My stories and miniatures more than once mention hunger, lack of food and basic living conditions, starting with electricity, without which modern people can no longer imagine themselves, normal clothing, heat in the house and running water. All this is now an integral part of human existence.

But just recently, famine could cover vast areas of the globe, epidemics raged, which there was not enough strength to cope with and which claimed thousands of lives.

At present, there is no reason that the achieved standard of living can end! Man created for himself machines capable of producing a lot of food and other things and goods necessary for existence. There are, however, some fears that the earth’s energy resources for machines and mechanisms may run out, but given that solar energy reaches planet Earth tens of thousands of times more than a person can consume, these fears turn out to be groundless.

Humanity is doomed to live the rest of its life on earth in satiety. Now it is simply impossible to remain in hunger and cold even in the smallest place on earth. Modern means of communication make it possible to convey the news of a disaster from anywhere. Well, the food security of the planet with the modern development of the agro-industrial complex is beyond doubt. Therefore, cars will immediately rush to people in trouble, planes and helicopters will fly loaded with food and essentials.

And in this regard, I would like to remember our post-war childhood, when “we weeded vegetable gardens, sunbathed by the river, and collected spikelets on a large collective farm field.” They did not always eat enough to eat, they were dressed very modestly, the memory of the famine and cold war and the difficult post-war period stood in their minds.

Although they lived from hand to mouth, they lived amicably, cheerfully, and cheerfully. And it becomes a little sad that such a life will not happen again. Even among our children and grandchildren, and throughout all subsequent humanity. It’s not the hunger that I’m sorry for, no, God forbid. And those friendly relationships, when even though there were baked potatoes over a fire, they were shared equally, when we were all the same and loved each other.

The twenty-first century, with its abundance of equipment and technologies that make it possible to produce the final product with minimal expenditure of human energy, makes it possible for the entire population of the globe to live warm and well-fed.

Reviews

We lived really amicably, cheerfully, cheerfully, although we did not have the wealth that we have now.
We didn’t have the technologies and equipment that we have now.
As sad as it may be, it is an indisputable fact that it was technical progress, with all its positive qualities, that took away from people the opportunity for live communication, which implies friendship, cheerfulness and perkiness.

I once observed the following picture: I walked past an educational institution and noticed that students were standing, sitting, literally all buried in their phones or smartphones. The feeling was unpleasant, as if it were not people sitting there, but robots. There was a silence unusual for young people.
But, before, during breaks, young people talked, joked, fooled around, shouted, squeaked, and communicated live.

And in families it’s the same picture. Having had dinner quickly, everyone is in a hurry to be alone with their computer, laptop, smartphone or TV.
There is a deep MUTEness in the house. Family communication stopped.
Yes, living warm and full is great, it’s pleasant, but we, after all, are people, not robots, do we really no longer need spiritual food?
This is sad, this is sad, this will not lead to good.

And I am always haunted by the question: what will happen to us if, suddenly... there is no electricity?
Who will we be? How will we live?
And, most importantly, what will be in our heads?
We have become so dependent on this energy that we can immediately become simply NOBODY.

The daily audience of the Proza.ru portal is about 100 thousand visitors, who in total view more than half a million pages according to the traffic counter, which is located to the right of this text. Each column contains two numbers: the number of views and the number of visitors.

Goatman or sub-goatman. Of the 24 billion people who lived on earth, 14 billion were killed. People will destroy themselves - it's only a matter of time. Throughout our history, we have done only one thing well and constantly improved it - killing our own kind. So, humanity is doomed. We read:

The story of a veteran of the Great Patriotic War:
"I went through the entire war. Graduated in Berlin. Already at the beginning of May, the three of us were walking through a calm city, and we saw Fraulein walking. Young, such a pure German. They grabbed her and dragged her into the house, to the fifth floor. Three of us raped. And then a telephone cord around her neck and out her window. So at the level of the second floor, the German woman’s head will come off! So we laughed..."

In no way should this revelation undermine the victory over Hitler by Soviet troops. We will focus on the bright memories of the youth of a soldier of the victorious army. Nobody brags about killed and raped civilians in official documents. Even if this violence was a response to the horror that the Germans did in the USSR.

Nazis or communists?! And if there is no difference, then what difference does it make?

