This is an excerpt from Cixin Liu's book "The Dark Forest", describing what happens to people when they lose all hope in Humanity

Submitted by RobleViejo t3_zudg9b in books

>Most of them started to become increasingly introverted, spending long periods alone with their thoughts and sharply reducing their social interactions. They spoke less and less, sometimes choosing to become completely silent.
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>She noticed the light had disappeared from their eyes and their expression had turn gloomy, they couldn't look anyone in the eye for fear that others would notice the fog in theirs. When they occasionally met someone's gaze they would break away immediately, like they have been shot.
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>There was no way for psychological counseling to proceed, everyone stubbornly refused to talk to the psychologists.

Next page:

>- The Earth is heading towards doomsday. In fact she is already dead in our minds.
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>- Indeed, Humanity has never faced a psychological environment like this before.
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>- Yes, in this environment the Human Spirit will be fundamentally changed. People will become.. - (she suddenly broke off, the sadness in her eyes banished leaving only gloom)
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>- You mean that in this environment people will become New People?
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>- "New People"? No lieutenant, people will become "Non People".
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>At that last word he shudder. He looked up at her and met her gaze, in the blankness of her eyes all he saw were tightly closed windows to her soul.
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>- What I mean is that we wont be people in the old sense. That's all I can say. Just do your best and... it will be your turn soon.

Jesus christ.... This hit me like a ton of bricks.

This is literally what happened to me. After learning about the Holocene ELE, the Eco-Climatological Collapse and the perpetuation of violence and oppression by an overly materialistic system that values nothing but profit, the institutionalization of plutocracy, the rampant superficiality among younger generations, and all of these curses sold to us as blessings, I had no choice but to become a nihilist as a defense mechanism, and now Im barely there.

I used to be extroverted and chatty, very out going and not shy at all. Now I don't speak more than a sentence at a time, I don't talk about these "Big Picture" issues at all because I feel like these are contagious ideas. I don't even look at people in their eyes anymore because my expression is never right and people ask me what's wrong. I reject all social interactions, I refuse to dream about my future. In fact I refuse to have a future at all. I don't want anything, because I feel like being happy is selfish when the Human existence is based on destroying the world around us.

I lost all hope in Humanity, I truly believe we are done. Can I rescue myself from the concept I have of reality, when I cant escape or change reality at all?

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Safkhet t1_j1ikjdo wrote

I take your Cixin Liu and give you Robert Silverberg:

>"No," Rawlins persisted. He shifted about uneasily on the chair. "Now I'm going to say something that will really hurt you, Dick. I'm sorry, but I have to. What you're telling me is the kind of stuff I heard in college. Sophomore cynicism. The world is despicable, you say. Evil, evil, evil. You've seen the true nature of mankind, and you don't want to have anything to do with mankind ever again. Everybody talks that way at eighteen. But it's a phase that passes. We get over the confusions of being eighteen, and we see that the world is a pretty decent place, that people try to do their best, that we're imperfect but not loathsome—"

>"An eighteen-year-old has no right to those opinions. I do. I come by my hatreds the hard way."

>"But why cling to them? You seem to be glorying in your own misery. Break loose! Shake it off! Come back to Earth with us and forget the past. Or at least forgive."

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DeedTheInky t1_j1jcbw0 wrote

I'll raise you an Ursula K. Le Guin:

> Books aren’t just commodities; the profit motive is often in conflict with the aims of art. We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable — but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.

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plusharmadillo t1_j1jlb9q wrote

My hero! This quote has gotten me through some very dark times.

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RobleViejo OP t1_j1ili40 wrote

What book is that? Gotta read it asap. Thanks.

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Agent_023 t1_j1it1el wrote

Hey OP just to say, yout willingness to try and better your worldview is a proof of the strengt of the human soul and of the fact that there will allways be hope for humanity. We try, we stubble, we fail, we get back on our feets and try again, allways trying to be at least a little better.

Have a nice day OP or anyone reading. Don't give up.

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RobleViejo OP t1_j1j3xtf wrote

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

Im still not 100% a nihilist otherwise I wouldn't had even posted this. I still have some hope left. If not for humanity, then for the Earth.

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NightlyMuses t1_j1k7l8c wrote

Sometimes I feel bogged down in a cloud of sadness - someone always comes by, heaven-sent to give me a taste of hope and togetherness like your kind stranger above :) take care people!

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LorenzoApophis t1_j1j3nsu wrote

Then read Schopenhauer, Ligotti and The Uninhabitable Earth.

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Fun_Story2003 t1_j1lrfl9 wrote

>Schopenhauer

idk which book i started reading off with, but it was along the lines of who tf am i just listen to ur voice, made an impression at the time, lmao

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Level3Kobold t1_j1lhmqe wrote

Scientists: we are destroying our future as a species, massacring the planet's biodiversity, and dooming future generations because we refuse to prioritize anything over our short term financial gains

Your Silverburg quote: lol grow up kid, only teenagers think society is bad

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CrawlTowardsBabylon t1_j1jkc9l wrote

"Pretend not to know the things you know. Why can't you just be happy?"

You should manage corporate social media accounts. You have the ideological spine for it.

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Safkhet t1_j1jriby wrote

> You should manage corporate social media accounts. You have the ideological spine for it.

In a game of random literary quotes, you have somehow determined my ideological make up. What an odd logic you have.

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Warm-Enthusiasm-9534 t1_j1ijw43 wrote

I am going to pay you the courtesy of being honest. What you say here is a load of bullshit. You're just depressed, and you are externalizing that depression onto the world. Some things are worse than before. Some things are better than before. People were selfish before. People were materialistic before. Humanity lived for thousands of years in oppressive monarchies, with slavery and serfdom, and now we have imperfect democracies. People who grew up in subsistence economies where the expected lifespan at birth was 45, and they didn't wallow in despair. Why should you?

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iras116 t1_j1ip48k wrote

Agreed. You can find similar descriptions from books written a hundred years ago, about how tough the environment was, how corrupt the human soul was, how bleak the future seemed to be…

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bhbhbhhh t1_j1kjs2j wrote

And were the optimists of the 1920s proven right?

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iras116 t1_j1lb334 wrote

They had been right, and they had been wrong, just like everybody else, just like some random author writes some random fictions a hundred years later which could be proven either right or wrong in another hundred years - it’d be unwise for us to take those fictional predictions too seriously. That’s the point.

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bhbhbhhh t1_j1lbubh wrote

What in god’s name are you talking about? Of course people’s hopes and dreams and fears are serious.

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iras116 t1_j1lcq6x wrote

You rely on Fictional Novels for the prospect of your “hopes and dreams”?

You’ve been on this thread antagonizing many people for more than 9 hours so far, on Christmas Eve. I think we both know your problem is not with any of the arguments here. Don’t bother replying I’m having you blocked for the sake of your mental health.

