this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2025
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[a sad character is slouched on a couch, looking at their laptop, looking depressed, while their coffee mug leaks on their carpet] I'm tired of living in the "Decline and Fall" section of the future Wikipedia article

https://thebad.website/comic/decline_and_fall

https://bsky.app/profile/thebad.website

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[–] HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml 6 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (2 children)

All the more reason to live IMO. After the decline of the existing system is the potential for something better to replace it but only if we have people willing to do it.

[–] SunshineJogger@feddit.org 2 points 7 hours ago

Uhm, if we are the Generation in which the system breaks we will be the generation with the highest death (and suicide) rate since the great depression. (for example)

Though if I had to pick if my kids had to grow up into either a transitional breakdown and can build it up...

Or

Into a dystopian right wing nazi dictatorship as we see all over coming up...

I'd pick the rebuilding for them

[–] reagansrottencorpse@lemmy.ml 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I appreciate the optimism. Because I'm feeling really sad about the future.

[–] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 hours ago

The key difference between all previous civilizational collapses and the one we potentially face is that most people in the past were farmers. Even in the grandest empires like Rome, less than 10% of the population actually lived in cities. Most people lived in the countryside working the land. The city of Rome lost something like 95% of its population. But those people didn't just crawl in a hole and die. They abandoned the city and joined the vast majority of the population that was living in the countryside. Many in the countryside actually saw their quality of life improve substantially. Many who had been slaves found the old legal system enforcing their slavery no longer existed. Rome collapsing just meant the end of the grand cities; political and economic systems could fragment, and people would just live more locally.

But today? Less than 5% of the population actually works on a farm. The vast majority of the population lives in cities. If the political and economic system collapses, the countryside can't just absorb all those extra people. Hell, the farms can't even operate without the equipment, fuels, and chemicals produced by the larger economic system.

Historically, when civilizations collapsed, the common folk just left the cities, abandoned the corrupt elites to their madness, and returned to small villages and rural life. But now there is simply nowhere for people to retreat to.