After all, this is said by just a man who simply tortured a victim who would not answer him in any way. Neither a soldier nor his relative - just an aunt in a captured country. This was not an act of dominance, about which you regularly receive photo reports in the section. This murder was natural human behavior in conditions of war and impunity. After all, a soldier under death, that is, on guard, is constantly ready to kill the enemy, punish, damn it, win... In short, the person is stressed. He is already half-human, he is guided by animal instincts, where everything is clear - either you or you. And the transition from the human-animal state is a matter of seconds.

1. Ancient Rome. Humanity became civilized thousands of years ago. However, is it really civilized? Let us remember the empire that gave rise to science, art, law, and the birthplace of spaghetti - ancient Rome. Having conquered half of the then known world, the Romans, not limited by morality and external threats, began to degrade from impunity - they feared the gods, but paid off with sacrifices, and Christians became their favorite victims in 68 AD. This is under Nero.

Ancient Rome - executions, orgies non-stop!

They sacrificed in a rich way:
For the first execution, a new circus was built (the Coliseum in our opinion, only made of wood). The handrails were lined with bronze, amber, ivory, mother-of-pearl and overseas tortoise shells. The closer to the arena, the more decent the audience and the more expensive the decoration. And along the rows they laid grooves with cold water coming from the mountains - cooling. There are incense burners between the rows, and on the ceiling there are special devices for sprinkling spectators with saffron and other aromatics.

From under the stage, chants could be heard—the condemned Christians were singing hymns. Spectators, who judged the number of victims by the number of votes, were worried that if they sent one hundred or two hundred people into the arena at once, the animals would get tired and, having had enough, would not have time to tear everyone apart until the evening. Or this: when too many people perform, attention is scattered and it is impossible to properly enjoy the spectacle.

They served soft drinks, roasted meats, sweets, wine, olives and fruit. Bread and circuses. And when hunger and thirst were quenched, hundreds of slaves carried out baskets with gifts, from which boys dressed as cupids threw them into the rows. Finally, Christian men and women came out, covered in animal skins, with children in their arms. A pack of wild dogs was released after them.

In ancient Rome they killed people and made fucking statues.

Blood flowed in streams. The dogs snatched bloody pieces of human flesh from one another. The smell of blood and feces from torn entrails drowned out the incense and spread throughout the circus. New crowds of victims arrived, whom the gorged dogs did not touch.

The people, excited by the spectacle, chant: “Lvov!” Lviv! Release the lions!
Lions run out. The dogs, frightened by the big cats, whine against the walls of the arena. The lions slowly walk around the arena, inhaling the smell of fresh blood. Soon, one of the predators jumps on the crying child, killing him with a blow of his paw and tearing off his father's head in an instant. The spectators rise from their seats and applaud - the spectacle captured both the plebeians and the nobility.

Do a good deed - give a lion to an idiot. That'll be one less idiot.

And in the arena, people’s heads were completely hidden in huge jaws, chests were broken with one blow of claws, torn out hearts and lungs flashed, the crunch of bones in the teeth of predators was heard. Some lions, grabbing their prey by the side or lower back, rushed wildly around the arena, as if looking for a secluded place to devour their prey.

Many spectators went down the aisles to get a better view, and in the crowd someone was crushed to death. It seemed that the crowd, captivated by the spectacle, would eventually pour into the arena and, together with the lions, would begin to torment people. At times, an inhuman squeal and applause could be heard, there was a growl, a howl, the knocking of claws, the whining of dogs, and at times - only the groans of the victims.

The well-fed lions were replaced by tigers, panthers, bears, wolves, and jackals. The entire arena was covered with an undulating carpet of animal skins - striped, yellow, gray, brown, spotted. The spectacle turned into a bloody orgy.

Ancient Roman orgies. It doesn’t matter who, it doesn’t matter who - it matters how!

To entertain the jaded spectators, the Christians were executed by burning the next day. Not at the stake - they were tied to tarred poles in the park and, after setting fire, they were used as lighting...

Humanity has always loved public executions. The infernal thirst for blood that sits in human genes, like an echo of the time when he got food with his hands, killing animals and his own kind, devouring still warm flesh without frying it. Then he had not yet tamed fire. How strong is this bloodthirsty gene, since centuries of civilization and submission to religious principles have only sublimated the thirst for blood within the framework of “seizing new lands.” Or the Crusades. Or fighting those who are not like us (the main reason for war).

Everyone knows how debauchery ended for Rome.