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RobleViejo OP t1_j1il6sa wrote

You are right saying Im just depressed and there are things that can give us hope that we can change and make a better world.

But on the other hand the Holocene Extinction is the 6th mass extinction to have ever happened in 4,5 billion years of natural history. This is the biggest extinction since the K-Pg Extinction that killed the Dinosaurs, except this one is not caused by an Asteroid, this one is caused by a single species: Humans. The damage we inflicted on the global ecosystem can not be fixed, because evolution requires million of years. The species we wiped off the Earth are gone, and Earth as a whole is in a very real danger of total Eco-Climatological Collapse.

Unless we start making our own species with genetical engineering to fill ecological niches and somehow block Sun's radiation to lower Earth's temperature, this is an issue that will linger for literally million of years. We took Earth for granted, Human concept of time is much faster than the time it takes Earth to heal.

These are matters of the outmost importance for me. Much more than my own life. I understand the science behind it and its discouraging.

EDIT: Please don't downvote me just because Im being painfully honest. You have all the right to disagree with me, I respect all ideas, including the ones that contradict mine. But downvoting my words only serve to keep these issues under the rug. Reddit automatically hides comments with negative vote count.

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Warm-Enthusiasm-9534 t1_j1jbch8 wrote

The Holocene extinction is a bad thing, and steps should be taken to prevent it. Global warming is a bad thing, and we should take steps to prevent it or fix it.

But you're not depressed about those things. A bunch of animal species you've never heard of or seen are going extinct. You can intellectually understand that it is bad, but nobody (except maybe a literal biologist) is depressed about that to the extent that they literally lose all hope. You are depressed about something else, and this is making you fixate on the bad news.

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firesnail214 t1_j1kdmfw wrote

Literal biologist here, who studies how fish species are responding to climate change. I’m in it all the time, and I’m NOT depressed. Nothing is futile, or ain’t over til it’s over and as long as people are trying (and trust me, a LOT of us are) there’s hope for a better future.

I strongly, strongly, strongly recommend the book “Hope Matters: Why Changing the Way We Think is Critical to Solving the Environmental Crisis” by Elon Kelsey to anyone struggling with climate nihilism.

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aclownandherdolly t1_j1krpuv wrote

I struggle with it deeply because the effects of climate change are so obvious now. Where I am, we should already be in full-blown winter and if it were not for this winter storm from the North we wouldn't even have snow. Hell, we're at -30c but in TWO DAYS it's going to be an expected 6c, then 10c, then 8c

What is me recycling or volunteering going to do, as one person, when massive corporations are still heavily polluting; when rich assholes are flying in private jets; when corrupt governments are approving coal and oil sands

Maybe I need to read this book because in the face of all the facts I've seen and read, the Earth is doomed until it's uninhabitable to humans and WE finally die off

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MyPacman t1_j1kzk25 wrote

> I struggle with it deeply because the effects of climate change are so obvious now.

To anyone paying attention, it was obvious in the 1980s too. We all go through that depressing realisation that we are but a pebble or a drop of water. But mountains are built from pebbles, and oceans from drops of water. Every generation is getting louder, I just need them to also get more political. Vote. Speak. Protest. And not just about the environment, but also social needs, like education, health, poverty, excess. Because if people are barely surviving, they will struggle to have the resources to face the bigger problems.

We aren't going to die out. So we need to deal with our weaknesses as best we can, individually and together.

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BulbousBeluga t1_j1m6nfg wrote

Maybe find some upsides to climate change? Like you can plant some fruit trees that you previously couldn't?

I know it sounds slightly ridiculous, but that is what I do to feel better.

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Zorgoroff t1_j1jts9o wrote

Have you tired volunteering with any of the climate friendly pick-up-trash and plant-a-tree type of organizations near you? It can make a massive difference to your mental health. Yeah, it’s not enough, but it puts you from the side of “we’re all going to die” to “we need to do more as a species, but I’m doing my part.” It will also help you get outside and meet people. I also recommend a bit of gardening, if you like it.

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LadyAnarki t1_j1jb4s0 wrote

Little one, your own life is the only thing you have. So what if humanity dies out in 500 years? Or 100? Or the planet is destroyed? Or an alien race comes and murders us all? This is one life experience out of millions that you've had. One planet out of trillions. One moment within infinity. The life of a species is 1 second. Old species die and new species are born every day.

You've gone too deep and it's time to zoom out and look at the galactic picture. You know when you read for too long and your eyes and head start to hurt from looking at the little words? That's where you are. Put the book down and look around you. The world is much bigger than just those words. And so is the universe. Humanity IS making progress even if it doesn't look like it to some because media amplifies the negative instead of celebrating the positive.

And the what ifs don't serve you. They don't serve any of us and they definitely don't serve Earth. Your only "job" is to love fully, live fully, experience the joys of existence, and leave this world a better place than it was before by your actions and words. Focusing on the problems & researching them to death is counterproductive & time wasted when you could be out planting trees or cleaning up rivers or showing compassion to the people you have lost hope in.

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Level3Kobold t1_j1li1mi wrote

>you could be out planting trees or cleaning up rivers

Good individuals cannot counteract bad systems without first destroying those systems.

If you're suggesting OP focus on solutions, planting trees and picking garbage out of rivers by hand aren't the solutions that will solve anything. Not while corporations are dumping tons of waste into ecosystems, or massacring the local fauna.

Planting a tree and thinking you've done your part is just a coping mechanism to help you ignore the systemic problem. Recycling bins are the opiate of the masses.

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LadyAnarki t1_j1m0cxj wrote

Recycling is a scam, and I didn't suggest it. But if a person went out every day for 5 years and planted 10 trees or created a food forest in their neighborhood or invented a trash collecting device for a lake or ocean (as people have already done) or changed their lawn into a bee garden or grew their own food - yes that would make a huge impact on their local ecology. And if everyone did that, the world would actually change. Good people can do anything. They are the ones who change the world in massive ways.

If you want to break the system, stop paying taxes, shopping at corps or corp adjacent companies, and stop using fiat currencies like the dollar. Money is the foundation of any society, and corrupt money creates corrupt societies. The world monetary system is on the verge of collapse, and a rather large group of people globally are helping push it to its demise while building a parallel financial system. That group started with less than 10 people 13 years ago.

Your defeatist naysaying is honestly really boring. Pick another solution; I don't care, but becoming a nihilist isn't one of them.

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eyes_wings t1_j1j0bad wrote

You are projecting some kind of misery that doesn't exist, I'm not sure who got you convinced of this crap but get it out of your head. Everything you are saying is irrelevant to the universe. This planet was here before us and it'll be here after us and it might be destroyed in a 1000 different natural ways it doesn't fin matter. Just live your life throw that book away and find something better

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Smiddy621 t1_j1j59z3 wrote

This has been pushed by just about every major academic outlet since the late 90s. The volume intensified in 2010 and there's been a dozen documentaries and dramatizations showing "what would happen".

