We have to look forward to a long and terrible age of increasing and fearsome devastation. I am sorry to be so gloomy but all the evidence is there. Of course, we must seek – and indeed have even more incentive than before to salvage – joy, comfort, interest and achievement in our individual daily lives but, in general, humanity is fated to endure great misfortune on a growing scale.
For a start, the impact of global warming and climate change will increasingly visit the earth with natural disasters. Category five, perhaps new category six, hurricanes will soon become the norm. Trends increasingly noticed now – the melting of mighty platforms of ice, the gradual changing of ocean currents, the imperceptible rise of temperatures and sea levels – will reach their tipping points and suddenly unleash unprecedented disasters. The terrible suffering visited on the Caribbean in the 2017 hurricane season will be repeated more frequently.
What is worse is the destruction which man will inflict on his fellow man with increasing ruthlessness. The growth of terrorism, the clash of faiths, are not avoidable. Even less avoidable are the deadly conflicts which will take place over rapidly depleting resources, especially water. Whatever civilized norms of behaviour between nations have been established after long endeavour will increasingly break down.