...in your lifetime.
By a great upheaval I mean something along the lines of a world war or some other disastrous event redefining our lives. It seems since 1945 there has not been one in the West - will we also we so lucky?
No, not really
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.economist.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fimagecache%2Ffull-width%2Fimages%2F2012%2F07%2Farticles%2Fmain%2F20120721_wwd000.jpg&hash=4d095367124f0dba2a2bc0658bfef35b848ad6c8)
You mean there might be something worse than giving internet access to Poland?
BTW, you may have missed 1989
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.nationalgeographic.com%2Fblogs%2Fphotography%2Fwindowsofthesoul%2Fwindowsimages%2F04-berlin-wall-avakian.jpg&hash=a10f7dcd2a8776eba877c9b910645b48fd0defe5)
Quote from: Viking on July 21, 2012, 02:17:14 PM
BTW, you may have missed 1989
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.nationalgeographic.com%2Fblogs%2Fphotography%2Fwindowsofthesoul%2Fwindowsimages%2F04-berlin-wall-avakian.jpg&hash=a10f7dcd2a8776eba877c9b910645b48fd0defe5)
That wasn't an upheaval in the West. However the Russian thralls choose to organize themselves, it doesn't really effect our lives over in the West. Even the fall of the Soviet Union wasn't that big a deal, because nuclear war wasn't a real danger during my lifetime.
Quote from: Neil on July 21, 2012, 02:31:26 PM
That wasn't an upheaval in the West. However the Russian thralls choose to organize themselves, it doesn't really effect our lives over in the West. Even the fall of the Soviet Union wasn't that big a deal, because nuclear war wasn't a real danger during my lifetime.
The world looks very different when the 3rd Shock Army is at Magdeburg.
Quote from: Viking on July 21, 2012, 02:35:29 PM
Quote from: Neil on July 21, 2012, 02:31:26 PM
That wasn't an upheaval in the West. However the Russian thralls choose to organize themselves, it doesn't really effect our lives over in the West. Even the fall of the Soviet Union wasn't that big a deal, because nuclear war wasn't a real danger during my lifetime.
The world looks very different when the 3rd Shock Army is at Magdeburg.
Also Neil is ignoring the unspeakably damaging effects of giving Poland internet access.
If you define "great upheaval" as the biggest war in human history, then no, I don't think we'll see anything that bad in our lifetimes.
I think it's highly unlikely that there will be one in the West any time soon.
Massive war, no chance.
Economic disclocation, like a collapse in oil and gas supply--not that unusual, not a great upheaval.
Highest probablity is some sort of superflu. Still not very likely.
Life in the West should keep moving along until the oil runs out in a couple centuries. However, the West will continue losing power and influence over the ROTW.
I sincerely doubt we'll see as massive a geopolitical shift affecting the West as we did with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the global discrediting and rejection of state Communism*, the defining political movement of the 20th century.
*Castroism doesn't count, and you know it.
Quote from: Viking on July 21, 2012, 02:35:29 PM
Quote from: Neil on July 21, 2012, 02:31:26 PM
That wasn't an upheaval in the West. However the Russian thralls choose to organize themselves, it doesn't really effect our lives over in the West. Even the fall of the Soviet Union wasn't that big a deal, because nuclear war wasn't a real danger during my lifetime.
The world looks very different when the 3rd Shock Army is at Magdeburg.
Not so much on this side of the Atlantic.
Quote from: Neil on July 21, 2012, 03:42:40 PM
Quote from: Viking on July 21, 2012, 02:35:29 PM
Quote from: Neil on July 21, 2012, 02:31:26 PM
That wasn't an upheaval in the West. However the Russian thralls choose to organize themselves, it doesn't really effect our lives over in the West. Even the fall of the Soviet Union wasn't that big a deal, because nuclear war wasn't a real danger during my lifetime.
The world looks very different when the 3rd Shock Army is at Magdeburg.
Not so much on this side of the Atlantic.
I agree, when Calgary and Winnipeg have more armed Ukrainians than Magdeburg and Erfurt all is right with the world.
Quote from: crazy canuck on July 21, 2012, 02:36:55 PM
Also Neil is ignoring the unspeakably damaging effects of giving Poland internet access.
As horrible as Martinus is, he's not a major upheaval in and of himself. Instead of being World War II, he's more like a school shooting.
It is possible that we will suffer a tremendous uprising from the bottom.
We will se a series of debt events that will be larger than any that have happened before. But the fallout could be smaller than it seems. Dunno.
Quote from: The Brain on July 21, 2012, 04:21:25 PM
It is possible that we will suffer a tremendous uprising from the bottom.
Eat more fiber.
We should save this thread to bring it up when the upheaval happens, so we remember how naive we were.
I remember that thread in the Paradox Off topic, were everybody was saying that the US was untouchable, around August 2001.
By the way, doesn't the Long War counts as an upheaval?
In a world with nuclear weapons, an upheaval is always just moments away. Sure, no rational person would launch nukes out of the blue. However, miscommunications and game theory accidents can happen.
Apart from that, the rise of China can eventually lead to a point where China can't avoid asserting itself, and the West can't avoid reasserting itself. Then there is always a threat of a new pandemic wiping out large swathes of population, before we figure out ways to contain it. In a world as interconnected as ours is, that could be a huge disaster.
What you call upheaval I call victory. For the time being, we can still win with minimal losses. LAUNCH TODAY OR PAY LATER.
But upheaval? No. We're too weak, too soft, and the powers that control the West too strong. This is how human history, at least in terms of human philosophical, political, and economic revolution, ends. We can only hope our successors are superior, which should be an easy enough bar to clear.
Quote from: Siege on July 24, 2012, 07:08:00 PM
By the way, doesn't the Long War counts as an upheaval?
What do you mean by the Long War?
Quote from: Neil on July 24, 2012, 09:49:59 PM
Quote from: Siege on July 24, 2012, 07:08:00 PM
By the way, doesn't the Long War counts as an upheaval?
What do you mean by the Long War?
Obviously he refers to Rudolf's war against the Turks.
If my A/C don't get fixed tomorry, we shall see a fuckin' upheaval in the goddamn WEST, mofuckers!
Quote from: Scipio on July 24, 2012, 10:06:28 PM
If my A/C don't get fixed tomorry, we shall see a fuckin' upheaval in the goddamn WEST, mofuckers!
Sounds like a storm in a teacup. Also, MS is not really the West.