What's unfortunate is these models aren't always accurate, and assume certain patterns persist for 100s of years.

However, to become depressed to the point of apathy is the wrong way to see this. It's what happens when you attempt to comprehend thousands of years in a scale they cannot possible act on themselves.

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bhbhbhhh t1_j1jvx4v wrote

Why should a human care about what is relevant to “the universe” and not human beings?

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ZealousidealGreen811 t1_j1iwv9q wrote

"Much more than my own life." That is just so....wrong. I wish you the best and enjoyment in your life.

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shasvastii t1_j1jqmta wrote

I pretty much agree with you that everything is cooked, but I'm still going out having a good time. You can recover.

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ProfessorSputin t1_j1jetl1 wrote

If it makes you feel better, the damage we’ve done will ultimately be fixed. Either we’ll fix it ourselves or, after we’ve all died and humanity is long gone, the world itself will slowly heal. One way or another, the trees will outlast us.

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okcrumpet t1_j1k9asz wrote

I can’t tell if you’re upset for humanity or for nature. A lot of people are worried about nature and it always seems short sighted. As you note, mass extinction is a part of nature. One day or another another asteroid would have come or a supervolcano would have exploded and all these species would have gone extinct anyway. Nature gives life but it takes it away just as easily. There is no perfect state that exists that we are wrecking. Our wrecking the world is very much in line with nature. We are no better or worse than what the world and the universe had in store for these species.

Now, if you are talking about what’s ideal for humans and your concern is our future, that I can understand. But keep in mind that we have reverted many crises before, and we are in the midst of dealing with this one. We are a very clever species and when finally faced with the effects of our actions as we are now, we can find solutions. Climate change effects will take decades before they can cause global collapse and we will adapt and go on. We will desalinate, we will carbon extract, we will geoengineer if we have to but humanity will be fine (+/- a few 100 million)

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notenoughcharact t1_j1kafy3 wrote

I’m assuming you’re fairly young. I think a historical perspective on these issues is really important. If you read environmental writings from the 60s, there was a ton of fear about all sorts of issues that never came to pass, or trends that have reversed. For example air quality in most of the US is infinitely better than it was thanks to technological progress with car emissions, and that’s despite the fact that we have way more cars on the road than we did back then. Water the clean water act had had a dramatic impact on improving water quality. There were real fears that massive populations would die of starvation from famines. In face globally food security has never been better despite the increased population. Population projections are expected to level off around 10 billion and then start declining, so some of the other doomsday scenarios aren’t going to come to pass. Now obviously global warming and a mass extinction are extremely problematic and worrying, but there are solutions to both that we can work towards. Just in the last few years I’ve seen a ton of native habitat restoration in my community for example.

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funkinthetrunk t1_j1ltgwc wrote

This comment is delusional... The things needed to beat back climate change are all past their effectiveness window. What's needed became increasingly drastic, such that nothing will ever be done. I'm talking about things like re-designing cities and towns, de-emphasizing cars, and personalized transportation in general, finding alternatives to plastics, changing our agriculture and food distribution networks... We could have made some easy decisions decades ago and be seeing them come to fruition now. Instead, cans were kicked to preserve profitability and all these economic systems and incentives became even more deeply entrenched. Making the necessary changes is now going to be unacceptable to many people, especially the capitalist class.

We aren't talking about making factories pollute less. We are talking about dismantling and/or wholly transforming entire industries against the will of those who control them.

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ElegantVamp t1_j1kksof wrote

>Please don't downvote me just because Im being painfully honest.

You're not being "painfully honest", Mr. iam14andthisisdeep. You're just wallowing in misery and borderline fetishizing your own sadness and self-pity, purposefully obfuscating it as being "deep and insightful" and everyone else just Doesn't Get It.

You've got a bad case of Chronic Online Syndrome.

RX: Go outside and maybe see a therapist.

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goshdangittoheck t1_j1jgubw wrote

Who is “we”? I’m not an oil executive purposefully burying decades worth of research into climate change.

Capitalism did that shit. That is the biggest problem on earth right now.

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CodexRegius t1_j1l4n5r wrote

Beside communism, fascism, autocracy, and religion.

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[deleted] t1_j1jvk8q wrote

[removed]

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[deleted] t1_j1k8usn wrote

[removed]

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Morsigil t1_j1jlpbj wrote

As others have said, you sound young, and depressed. All of your posts here have "I'm 14 and this is deep" energy. Work on finding new friends who care about more than material things, and before you say it yes there are PLENTY of them out there, and enjoy your life.

Be passionate about combating climate change, sure, but also feel free to be passionate about other things and to take pleasure in life. Your suffering does nothing to combat CO2 pollution and its consequences. The cause does not need nihilistic martyrs, but dedicated, thoughtful and energetic people.

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MyBloodyChest t1_j1jyl00 wrote

It’s ok to care my dude! And knowing these things and recognizing them for what they are is fine and dandy. But despondency doesn’t have to be the logical conclusion of that knowledge.

Bearing witness to death (on an individual or grand scale) can be sad but doesn’t have to be depressing. It can be beautiful. Going down the path of despondency and depression is self-indulgent and centers your own melancholy above all else.

I recently read a book called ‘A heart that works’. Written by rob Delaney, about the death of his baby son, Henry. It may give you a window into grief, and to how to go about grieving. It sounds like you need to grieve what you see as being lost, otherwise this will continue to fester.

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Fun_Story2003 t1_j1lrn1v wrote

>But downvoting my words only serve to keep these issues under the rug

cool story, now what have you done personally to help SOLVE the issue instead of merely absorbing it?

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ShippingMammals t1_j1mbjyz wrote

I hold much the same opinion as you, but instead of being depressed about it I just shrug and say fuck it. I do what little part I can still, but generally I'm just kind of eating popcorn as the world goes crazy. I just moved out to the sticks to a big chunk of land and plan to hold out here for as long as possible. Already getting ready to get our own garden going this year etc.. Stick a fork in us, we're done IMO. I doubt we'll all die as I suspect the loss will be self limiting.. that is once enough people shuffle off things will balance out and recover to some extent. Of course we can't predict when and what tech will pop up in the next decade or two, especially that the threat becomes more and more obvious with each passing year. Expect to see some Hail Mary projects like dumping iron into the ocean, solar shades/solar blocking etc... We're going to do what we've always done - Ignore the problem until we can't then hope we can engineer our way out of it. This very much reminds me of a car racing a train to the crossing. We'll either get creamed or we'll pull it off by the skin of our teeth.