2. Britain. Another worldwide cradle of science and progress is the British Empire. History was made in the Beatles’ homeland and this is what it is:
1) Fought poverty “Enclosure”. The Anti-Poverty and Vagrancy Acts of 1576 provided for the establishment of workhouses for paupers in the "enclosure" areas of the poorer regions of England. In workhouses where they worked seven days a week for a bowl of gruel. Those who fled from their homes were executed. Soon, the ruined peasantry was exterminated, and the lands of the peasants went to the king.

2) The Irish question. There are many times more Irish than English. And this upset the latter. In 1649, Cromwell came to deal with the overpopulation of Ireland. The cities he captured were completely slaughtered, churches were burned. And if in 1641 there were 1,500,000 people in Ireland, then in 1651 there were already 600,000 people in Ireland, and 150,000 English colonists. A reservation was set aside for the Irish on a barren part of the island of Connacht. All Irish caught outside Connacht were executed.

Moreover, the soldiers were paid 6 pounds for a killed wolf and 5 for an Irishman. How they determined his nationality from the corpse is a mystery. Until the end of the next century, the Irish were limited in their rights to education and participation in elections. The Irish owned only 5% of Irish land. And life on barren lands led to famine, from which the Irish fled to America. While there were eight million Irish in Ireland in 1841, in 1901 there were only four million.

3) Relocation to the colonies. In addition to the Irish who fled to America and India, the British populated the colonies with white slaves. Prisoners of war, convicts. In total, thirteen million people were brought to America along with blacks. At the same time, the norm for transporting slaves was three dead for one living.

The British are one of the bloodiest nations. And even “Prodigy” won’t help us forgive them!

4) English drug mafia. In the 19th century, England began supplying opium to China. In return, the British received gold and silk. The introduction of a cheap drug brought about the disintegration of the Chinese army and rulers. Finally, the Chinese Emperor began an anti-opium campaign in the country in 1839. However, England declared war on China, which it quickly won. And ships with opium went to China, returning to England with gold, silk and porcelain. Victorian England - Dickens's tales and prim tea-drinking traditions, the country's somewhat duplicitous policy abroad.

5) Concentration camps. After all, Stalin did not invent them.

Ira is such an army. The freedom-loving Irish did not immediately become like this.

The first concentration camps were created by the Anglo-Saxons in South Africa for the Boers and their families. The Boers are the descendants of European colonists who lived in the English colonies. The British decided to round up the Boers and their families on reservations - this way it’s easier to control and there’s no need to feed them. This is exactly how the British broke the resistance of the active part of the Boers, starving 15% of the population of the colonies and 70% of children.

No one counted how many Aborigines were killed due to the arrival of English civilization in India, Australia or Tasmania. And we are simply silent about the fact that there is already a bill in the US Senate “to recognize the extermination of Indians as genocide.” After all, all the conquerors of the seas distinguished themselves in the future states - the Dutch, the French, the Spaniards and even the Russians.

Then they came up with the European Union and they don’t accept “savages” there. Well, not goats? Although they will soon have more people of color there than before, maybe then they will invite us to the eurozone. But then maybe we won’t want to. So, history constantly drenches us in a bloody puddle. Humans are bloodthirsty assholes who are excellent at self-destruction.

The man killed, he still kills, only changing slogans: before - for peace, now - for democracy.
Experiments on people by the first doctors - this is how the dear Chinese doctors learned the secrets of acupuncture, and the ancient Greeks compiled an anatomical atlas of man. The Inquisition and the extermination of all strange people before and after it. Murder for a bottle of vodka and just out of boredom. Rape and incitement to suicide. Self-assertion by suppressing the force or willpower of one's neighbor. Impunity of the majors and indifference to other people's problems. People, why are we such assholes?

And how many millions were destroyed in the colonies of Britain - the genocide of the indigenous population of the colonies in North America, Australia, Tasmania (the Tasmanians were all destroyed), more than tens of millions were destroyed in India (mainly through famine), hundreds of thousands, millions were destroyed in wars unleashed by London across the globe. It is clear why Hitler and his comrades were Anglophiles - they looked up to the “white brothers” from London, who long before them covered the planet with a network of concentration camps and prisons, suppressing any signs of resistance with the most brutal terror, creating their own “World Order”.

