Skepticism, Science & Pseudoscience

...predictions of End Times.

Concerns about various particular environmental issues, potential military conflicts, energy supplies and economic problems have certainly been overstated or completely wrong many times in the past, but I wouldn't want to totally dismiss the basis of many of those concerns, and some possible outcomes related to those concerns are certainly bad enough even when they aren't "the end of the world".

Where is all the apocalyptic doom and gloom coming from?

Partly I think it's just that people love the drama, even if they fear the nature of that drama. What could be more exciting, even if it's exciting in a negative way, than for the End of the World to be an event in your lifetime?

Partly I think it's an exaggerated way of expressing more realistic concerns and fears, like saying "I've had the worst day!" on a day which is clearly not the worst day of your life.

Partly I think it's superstitious "anti-jinx" thinking, that somehow by voicing concern over a problem that you're getting ahead of that problem and preventing it, sort of the opposite of being afraid you're "jinxing" yourself by being too certain of being successful or safe.

Sort of related to the last idea, I think there's an appeal to apocalyptic thinking which is much like the appeal of conspiratorial thinking -- even if people don't think their gaining control over preventing what they fear by thinking this way, they feel smarter, like they're not letting one pull the wool over their eyes, they feel more prepared for the worst by "knowing" that the End is Near, even if the "sheep" around them don't see it coming.

Then, of course, there's plenty of media hype over real and imagined problems.

All of that aside, however, I don't think "Don't worry, be happy!" is the most rationale view either. There are real concerns to consider about climate change, pollution, economic failure, energy shortages, and military conflict as a consequences of any those other problems, that could in various scenarios lead to hardship and death on enormous scales.

A 1% chance over the span of a century of the death of a billion people, and all of the suffering and misery that would go along with that, is worth much more concern and effort and focus than, say, preventing the next school shooting -- even though human beings, unfortunately, simply aren't that good at elevating long-term risks and seemingly remote but real concerns over more immediate concerns, especially those with strong emotional impact.