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funkinthetrunk t1_j1lsul1 wrote

The delusional replies to your comments... If most people really think and act that way then it's no wonder we're not making meaningful changes

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mathturd t1_j1iu9mf wrote

I think there is a conflating of causing it to go extinct and accelerating it. Species have been going extinct "for all time". Nature kind of works that way, adapt or die. The environment was altered in such a way that they had to adapt or die, whether that be loss of habitable land, food, or predation. humanity contributed, but unless we specifically hunted them to extinction we didn't directly cause them to go extinct.

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LorenzoApophis t1_j1j2gh7 wrote

Well, we did hunt a lot of things to extinction.

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RobleViejo OP t1_j1j5g6m wrote

Did you know there was a species of flightless swimming bird akin to the Penguins on the North Pole? They were called Great Auk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_auk

Anyways, we hunted them to extinction in less than 20 years after their discovery.

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muddlet t1_j1lih35 wrote

and if you lived 100 years ago you never would have known they existed because the internet hadn't been invented yet. there are many horrible things, sure, and there are many wonderful things, and there are many in-between things. you said above that you care about the holocene extinction more than your own life, but focusing on it is drowning you in misery and preventing you from doing something meaningful. staying inside and on the internet keeps you in a cycle of feeling shit. use how much you care about this to get out there - build connections with others that care, do something with your life that pushes your corner of the world in the direction that you want, and try to do as much enjoyable shit as you can

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all4change t1_j1iyur0 wrote

Why am I on trial for murder, he was gonna die anyway amiright?

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LorenzoApophis t1_j1j5ss9 wrote

Your objection to someone feeling that the world is terrible is to describe how the world has always been terrible?

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chomponthebit t1_j1k2ftt wrote

> and they didn’t wallow in despair

You don’t know that. Only the nobility and religions had access to reading and writing over the millennia and you assume the voiceless serf and slave castes didn’t wallow? They wallowed, just as they still wallow

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funkinthetrunk t1_j1lsfs7 wrote

How do you know they didn't despair? Or how do you know that they didn't just have better systems in place for coping?

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butterweedstrover t1_j1jfvfq wrote

I mean, I agree with your assessment of the OP… but I don’t think psychological depression ebbs with prosperity. In fact the more materially satisfied people become the more they have to face existential crises.

And lol at democracy. Democracy was a failed idea tried centuries ago with no merit in modern society. The systems of governmence today have nothing to do with democratic ideals, they just use the rhetoric to enforce nationalism where there is a lack of national unity.

Actual, the most ‘democratic’ societies are tribal countries that use the election booth to compete for power like in Nigeria or India. Countries normally ranked high on ‘democratic’ indexes like Japan or Iceland have the least competition or power sharing.

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MightyKrakyn t1_j1izka8 wrote

> the rampant superficiality among younger generations

Big oof. The superficiality of humanity has recorded for thousands of years. Do better than blaming it on these damn kids. Go read some Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, The Count of Monte Christo, Beowulf, the poems of Catullus, anything by Aristotle. Superficiality among the youth has always been considered rampant and humanity’s downfall. Turns out we’re still here.

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[deleted] t1_j1j3lmk wrote

[deleted]

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MightyKrakyn t1_j1j4yez wrote

Wow, this is like legitimately sad. I know people who are just coming out of high school who are nothing like that. I was the first social media generation, and I thought the same things. All of these fake people just want to be reality stars and get spray tans to duckface on their MySpace yada yada. One reason we look at our peers this way is because with climate change knocking at the door, we all stare into the void much earlier. This is just bitterness at a small group of the larger whole. Meet more people in meat space and see how big of a change there is in your perspective.

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bhbhbhhh t1_j1jt4u0 wrote

Look up some information on the current state of literacy among young Americans in grade school and college. It’s not so easy to dismiss when it’s being measured and studied.

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ONEAlucard t1_j1jurk5 wrote

America isn’t the whole world

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bhbhbhhh t1_j1jvc0i wrote

Does that make it less shameful?

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ONEAlucard t1_j1jwa5h wrote

What does shame have to do with it?

Unless you believe it is the children’s fault they are falling behind? Which would be strange.

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bhbhbhhh t1_j1k2qx1 wrote

You think the OP spoke of superficiality and thought it a good thing?

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ONEAlucard t1_j1k66tf wrote

You argue in bad faith.

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bhbhbhhh t1_j1k6qmz wrote

I would say that “What does shame have to do with it?” is a bad faith response.

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ONEAlucard t1_j1k7p07 wrote

It’s not. It’s asking why you think it is shameful. Because that term has no meaning in this situation. Something you have still yet to answer.

Asking that does not assume something else is good. Which you assumed I meant, based on absolutely no prompt from me. That is arguing in bad faith.

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bhbhbhhh t1_j1k8gcg wrote

I think it’s shameful because I can’t imagine not being ashamed of seeing my country’s educational institutions fail after spending centuries building up a proud tradition of excellence and cutting edge research.

What do you mean, it has no meaning in this situation? Without any explanation, all I could do was speculate. It’s not arguing in bad faith to ask a question in order to clear up your uncertainty about what the other person things.

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ONEAlucard t1_j1ka4k1 wrote

You didn’t ask a question. You made an assumption. Suggesting you thought i believed it was good. I’m not overly interested in discussing with someone that cloud talks like you do.

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MightyKrakyn t1_j1jvpxs wrote

What do you think the literacy rate was 200 years ago? A thousand years ago? I need you to understand that the youth are not in control of the circumstances surround this recent fall in literacy in the United States. The people complaining have been in charge this whole time

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bhbhbhhh t1_j1k30ar wrote

Guy at the top of rollercoaster hill: Why are you all screaming? Can’t you see that we’re higher than the start of the ride?

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Funktownajin t1_j1kgqlh wrote

Good analogy. Everyone here is pretending we aren't at the precipice of global calamity, cause it's been going up and hey look the past wasn't great either. Most of the happy preaching people just don't really care and that's why It doesn't affect them much until their own lives are impacted.

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LorenzoApophis t1_j1j1vco wrote

Have you considered that maybe it's been recorded for thousands of years because it's been there for thousands of years? I mean, how can you recommend all these old works and dismiss the observations of old writers at the same time?

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keestie t1_j1jkw5v wrote

Dude. Missing the point. The point is, it isn't a new phenomenon.

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MightyKrakyn t1_j1j3eq0 wrote

Catcher in the Rye specifically has a character that accuses others of superficiality but is wrong. The Great Gatsby shows how the accusation of superficiality can be reversed. Each of these works is nuanced in how they relate to this topic. You can also recommend a work for someone to read not because you agree with it, but as a point of disagreement.

