience.
This is why the world is likely eventually coming to an end.
Joe Kinney
IU alumnus
Danville, Indiana
