Jun 1, 2022·edited Jun 1, 2022Liked by Tree of Woe
The Petrodollar financialized the Murican economy and has now made it vulnerable to a D-Day style Rout and Delenda est, Third Punic War style.
Carthage sacrificed its offspring, used mercenaries en masse, engaged in cannibalism (and all other forms of barbarism), etc, etc. How ironic that the "New Carthage" of our day and age beckons ever closer to the fate suffered (rightfully so) by its predecessor?
As the esteemed Andrei Martyanov notes: The US military has never fought (not even in WW II) under situations where the underlying skeletal C4ISR was *directly* attacked at that depth. As such its military history (compared to Civilization-states like Russia) is paltry at best.
Defeat is inevitable. For many, the rational course of action (assuming high mobility, low social obligations and enough capital) is to escape the US; before the barbarism inevitably starts.
Once the Nuclear threshold is crossed (the nuclear death threshold is about 800 million at the low end to 2 billion at the high end); Basic Human Disgusts (such as Cannibalism, Necrophilia and other more vile things for which words have not even been invented) are Fair play.
If anything, this is a live, real-time Greek Tragedy unfolding step by step.
"Humanity" will never be the same after the Nuclear threshold is crossed.
Merely imagining a world where Cannibalism would become widely celebrated as a marker of the "chosen", as well as other acts (for whom words don't yet exist given how vile they are) means the true end of "Humanity" proper.
It would be a post human hellhole, whereby the matter and physical tidbits (a la 6 billion or so remaining "people" if you can even keep calling them that) remain; but what is "Civilization" or is known to be so, would definitively end.
Who remain... will remain so not as people; but as vermin lower than beasts; who have now normalized the new paradigm mentioned earlier (i.e. Cannibalism, Necrophilia, etc). And so... The "Transhumanist" era kicks off it seems?
The "Greek Tragedy" comparison comes to mind a la the Muricans doing everything to antagonize the Eurasians and basically getting a "self fulfilling prophecy" up and running; similar to many of the Greek Tragedies.
The point being that they need not have behaved this way; and there was a perfectly rational series of "off ramps" along the whole trajectory.
But I see your point a la quite literally getting a Ragnarok style "The sun is swallowed" (by the nuclear fallout and ash blotting out most sunlight)
I would say that the 6 billion remaining would be roving cannibals and have a mercenary outlook of life in general. In that sense; they will "live", but they will no longer be considered Human.
They would be "Post Human" and so that would be it. The "end of Humanity" or whatever we call it; being brought to pass.
The Petrodollar financialized the Murican economy and has now made it vulnerable to a D-Day style Rout and Delenda est, Third Punic War style.
Carthage sacrificed its offspring, used mercenaries en masse, engaged in cannibalism (and all other forms of barbarism), etc, etc. How ironic that the "New Carthage" of our day and age beckons ever closer to the fate suffered (rightfully so) by its predecessor?
As the esteemed Andrei Martyanov notes: The US military has never fought (not even in WW II) under situations where the underlying skeletal C4ISR was *directly* attacked at that depth. As such its military history (compared to Civilization-states like Russia) is paltry at best.
Defeat is inevitable. For many, the rational course of action (assuming high mobility, low social obligations and enough capital) is to escape the US; before the barbarism inevitably starts.
Once the Nuclear threshold is crossed (the nuclear death threshold is about 800 million at the low end to 2 billion at the high end); Basic Human Disgusts (such as Cannibalism, Necrophilia and other more vile things for which words have not even been invented) are Fair play.
We're gonna need a bigger tree
If anything, this is a live, real-time Greek Tragedy unfolding step by step.
"Humanity" will never be the same after the Nuclear threshold is crossed.
Merely imagining a world where Cannibalism would become widely celebrated as a marker of the "chosen", as well as other acts (for whom words don't yet exist given how vile they are) means the true end of "Humanity" proper.
It would be a post human hellhole, whereby the matter and physical tidbits (a la 6 billion or so remaining "people" if you can even keep calling them that) remain; but what is "Civilization" or is known to be so, would definitively end.
Who remain... will remain so not as people; but as vermin lower than beasts; who have now normalized the new paradigm mentioned earlier (i.e. Cannibalism, Necrophilia, etc). And so... The "Transhumanist" era kicks off it seems?
If your worst-case scenario comes to pass, I would say the situation is closer to that of a Norse Ragnarök than a Greek tragedy.
The population would surely plummet as 6 billion is unsustainable without the technology and organization that would be lost.
The "Greek Tragedy" comparison comes to mind a la the Muricans doing everything to antagonize the Eurasians and basically getting a "self fulfilling prophecy" up and running; similar to many of the Greek Tragedies.
The point being that they need not have behaved this way; and there was a perfectly rational series of "off ramps" along the whole trajectory.
But I see your point a la quite literally getting a Ragnarok style "The sun is swallowed" (by the nuclear fallout and ash blotting out most sunlight)
I would say that the 6 billion remaining would be roving cannibals and have a mercenary outlook of life in general. In that sense; they will "live", but they will no longer be considered Human.
They would be "Post Human" and so that would be it. The "end of Humanity" or whatever we call it; being brought to pass.