I dismiss those like Aristotle’s viewpoint because of the assertion that their youth are particularly superficial and causing the moral decay of society, but the moral decay is always happening under the leadership of the elder generation making those claims. The real thread here is how those who fail and age and run out of time to correct the world before they go have been quick to lash out at bon vive in the naïveté of the youth. It’s reactive nonsense, bitterness in the face of the void

20

platitood t1_j1jqjjo wrote

It’s not because every generation is more shallow that the previous one. It’s because every generation gets older, there are a few point changes and they certainly see younger people as shallow. It’s a cycle of perception.

18

keestie t1_j1j01sa wrote

Even if every doomsday scenario you've listed eventually comes true exactly as you described, you're creating your own internal doomsday *right now*, and that is something you have control over. Not perfect control, but some. Don't give in. You have a choice to give in or not; don't. Don't die until you're actually dead.

55

platitood t1_j1jqbnj wrote

Even if none of them come true, YOU are going to die. People avoid that and don’t come to terms with it. I feel like projecting your angst onto the species is just another way of avoiding looking at your own mortality.

14

Beldarius t1_j1lsrwv wrote

This is why I enjoy Astrid Lindgren's fairytales so much. Brothers Lionheart features death in a major way, and tries to portray it as a perfectly normal thing that shouldn't be feared (particularly powerful at the end where >!the protagonist jumps off a cliff with his dying brother on his back, and realizes they're going to enter a second afterlife... and he's just excited, yelling "Yes, Jonathan, I can see the light!"!<).

There's also a Finnish fairytale called "The Prince of Shadowland" where the big brother of a boy dies; the boy can't accept it, finds a strange book and after opening it, suddenly finds himself in Shadowland where his brother is the prince. It turns out at the end Shadowland is the afterlife, and the brother sends the boy back to the real world; yet the boy, after his adventure, has matured and accepted the reality his brother is gone. His reaction is basically "I'll join him there one day, but not now... I still have my own life left to live.".

3

rfc2549-withQOS t1_j1mgvxx wrote

Lindgren was.. wow. Scarily well done books, and always some ideas offered, not pushed.

1

kmmontandon t1_j1iu3vx wrote

FFS, whatever you do, don't read any Peter Watts.

51

JohnnyTurbine t1_j1kn3nz wrote

I read Starfish over a decade ago and still remember the opening sentence:

> The abyss should shut you up.

The story left an impression.

29

RobleViejo OP t1_j1j374t wrote

Noted. I legitimately appreciate the heads up. Nietzsche was another author I should have never read about lmao

11

Aracnapack t1_j1lki05 wrote

You should maybe actually read Nietzsche instead of reading 'about' him, since Nietzsche's entire thing is about finding a reason for being and rejecting nihilism in an increasingly disillusioned (and secular) society

50

FeeFooFuuFun t1_j1melaj wrote

You can't compare Nietzsche to Cixin though. Cixin is great, but nowhere close to Nietzsche in terms of depth or influence

3

Pure_Internet_ t1_j1ifow8 wrote

Doomerism is as immoral as it is irrational.

No matter how bad things are, they can always be made better.

39

RobleViejo OP t1_j1ijwxt wrote

"Doomerism" cant be immoral because its not an ideology, its a psychological symptom of an apathic society.

And its not entirely irrational because lead experts of several scientific fields are saying that half of the animal species will be gone in the next century and billions of people will be displaced by rising sea levels and extreme weather.

All the meanwhile popular media like The New York Times publish articles such as "A small nuclear war could delay climate change by 20 years"

Im not trying to defend my "doomerism" (actually I would love to get rid of it completely) but you gotta understand that Im not crazy, the world is.

There are subs like r/Futurology where "doomerism" is a serious topic discussed by professionals. Again, Im not trying to justify it, Im just saying that disregarding this problem as "edgy teen ideology" is counter productive.

I think Cixian Liu was unto something here. He made an analogy of our own very real paradigm between the Human Condition and the Earth as the outmost important thing that we know of.

You are right anyways, what its wrong with our world shouldn't prevent us from making it better.

5

keestie t1_j1jm64x wrote

Doomerism is a perspective and a set of ideas. Those ideas may well be a response to predictions about the future, but to pretend that they are the only possible response is very silly. You have control over your response, and you are responsible for it. It's not just something unavoidable that happens to you, and it isn't without consequence either.

Yes, the world is indeed on a dark path, one that is unique in our history. No, that path's end is not absolutely determined yet.

Imagine living thru the fall of Rome, the ravages of the Bubonic Plague, or the colonization of the Americas. Absolute apocalypse wherever you turned. Yet some people managed to maintain their sanity and ethics. That is our job right now.

18

PurpleRavenX11 t1_j1iid9e wrote

Can be, but never will be. Not with the most powerful forces in the world using every bit of that power to prevent things being made better.

4

tolkienfan2759 t1_j1iigk5 wrote

well, sure, things "can be made better"... but if people have no value, and they don't, why would you want to? I mean, I have an answer, but I'm wondering if you do

−8

AlamutJones t1_j1jbh79 wrote

Who told you you - or anyone else - had no value?

8

FaerieQueene510 t1_j1iy76z wrote

You should probably tell this to a therapist rather than to strangers on reddit.

24

RobleViejo OP t1_j1j2z4p wrote

Last therapist I saw told me "Yeah... I dont think Humanity will exist in 500 years"

Im not even making this up.

4

That-Soup3492 t1_j1j8xpg wrote

Meaning is something that we create, both individually and with each other. Who knows what any of our futures will hold, but that doesn't make the now less meaningful.

But then I tend to stand with the existentialists when it comes to the big issues.

13

ONEAlucard t1_j1jvspz wrote

You won’t be here in 500 years. So that’s irrelevant. The only thing you can do is be kind, compassionate and do your best to limit misery and pain in others as much as possible. If you’re truly as empathetic as you seem to think you are. Then your moral imperative now is to do everything you can to limit as much suffering in the world as you possibly can. You truly give a shit about humanity as much as you say you do? Prove it. Help people.

This is my creed. You should live by it too.

> Live a just life and limit the suffering of others to the best of your ability. Through the use of education, compassion, and empirical facts.

> Treat others as you want to be treated, and in a manner they consent to. > Do not do good for gain. > Give to others with no expectation of anything in return. Kindness requires no payment. It is not love if you require them to give it back.

> Have compassion for those who are suffering. Be it those that self harm, or those that lash out in rage. Violence of the self, or of others, is usually born of violence- avoid it as much as is practical- but do not be afraid to defend yourself, or others, when there are no other options.

> Always seek to lift others up. Encourage, and give others affirmation. The pursuit of your own growth is more rewarding when those around you are succeeding. Never discourage, and insult. There is nothing to gain with mean spirited remarks, regardless of how they have wronged you, or others. Hatred serves no purpose other than to poison yourself. Simply take in criticism, dispassionately reflect on it, and use that information to help yourself grow.

