How fast? Nobody knows

You know me, I have this panglossian faith in human ingenuity such that I think there will be great feats of amelioration … mitigating, postponing, palliating the collapse such that it will unfold over centuries, generations … an incremental bummer punctuated by periods of crisis … characterized by a persistent low-level depression of the spirit with pockets of despair.

But some tell me I’m wrong. They say we’re on the verge and it will be faster than anticipated, dramatic, sudden-horrible.

I don’t know, they don’t know, nobody knows. Steven Pinker thinks things are great and getting greater. But he don’t know.

Maybe we’re seeing collapse at the periphery:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/06/we-screamed-our-hearts-out-for-help-homeless-escape-pakistan-floods

Edging toward the center:
https://eand.co/this-winter-collapse-is-coming-to-britain-72ace84ab0b4

(during the 19th century a British pound was worth $5; today it’s worth $1.15)