NASA-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for ‘irreversible collapse’?

[Ozymandias]

"… accumulated surplus is not evenly distributed throughout society, but rather has been controlled by an elite. The mass of the population, while producing the wealth, is only allocated a small portion of it by elites, usually at or just above subsistence levels."

"While some members of society might raise the alarm that the system is moving towards an impending collapse and therefore advocate structural changes to society in order to avoid it, Elites and their supporters, who opposed making these changes, could point to the long sustainable trajectory 'so far' in support of doing nothing."

This from a Nasa report about the coming "Collapse". 

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/14/nasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists

[alanjjohnstone]

Very interesting. Have blogged the story . http://socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2014/03/are-we-all-doomed.html

[ALB]

Surely, Ozy, this kind of scenario for present times is refuted by the other one on the same sort of subject you posted the other day:http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/06/not-even-climate-change-will-kill-off-capitalismIt seems to be another example of Zizek's saying that the end of civilisation is seen as more conceivable than the end of capitalism.

[Ozymandias]

Yes of course. I just found it interesting that a government study could come up with the two quotes I pasted. Just thought I would put it out there as further evidence that workers may be slowly beginning to realise there is something badly wrong. 

[Anonymous]

The ‘NASA-funded Study…’ article was written by Nafeez Ahmed, whose book…’A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization … and How to Save it’was reviewed in the Feb 2011 Standard.http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2011/no-1278-february-2011/book-reviews-ecology-and-socialism-user%E2%80%99s-guide- 

[ALB]

ALB wrote:

It seems to be another example of Zizek's saying that the end of civilisation is seen as more conceivable than the end of capitalism.

Just reading a book in which this ("that it is easier to think of the end of the world than the end of capitalism") is attributed to Frederick (I think that should be Frederic, shouldn't it?) Jameson. Does anyone know if Zizek too got it from him?

[ALB]

NASA have issued a press release stating that they neither funded nor paid for this study:

Quote:

RELEASE 14-082NASA Statement on Sustainability StudyThe following is a statement from NASA regarding erroneous media reports crediting the agency with an academic paper on population and societal impacts."A soon-to-be published research paper 'Human and Nature Dynamics (HANDY): Modeling Inequality and Use of Resources in the Collapse or Sustainability of Societies' by University of Maryland researchers Safa Motesharrei and Eugenia Kalnay, and University of Minnesota’s Jorge Rivas was not solicited, directed or reviewed by NASA. It is an independent study by the university researchers utilizing research tools developed for a separate NASA activity."As is the case with all independent research, the views and conclusions in the paper are those of the authors alone. NASA does not endorse the paper or its conclusions."

Which goes to show that you can't believe all you read in the papers (as next month's Socialist Standard, now at the printers, didn't)..

[ALB]

More on this, showing that it is not a "NASA funded" paper:http://links.org.au/node/3786

[Author]

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