The human race must begin to leave the Earth in 30 years so as not to die from overpopulation and climate change. Professor Stephen Hawking issued this warning.

Giving an impassioned speech at the Starmus science festival in Trondheim, Norway, the astrophysicist said it was vital to create colonies on Mars and the Moon, and assemble a Noah's Ark of plants, animals, fungi and insects to begin creating a new world.

Professor Hawking said that the Earth as we know it will die from an asteroid strike, high temperatures or overpopulation, and that it is only a matter of time.

According to him, there should be no “inaction in space”, since the threats are too serious and numerous.

“I am convinced that humanity must leave Earth. The earth is becoming too small for us, and our physical resources are being depleted at an alarming rate.”

“We have given our planet a terrible gift in the form of climate change, rising temperatures, shrinking polar ice caps, deforestation and the destruction of many species.”

“When similar crises arose in our history, we usually had somewhere to move, something to colonize. Columbus did this in 1492 when he discovered the New World. But now there is no New World. There is no Utopia just around the corner. We no longer have enough space, and we can only move to other worlds.”

Professor Hawking told his audience that eventually the Earth will collide with an asteroid and it will be a disaster.

“This is not science fiction, the laws of physics and probability guarantee us this,” he said. “To stay means to die.”

Context

Hawking is wrong

Hawking: Humanity will live no more than 1000 years

The end of the world is delayed

“Wherever we go, we will have to create a civilization, we will have to use practical means to create a completely new ecosystem that will survive in an environment unfamiliar to us. We will have to think about how to transport several thousand people, animals, plants, fungi and insects to other planets.”

According to the professor, the Moon and Mars are the best places to create the first colonies. He believes that a lunar base can be built in 30 years, and an outpost on Mars in 50. But Hawking also proposes to get out of the solar system and go to the nearest star system Alpha Centauri, where, according to scientists, there is a habitable planet Proxima B .

Hawking said fusion-powered spacecraft, powered by Star Trek-style particle-antiparticle reactors or some "entirely new form of energy" would allow humans to travel light years.

According to the professor, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner has already taken a small first step forward with his Breakthrough Start Shot project.

It involves sending a fleet of “nanocraft” with light sails on a four-year journey to Alpha Centauri, which is the closest star system to Earth.

Miniature probes with cameras will be accelerated by ultra-powerful laser radiation directed at the sail at tens of gigawatts and will arrive at their destination in about 20 years.

“If we succeed, we will send a probe to Alpha Centauri, and some of you will still be alive to witness this event,” the scientist said.

“It is clear that we are entering a new space era. We stand on the threshold of a new era. Human colonization of other planets is no longer science fiction, it could become a scientific fact.”

“The human race has existed as a separate species for approximately two million years. Civilization arose about 10 thousand years ago, and the pace of development is steadily increasing. If humanity wants to live another million years, it needs to boldly go where no one has gone before. I hope for the best. We have to hope. There are simply no other options."

Ahead of Asteroid Day next Friday, Queen's University Astrophysics Research Center professor Alan Fitzsimmons has also warned that a major city could easily be destroyed if an asteroid hits Earth.

Asteroid Day commemorates the fall of the Tunguska meteorite in Siberia in 1908, which devastated two thousand square kilometers of taiga.

Professor Fitzsimmons said: “It is important to know that scientists and engineers have made great strides in detecting near-Earth asteroids and understanding the threat they pose. To date, more than 1,800 potentially dangerous objects have been discovered, but much more remains to be found.”

“Astronomers find near-Earth asteroids every day, and most of them are harmless. But it’s possible that the next Tunguska meteorite will take us by surprise, and although we have become good at finding large asteroids, this will not help us if we don’t know what to do with them.”

InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.

Energy, fresh water, food - people have already learned to produce all these resources in abundance. And their value is steadily falling. But what will humanity do when it solves its material problems?

From luxury item to waste source

The heroes of the dystopia "Mad Max" fight for fuel. Energy sources in a post-apocalyptic Malthusian world are a limited and valuable resource. Many oil companies today believe in this picture of the world or want to make others believe. Historically, however, the fate of many resources that people use turns out to be different from the described scenario.

