anleja

Alright, I can usually put up with a lot of worldly abuse, and I feel I usually come out as a better person. But in the past year I think I've heard about 5 different scenerios of major planetary tragedies that are supposedly inevitable.

I know life is fragile and should be cherished, but these predictions are driving me nuts. I've just accepted good ol' "natuaral cause" death (car crash, cancer, old age, stupidity) but am having trouble dealing with things such as antibiotics being rendered useless as viruses rage out of control, wars for water, the world's oil running out, meteors, blah blah blah, ETC...

So, my question to the people reading this is... how do you deal with news like this?

I'd prefer to take it all with a grain of salt, but I'm starting to fear it is all too much to simply give none of it any validity. I could disconnect myself from the media, but I don't feel that avoidance will do any good; especially if something tragic DOES happen, I'd like to be at least somewhat prepared for it.

Is it better to try to prepare for all the scenerios, or is it mentally harmful to dwell on it like that? Live for today, or prepare for a future which may not even happen?

(let me add that I thought of putting this in Tilted Paranoia, but I'd rather have the responses of people who may not be so accustomed to pondering things like this, as I am guessing people in Tilted Paranoia do. )

Gimli

Your only recourse is to serve people. Donate money, help someone, pray for those who are in need. Do what you can to insure that your contribution is a positive one.

The world has never been short of human tragedy as long as man has been here. But for every tragedy, there are a thousand stories of heroism and sacrifise and service.

This is your challenge.

Oh yeah, vote, too.

skier

I say live in the present. When you look back on your life (maybe right before you die in one of these world-ending scenarios) would you rather remember a rich, happy, satisfied life, or one filled with misery and fear for the future. Enjoy what you have, life is too short to worry over something of which you have no control. (If you do have control over a world ending situation though for god's sake DO something about it though!)
100 billion people have died in countless different ways on this planet, from just after birth, to after over 100 years of life. There is no immortality, find love and hold it. Be happy.

__________________
"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim

Seaver

People have been predicting the end of the world all the way back before BC. The biggest was in 666 AD, and then again in 999 AD, we all saw how that went over.

Dont fret about it, just live your life the best you can and ignore all the people saying the end is near. The best thing you can do is lead a life you wont regret, wont regret if you die at 90 or die tomarrow.

__________________
"Smite the rocks with the rod of knowledge, and fountains of unstinted wealth will gush forth." - Ashbel Smith as he laid the first cornerstone of the University of Texas

:::OshnSoul:::

We can all be aware, not necessarily prepared, because anything could happen at any given moment.
We all evolve, we all are eternal- this life may end for us, whether it be catostrophic events or not- evolution is a given, and I am ready for anything.
I choose to (and very much try to) cherish evry moment with loved ones, my husband, and my children, listen to others, care for & help others, not take for granted any moment of this life.
The end of the world can happen- it WILL happen- it's a matter of when, but possibly not in our life. No matter what, I will see you all on the other side and even maybe in another life.

ARTelevision

As individuals, we don't really have a need for news that doesn't affect us. our curiosity is a bane as well as a blessing.

It's easy for me to pay no attention to things that don't affect me - even if I know about them.

So I guess it's all about developing the ability to discriminate between those things that you simply know about and those that affect you personally.

__________________
create evolution

Rodney

Yeah, well, keep in mind that the people who are publicizing these coming apocalypti have no reason to be moderate about it.

I'm sure they do believe that the problems are serious, but who's going to sit up and listen if they say, "This is a serious problem, and under a certain set of circumstances could adversely affect all life on earth"? That's not going to get much press coverage. Much more productive, in the short run anyway, to start screaming WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! UNLESS YOU DO THE FOLLOWING RIGHT AWAY..... (and, oh yeah, fund my research program)

So that gets them heard. Problem is that, with so many people screaming like that, in the end people just shut out all of it. Which is not good, either.

I have my disaster portfolio of potential problems which I follow in the media: global warming and sea level rise, ozone layer (getting better, actually, though in the long run), possible collapse of sea ecosystem, collapse of civilization due to energy shortages, asteroid strike, gamma ray burst from nearby supernova sterilizing the earth (possible candidate about 150 light years off), eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera, and so on. Many of them could cause massive damage and misery. But the only ones I see possibly wiping out all of humanity and civilization are the ones we have no control over. So, I am concerned, but I don't dwell on any of it. Here is my article of faith: shit has happened, shit is happening, and shit will happen. People will die or suffer, and people will survive and recover. Life will go on as it always have, barring cosmic catastrophe. And about that there's little that we can do right now (except maybe chart asteroids) so why obsess? Live life.

anleja

Thanks for the responses. When I wrote this I had just finished reading an article laying out the (potential) domino effect of oil shortages. It kinda freaked me out, and sometimes I have trouble shaking some thoughts from my head. However, as I am writing this the following day, I am much more at peace with the unknown and inevitable.

I think the bible even says something to the effect of "Live for today, tomorrow will work itself out out." Regardless of anyone's faith, I don't think they'd dispute the truth of those words.

Besides, if the worst happened, well, there is nothing like a little catastrophe to put straight people's priorities.

spived2

I stopped watching the news, mainly because of all these doomsday stories. So retarded. They can predict all they want, but they've been doing it for thousands of years now, and we're still around.

__________________

"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." - V

Rodney

We're never going to run out of energy resources. Ever. Research is being done on so many different kinds of new and/or renewal energy resources. The only reason that this stuff doesn't come to market is that oil is still 'way cheap, and it's hard to fund development of a new energy technology, mass-produce it and get it up to speed so that you can cut prices due to economy of scale when you're losing money the whole time because you're competing with oil.

But when the oil spigot starts to run dry and energy prices rise, expect massive funding, public and private, to land on all sorts of energy generation schemes, from cogeneration to ocean wave electricity generators, cheaper solar, more efficient engines, beamed energy from space, all sorts of things.

Case in point: in parts of Europe where electricity is expensive and conditions are right, there are huge wind-powered generators off the coast in large numbers. The Danes in particular are leading the world in wind power. We're starting to see those generators go up in this country, but they were developed in places where the cost of power made it smart to pour money and resources into renewable energy. So somebody did. And that's the way the future will go.

absence_of_color

I dont watch or read the news, or at least I try not too.
Though, I will admit that when y2K rolled around, I was worried.

After all came and went, I just stopped believing in the news.
They love to take fear of tragedy and turn it into the top news story. So freaking lame.

I figure when my time comes, I will try my best to protect my son and myslef. Its all I can do.

__________________
...absent of everything.