> Your pain from anything external is not because of that thing, but due to your estimation of it. If it is your estimation causing you grief, then you have the power to dissolve that. Remember, you get to decide how you interpret the world- and no one has the ability to take that away from you.

6

FaerieQueene510 t1_j1j7f14 wrote

No one can accurately predict any future. As an individual person, you don't know even know what your life will be like in 6 months, 2 years, 20 years, so there's literally no benefit in thinking about any future of humanity. If you have the means to get multiple therapists until you find a professional and smart one, then do so without hesitation.

3

DeedTheInky t1_j1je391 wrote

My go-to thought for reassurance is that historically, humans do seem to have a really good knack for just pulling a hail-mary solution out of their ass at the very last moment. It's no guarantee of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if in the next few decades we manage to just bust out carbon capture and fusion power or something ridiculous like that TBH.

6

boxer_dogs_dance t1_j1iz3yo wrote

Look into Man's Search for Meaning and other accounts of maintaining dignity and purpose under extreme circumstances.

19

undeadbydawn t1_j1im9ix wrote

The Dark Forest is the most profoundly depressing book I've ever read. Nothing else comes remotely close. I had to just not read at all for a good 3 months after finishing it because it sucked every shred of joy out of the experience. Being reminded of that makes me want to remove the books from my home. I will never read Death's End

However, that wasn't because of the way the breaking of humanity was described as per your quotes, but because Cixin Liu's take was so profoundly nihilistic. He, as an author, apparently lacks any faith in humanity whatsoever.

This was most clearly demonstrated by devoting 200+ pages to the protagonists.... imaginary girlfriend. And the mad scramble for his handlers to find the direct human equivalent of said imaginary girlfriend. That creeped me the fuck out in a way I honestly never imagined possible.

For you to see yourself reflected so clearly in his writing strongly suggests that you need some for real help with your own mental state, and I recommend you look into that as soon as possible

15

zxyzyxz t1_j1jcdb1 wrote

> I will never read Death's End

You should, great ending.

7

RobleViejo OP t1_j1iqz50 wrote

Oh yeah the imaginary girlfriend was too much even for me. That was some incel level stuff if I have to be honest.

And Im honestly not liking Cixin books, not because of the plot but because of the writing. It wanders off too much and they way he phrases things sound odd most of the time. Probably because of the huge differences between mandarin and english. But Im not re-visiting these books regardless. Im powering through the last ones just because Im already commited to the time I dedicated to the previous ones. Stockholm Syndrome I guess.

5

undeadbydawn t1_j1irp5m wrote

Dark Forest forced me to establish a hard 'do not continue' rule for hated books. It's saved an awful lot of time and hassle.

There's some value in reading bad books. But those that are horrible enough to regret buying them? Nope. Gone.

1

funkinthetrunk t1_j1ltmsx wrote

The most depressing thing about it was how boring it was to read

I will also never read Death's End

2

dudinax t1_j1jva0w wrote

Tolkien expressed the idea of "Northern Courage", which is a bit chauvinist, but the idea is good: it's the courage to keep struggling even if you don't see any hope.

The basis for such courage is our own ignorance. We simply can't know for sure it's as bad as we think it is, or if it is that bad, that someone somewhere in the future won't turn things around in a way we can't imagine, and your own seemingly ineffectual behavior might in some small way help them.

You might be right, but you can't know for sure that you're right.

15

Ma3vis t1_j1ktgqg wrote

> Tolkien expressed the idea of "Northern Courage", which is a bit chauvinist, but the idea is good: it's the courage to keep struggling even if you don't see any hope

Interesting insight. Is this a reference to Aragon and company suicidally charging the black gates of Mordor while not having clear knowledge but faith that frodo and sam will achieve their mission?

4

dudinax t1_j1kx7lb wrote

In LotR, the two main bits of "Northern Courage" are the charge of Rohirrim. From their vantage, the attack was hopeless and would lead to defeat. But they attacked anyway, and it turned out to be necessary for victory.

Second, and I think the most important, is Frodo stabbing the foot of the Nazgul. Frodo had no chance of defeating the Nazgul, and the Nazgul still delivers a mortal blow, but Frodo's attack throws it off the mark and it doesn't kill Frodo fast enough.

Aragorn's attack on the black gate is something like that, but he had a plan for victory even if he thought his chances were slim. He knew the ring at least hadn't been found.

9

DaveyAngel t1_j1l9nn6 wrote

I think that was Merry (or Pippin?) who stabbed the nazgul. Frodo was otherwise engaged in Mordor.

2

dudinax t1_j1ladk1 wrote

I mean on Weathertop. Frodo stabs the Nazgul's foot, making him miss Frodo's heart.

3

DaveyAngel t1_j1ldd9i wrote

Oh yeah! Silly me. Back to Tolkien school for me.

2

dudinax t1_j1n5n69 wrote

That's not a bad example, though, since Eowyn couldn't have defeated the Witch King on her own and neither knew Merry's little dagger was good enough to actually hurt him.

2

Nemo3500 t1_j1jvb1a wrote

Why be a nihilist when you can be an existentialist, realize the world has no inherent meaning, and then choose what is meaningful to you and live life on your own terms?

We're all fucking dead at some point, and while I'm definitely aloof and offputting, I have made a conscious effort towards spreading what little joy and hope I can. It ends up having the same net impact as being a miserable shit.

Also, The Three Body Problem Trilogy as a whole is....super fucking misogynistic, among other things, and that's not even getting into Liu himself. I wouldn't use it as anything other than well realized speculative fiction with some very interesting ideas on humanity's present and future. Especially not to confirm your darkest impulses.

This response has been pretty unkind. So I'd actually like to say that it's a reasonable response to feel hopeless in the face of what looks like the apocalypse and that it can be hard to accept the possibility of light, hope, and love in such a bleak, dark world. But it seems to be causing you a great deal of pain and suffering, and I think it's also ok to seek professional help and work through this darkness with someone who can show compassion for your suffering and help you through it. We all could use that from time to time.

I hope you find an opportunity to heal.

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bhbhbhhh t1_j1jwptz wrote

The despair I see in people is not a belief in meaninglessness, but the belief that the meanings there are in the world are absolutely horrible.

2

Nemo3500 t1_j1k0862 wrote

Right, except the OP specifically mentioned feeling nihilistic despair; nihilism is fundamentally based in the meaninglessness of reason and existence.

And at the risk of pointing out the obvious addendum to that: if there is no "Inherent" a priori meaning (e.g. A rose is not inherently beautiful), then assigning meaning of "horrible" is attributed by the person feeling the despair. But it is not of the thing, it is of the person.