In his book “Physics of the Future,” American physicist and futurist Michio Kaku describes the four stages of resource evolution using paper as an example. At the first stage, the resource is rare and very expensive. One papyrus scroll in ancient Egypt was extremely valuable. In the second stage, with the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg, it became possible for one person to own many scrolls at once. In the third stage, with the fall in the cost of paper, it became possible for a person to own an entire library. Paper has become a ubiquitous resource. And finally, in the fourth stage, in our time, paper has become one of the main components of urban waste. A similar story could happen with oil.

In the second half of the twentieth century, the hypothesis of peak oil, after which production would reach a maximum and begin to fall, became widespread in the oil market. For decades, the predictions of King Hubbert, the author of the hypothesis, have been fulfilled.

However, due to innovations both within the oil industry (the emergence of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies), as well as outside it (the significant reduction in the cost of alternative energy), today energy is a resource that, according to Michio Kaku’s classification, is from the stage of a valuable commodity to the stage of widespread abundance.

It is difficult for us to imagine a world in which energy is virtually unlimited and cheap. It is even more difficult to imagine a world in which many of the existing and seemingly unrelated problems can be solved through the availability and cheapness of energy in combination with new technologies.

Side effects

What is the modern Malthusian worried about? About food. About fresh water. About the environment. The problem of environmental pollution is associated with the emission into the atmosphere of oxides of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and other substances - an undesirable but inevitable by-product of burning fossil fuels. With the transition to solar and wind energy, this problem solves itself. Typically, the consequence of pursuing economic interests is environmental pollution. Here everything is the other way around.

At the moment, humanity does not experience any special problems with drinking water, but many believe that fresh water is the gold of the 21st century. Is it so? Two thirds of the Earth's surface is covered with sea water. Desalination technology has been around for a long time. However, the energy intensity of this technology put its large-scale use into question. Availability and low cost of energy eliminates this bottleneck.

Are we in danger of starvation? The carbohydrates we eat and the hydrocarbons we put in our fuel tank are in sync for good reason. And although a person does not know how to consume solar energy directly, he can transform one type of energy into another. Modern technologies make it possible to grow meat in vitro: the input is stem cells and energy in a form inaccessible for human consumption, the output is energy in an accessible form for human consumption (food). Since energy is no longer a bottleneck, there is no need to worry about food sufficiency in the future either.

This list of opportunities realized through the availability of unlimited and cheap energy is not exhausted. A person needs things and structures - from houses and roads to cars and clothes. Creating these things remains a labor-intensive process to this day. However, technological progress, combined with the availability of cheap energy, is bringing significant changes here too. For example, today small residential buildings can be printed on a 3D printer with minimal human intervention. It is cheaper and faster than traditional manual technologies. Larger structures such as bridges and skyscrapers are next in line. It is likely that the 21st century will see its share of Luddites—blue collar workers forced out of labor-intensive industries by new technologies and robots.

Finally, one of the most amazing consequences of technological progress and the availability of energy is new technologies that make it possible to replicate photosynthesis (the natural process by which nature creates complex hydrocarbon molecules from carbon dioxide and water). Genetically engineered bacteria that feed on carbon dioxide and water in the sun produce diesel fuel and other chemicals that humans today obtain from oil. According to some estimates, such an alternative process is economically justified at an oil price of about $50 /barr. Fuel, building materials, polymers, plastic - this is an incomplete list of possible products. Earn Money carbon dioxide is an attractive, innovative way to combat the challenges of climate change.

All that is needed is a source of water, a source of carbon dioxide, today perceived as an unwanted pollutant rather than a valuable carbon resource, and sunlight (free and unlimited). This technology is environmentally friendly, relies on unlimited ingredients and is now becoming economical.

Utopia or dystopia

Thus, it appears that the world is on the path to abundance. Video footage from Mad Max is hardly suitable for describing our future. A more realistic picture is the people of WALL·E, freed by robots and unlimited energy from the need to work. Material abundance, however, solves some problems, but gives rise to others.

What challenges does such a future bring? What will motivate people in a world in which they have to exert little effort to meet their basic needs for food and shelter? Will everyone be a scientist or an artist? Or will man remain, in Aristotle's formulation, a social animal, measuring his satisfaction from life with an eye to his neighbor rather than guided by absolute criteria?

Until recently, utopias were strongly associated with abundance, and dystopias with scarcity. With the resolution of uncertainty in favor of abundance, the dystopian future changes its usual shape. Living in abundance, but degrading from generation to generation, people from WALL·E - this is exactly what a realistic picture of dystopia looks like in the 21st century.