General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How soon do you anticipate the coming collapse of civilization? [View all]hunter
(38,422 posts)It would suck to be an orangutan or a rhinoceros or an elephant in most places.
For some, civilization is collapsing now. There are people all over the world, even here in the United States, living in conditions of unimaginable misery.
The collapse of any civilization is generally a slow motion thing.
I'd probably determine the point of "collapse" from the perspective of a population biologist. It's the point where the population begins to decline for adverse environmental reasons and violence rather than voluntary birth control. But I don't like to measure "civilization" by gross human population either. We have to include other species in our definition of civilization, most especially natural populations of other social species -- the wolves, whales, condors, elephants, etc..