So the simple, if not easy, reaction to despair is to find those things in which you find purpose, meaning, and value. Concern yourself with what you are able to do, and take the rest as well as you can.

It doesn't fix the world. Nor does it necessarily make it a better place. But it can make you better able to deal with it. And in my experience, people who can deal with reality healthily often make it better for others which might, in the end, be all we can actually do.

Just a thought.

5

bhbhbhhh t1_j1k2aop wrote

In the commonplace sense that people inaccurately use nihilism, it mostly just means thinking things are really, really, bleak. OP, like myself at a you ger age, probably took the existentialist road and saw meaning in the contuity of humanity, nature, etc., which directly caused a despair that wouldn’t affect a nihilist who doesn’t care about those things.

You may be mixing up cause and effect - people tend to feel despair because they think the things they already find purpose, meaning, and value in are going to be destroyed or ruined.

2

Nemo3500 t1_j1k4mx0 wrote

Perhaps. I tend to think in ways that other people don't, so that's entirely possible.

However, I find it interesting the idea that the root of despair comes from the belief that meaning, purpose, and value will be destroyed. Maybe that's true for some people - lots of people, really - but I feel like despair can have many root causes, plenty of which are divorced from reality.

But if that is genuinely the case, I feel like existentialism *may* be the appropriate response because it sounds like in your understanding of despair, the destruction of meaning is what creates the despair. In that case, accepting that the meaning you held for something wasn't its inherent meaning, and that you can create new meaning all the time may help one out of the despair they're in.

Interesting to ponder.

3

bhbhbhhh t1_j1k5270 wrote

Deciding that that people you loved who died didn’t really matter isn’t an option for many people.

0

Nemo3500 t1_j1k8vd5 wrote

First off: that's a straw man. Do better.

Second: a loved one's death can matter to you, and you can still create new meanings, find new values, and move on with your fucking life. These are not mutually exclusive things.

If, however, you choose to remain in despair over the loss of someone because say it with me, there is no inherent meaning, that's a perfectly valid approach to life because in the end everything is inherently meaningless. However, if you don't want to feel despair, it is in your best interest to make the effort to find new meaning. Whether that's in other loved ones, in helping others, in acts of service, in pursuit of scholarship. Whatever. It's your choice to make.

So whether or not you find meaning or value again is entirely immaterial to the original point. I am suggesting that because there is no inherent value, it is entirely up to you what meaning you assign to the world, and the ways in which one can reckon with the world in a healthy way that doesn't engender despair.

So you can, and I cannot stress this enough, CHOOSE to find meaning in the world. It's a conscious choice. And one you have to make constantly. It's not better than the other, but it's the one that I place value on. It is the choice I make with my life.

Just like I'm choosing to respond to this comment.

4

bhbhbhhh t1_j1kbigt wrote

These days I don’t have much affinity for “no inherent meaning” talk. Yeah, I don’t believe things have Platonic essences either. But the framework I now have is that everything which has been observed and noticed is inherently meaningful. People have seen meaning in it, and therefore the meaning is a part of it.

0

Nemo3500 t1_j1kcfr9 wrote

That's great. And because everything has no inherent meaning outside of what is assigned to it, I'm glad you have a framework for existence that makes you feel whole.

Now please leave me alone.

2

bhbhbhhh t1_j1kcu8w wrote

I don’t actually comprehend why you feel bothered or resentful.

−1

RobleViejo OP t1_j1mg161 wrote

>The despair I see in people is not a belief in meaninglessness, but the belief that the meanings there are in the world are absolutely horrible.

You hit the nail right in the head.

1

brainwarts t1_j1jhwi1 wrote

I'm a hedonist. I think we are truly screwed in the long term. But I can still have a happy life. I'm a game developer which is my passion. I have lots of wonderful people in my life who make me happy. It sucks that humanity is doomed, I very much like people, but all I can do is enjoy my time and try to be good to the people in my life.

8

Thatguyjmc t1_j1lx2rq wrote

If books as a whole should teach you anything at all, it's how unbelievably self-centred and childish this worldview is.

People have literally been predicting that their generation was the "last" and "worst" since the time of the ancient Greeks.

People always keep moving forward and struggling and trying to do better. Saying that humanity as a whole is going to "Lose" what makes it great just because you yourself are particularly sad is very selfish.

Maybe the issue is that you need to remember your Milton.

The mind is its own place and can make a hell of heaven or a heaven of hell.

It's being said by Satan but it's not a lie. He's saying that he can make hell nice by "thinking it so" but in reality he's just making everywhere he goes seem shitty because that's all he can oerceive

7

fuckimatwork t1_j1jsgja wrote

things, in general, are better every single year. We are getting better all the time but one of the things we are better at is diseminating information so you will learn about the problems, learn about the people who slip through the cracks, learn about the damages to the environment, etc. In a broad average sense, every born person has it better than everyone who came before.

6

ErikDebogande t1_j1imhpv wrote

Bunker era? More like bummer era amirite?

5

LorenzoApophis t1_j1j3jze wrote

Pretty incredible to see everyone here, in a subreddit about books, trying to persuade OP that reading has rotted their brain or something rather than addressing any of the concerns they've raised. The vehemence of this response really demonstrates how profound these issues are - in a place where people are supposed to discuss things they've learned from literature, the most important issues imaginable, like the possible end of society or human life, are still forbidden to acknowledge.

4

RobleViejo OP t1_j1j4d25 wrote

While I agree there is a mainstream sentiment of "If I cover my eyes it doesn't exist" towards Holocene ELE and the Eco-Climatological Collapse, which subsequently contributes to a sort of despise for "doomers" and thus the prolongation of our global apathy to Earth, I dont think these people are telling me "Cixin Liu rotted your brain".

In any case, I think they are warning me of the dangers of information, which let me tell you are very much real.

Thank you for having my back though. You are a bro.

4

LorenzoApophis t1_j1j5em0 wrote

I'm talking about people saying stuff like "I'm not sure who got you convinced of this crap but get it out of your head." Obviously, the books you read did, and of course not every book is going to be right, but if you want to argue against one, you need something much more persuasive than the current top comment's "It's just a phase."

6

Aliteralhedgehog t1_j1k34qz wrote

No, it's not the danger of information or whatever.

The danger is that you're obviously suffering from depression or a similar illness and instead of medication or therapy you're wallowing in despair pretending you can't get better because "the Holocene" or "materialism" but that's a bunch of bullshit.

I've seen drug addicts make similar indictments against society to justify their addiction. The only difference is that your addiction is self pity.

6

blankdreamer t1_j1jmxzp wrote

It sounds a full on book. But I like exploring these subjects. You can see how scared people are of looking in the dark sometimes. Kālī is both destroyer and creator. If the world ends it will be for something new to be born. Sometimes things do end.

