Do you think that because of resource depletion, civilization will plateau then fizzle out?

Answer 1

No, I do not.

Answer 2

I think that the decline won´t be coming from resource depletion but from culture deficiency. As the rhythm of life becomes faster, the price of living goes up and the need for specialization to be considered competitive increases. People will start to know more and more about less and less. This leads directly to a tremendous lack of general knowledge that will prevent the people to be able to cross reference.
Only those who wish (and have the time) to read, and are generally curious will have an approximate view of the big picture.
Soon, low cultural level internet traffic, TV and programs will be acting as the great equalizer and civilization will weaken.
At that particular moment, if a great effort is being made, the pendulum may swing back and we might learn a valuable lesson: To not fall into human-cogwheel status.
If not, things will start to really fall apart.
Pollution, global warming and the exhaustion of resources will no doubt play a very important role, but the great danger is within us now. (we carry the seeds of our own demise).
And therer will be an additional danger: the conflict between the have and have not nations, as well as within the borders.
You can already see walled areas where people buy o rent their houses so that access is limited to non invited people.
These concepts exists as an answer to a rise in criminality in certain countries like Mexico, South Africa and China.
Soon it will happen in other countries as well.

Answer 3

That's such a good question. I think no becasue people are trying to find other resorces for power. They already made a car completely powered by air. It's not the best but technologies develop. But I think by the time we will find out the answer to that question we will all be dead (this generation). And did I mention that Northern Canada has a huge amount of resources that will be extracted once the ice melts. But I just hope these resources won't creat a war. Or like someone previously mentioned we will get energy from the moon.

Answer 4

I think civilization could possibly be able to keep going for quite awhile due to the growing use of recycling and the development of renewable energy sources. There may have to be some painful periods of change, however.

Of course, if people like Bush continue to be in the White House, the world will probably nosedive into destruction because the leaders will be too greedy and stupid to do what needs to be done.

Also, if "global warming" turns out to be as bad as some predictions say, we might see a contraction of civilization in the somewhat near future. The current large population of humanity is kept alive by processes that require a rather complex infrastructure. If this infrastructure is damaged or made obsolete due to changing weather conditions, it could trigger large famines and quite a bit of chaos. Probably, human civilization would be set back a bit, (hopefully not too much though).

Answer 5

No. We'll adapt. I suspect death will come from above (ie-asteroid), not so much from within. That is, if it ever comes at all. We'd still probably eek out an existence. We're like roaches in that regard.

Edit: Fireball: Please go kill yourself. People like you shouldn't be allowed to breed, let alone BREATHE. You say this: " God alone can see End time events Great Tribulation" What on earth gives you the idea that this will happen in the next 100 years? It's already been 2000! God, no wonder the rest of the world hates Americans.

Edit 2: Loren- You're waiting for them to use sand? Good grief. Is everyone retarded, or is it just these two?

Answer 6

No.

Most developed countries are either below, right at, or falling toward the replacement rate in births/deaths. And the developed countries aren't the ones that have to worry about sufficient resources. Our world is not suffering from resource depletion; it is suffering from inadequate distribution of resources.

Answer 7

We are depleting our recourse's but were gonna be here for a while. Like everything in this universe earth has a life span and will eventually die.. The sun has a few billion years left in it so we don't have to worrie about that. The sun will burn out eventually.
The earth will be here for a while. I'm sure we will find some other planet to destroy..

Answer 8

I don't think it will be resources as much as job obsolescence. Technology is ramping up so quickly that we're going to continue losing the demand for all sorts of jobs, both labor intensive as well as professional. Outsourcing is only speeding up the process.

Answer 9

I think there certainly will be a period of economic regression one day...just look at what happened to Europe for ~1000 years after the collapse of Rome.

It seems that our population generally trends toward advancement, but that advancement is not linear.

Answer 10

Fizzle? No.

Burn out in a flame of extreme violence and chaos, as humanity descends into cannibalism? Yes.

Answer 11

i think we will be alright. unless there's another big bang or some other catastrophe on a cosmic level. we already harnessed the energy potential of the atom which is in never ending supply as well as other alternative sources