4

aknnel t1_j1jofnx wrote

I’m going through something similar.. I’m loosing my hope for humanity but then I find you.. if I understood correctly you’re gen Z or maybe even younger and you do care.. you care about our planet and about our future and you give me hope that there are more people like you.. we are just not that loud.. as others stated, some animals may go extinct and things will change in the future.. we will adapt to it.. evolve.. maybe not all of us but it doesn’t matter from the point of view of our species.. I still don’t understand why we want to survive so much but I think we do.. I loved the third book from the trilogy because it showed this species adaptation.. I don’t want to spoil it for you but it was really interesting what he did in that book..

3

dolanre t1_j1knb18 wrote

I just finished this book. Bleak and awesome. One of my favourites now for sure.

3

withygoldfish t1_j1ljbgo wrote

Yes you can! You have to stop focusing on the negative. As a historian there are positives but you have to look for them & focus on them. Sometimes I have been sad about the state of the world but this thinking doesn’t help the world! In fact it continues to push it farther from reach. If you want to fix the world you must first fix yourself & that is always where it will start & end. How to find the positives is going to have to be done on your own but if it’s important to you, I know you can do it!

3

take-a-gamble t1_j1mlczz wrote

Don't read The Conspiracy Against The Human Race by Ligotti unless you want to become an empty void.

3

GuyMcGarnicle t1_j1na8ba wrote

Amazing series! There are two issues you reveal in your post … (1) your concern for the world at large, which is admirable; and (2) what could likely be clinical depression, which is an illness and very treatable. It is important to distinguish between these two things, because it is all too easy to allow (2) to masquerade as (1). If you are sincerely experiencing the behaviors/behavioral changes you describe in this post, you need to seek medical attention. There is no shame in this at all. In the long run, you will be in a much better position to do something to help change the world if you are not suffering from depression!

3

Aynat03 t1_j1oxrdc wrote

There is an old saying , attachment is the core of all evil. If you are expecting the world to work in a certain way and rewards you for what you are doing, there is a in build flaw in this logic. Karam kar fal ki iccha mat kar. Do your job and don't worry for the reward. This you could also understand from the fact that is your art is for art sake or for the sake of some reward. If you are a painter the maximum satisfaction you should get from painting something doesn't matter how good or bad it is not what oneself or other thinks about it. If our attitude is for some kind of expectations from the world that's when we fail before beginning itself.

Read Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle - sounds like a self help book but I believe there are certain deep questions regarding our identity and meaning of life that each one of us is going though and there is no place to discuss this, if not for a therapist. Alain de botton in his The school of life says that books were meant to be the place where the culture of self discovery was promoted. So use that to your purpose. May the force be with you.

3

DeborahJeanne1 t1_j1jjgzt wrote

Maybe they should try texting each other…..

2

UUDDLRLRBAstard t1_j1kygmi wrote

Your defeatist tendencies have been noted by the ETO.

2

RobleViejo OP t1_j1mgaaf wrote

I wonder if the Trisolarans will contact me using their sophons.

1

DMVSavant t1_j1lnco6 wrote

G A L A P A G O S

2

Derpulss t1_j1lq51e wrote

You are being overdramatic, you're just depressed.

2

Beldarius t1_j1ltf98 wrote

This book might not have anything to do with humanity or the future, but never read The Sorrows of Young Werther if you're feeling down.

I'm largely unemotional, but the ending of that book affected even me. Let's just say, it was no wonder it caused a spike in suicides when it was released.

2

Corvus_Atratus t1_j1lths7 wrote

You know, the generation before us was constantly confronted with the Damocles Sword of nuclear anihilation...

And in my experience, while they don't talk about it much, they have some pertinent wisdom to share with us.

(Also: Philosophy helps. Just don't read Schopenhauer.)

2

hopelesscaribou t1_j1lvmd6 wrote

You can only change the immediate world around you. Do what you can for the environment, encourage others, and be kind. Humanity is still around for the moment.

2

owixy t1_j1m4mfn wrote

if you're stuck in nihilism I might recommend the "Optimistic Nihilism" video by Kurzgesagt.

It boils down to saying that everything any individual can do is meaningless in the grand scheme of things. But because there is an absence of meaning you can fill that blank canvas with whatever meaning you want.

2

KimBrrr1975 t1_j1ma94i wrote

I'm almost 50 and lost hope that humanity would reverse course on time long ago. I don't have a lot of hope for humanity and that makes me sad for my kids especially. But I live in the moment as much as I can. The future might look bleak, but the truth is we never know the future anyhow. My Christmas might look the same in 1 year as today. Or someone might die of cancer, we could be in a nuclear war, we could have had a horrific tornado or fiery car wreck etc. But today, I have shelter and heat and electricity, my kids and husband and our puppy and ferrets. We have presents under the tree, cookies on a plate. Life is pretty good today. And today is my main focus because no matter what is going on in the climate, there are a million other things that could take me out of the equation at any moment.

2

ilikedirt t1_j1mcy7i wrote

This sounds amazing. Three Body Problem made me feel pretty dumb what with all the physics 😆 but I can relate to existential dread and numbing nihilism!

2

iras116 t1_j1r5ml3 wrote

I just finished Sir David Attenborough’s A Life On Our Planet, it also addressed your concerns with humanity but from a scientific point of view. Unlike a fictional novel it presented solutions on how we can fix the disasters we’ve caused. Hope it helps.

2

tolkienfan2759 t1_j1iicn0 wrote

yeah, I don't think it's possible to lose all hope in humanity. If you live, you are required to hope. That's just the way it is. And that leads to a certain amount of insanity, to add to the load you're already carrying, but fuck it, you know, he ain't heavy... I call this a big fail by Liu. Sorry.

1

Beldarius t1_j1lrqke wrote

> I don't want anything, because I feel like being happy is selfish when the Human existence is based on destroying the world around us.

There is one thing you can be happy about, though! A few years ago, two NASA scientists reported that there will be a massive solar flare within the next 100 years; this solar flare will destroy all satellites around Earth, bringing down our electric grids, communication networks (including phones and Internet), electronic bank accounts (lol rich people go brrr) and blasting us technologically back to the 19th century.

When that happens, all the wealth of the rich won't help them, all the factories will stop working, all the superficial kids will have to learn how to survive without their social media... and new satellites will likely take decades to send back up. Maybe it'll even be enough time to let the ozone layer and nature heal a little. (I honestly wish I'll be around to see that. Would be fun.)

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UnmixedGametes t1_j1itzy6 wrote

Chinese propaganda? How not at all surprising.

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RobleViejo OP t1_j1j5tzt wrote

Please reconsider everything you think you know about geo politics and global culture.

Because if you think a book written outside of the NA-EU sphere of hegemony is automatically "propaganda" you have a serious case of cultural bias.

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