People are often paranoid and prone to “Doomsday” or “End Times” predictions, but all of these apocalyptic event predictions have fortunately been untrue so far.

Yet, there is currently a doomsday prediction that is growing in popularity and has not been made by a human being.

In 1973, researchers from MIT developed a computer model nicknamed “World One,”  processed by one of the largest computers in the world at the time, and created by the computer pioneer Jay Forrester, who was commissioned by the Club of Rome to model how well the world could sustain its growth.

The Club of Rome is an organization comprised of scientists, thinkers, former world heads of states, and UN bureaucrats, and its mission was to promote understanding of the global challenges facing humanity and to propose solutions through scientific analysis, communication, and advocacy.

It intended to predict if the planet and the way we are living in it is globally sustainable, and this computer calculated that both population and pollution levels would cause a global collapse by 2040.

The computer program analyzed the world as one system. The report called it an electronic guided tour of human behavior since 1900 and where it will lead humanity. It produced graphs that showed what would happen to the planet decades into the future and plotted statistics and forecasts for variables like life quality, pollution, population, the supply of natural resources, and more.

As an ABS reporter explained it then, the increase in population decreases the supply of natural resources and the quality of life.  The computer also calculated that these decreases will start taking place by 2020, which is in less than a year.

It was predicted that the condition of the Earth will be extremely critical, pollution will be so severe that it will start to kill people, and the life quality will go right back to practically zero.

Alexander King, who was the leader of the Club of Rome at the time, believed that the results of the program indicated that nation-states will lose their sovereignty, forecasting a New World Order with corporations managing everything. He explained that as the sovereignty of nations is no longer absolute, sovereignty will gradually diminish even in the biggest nations.

If these predictions are true, we have a good reason to worry and even panic, as we might have only a few decades left.

Yet, it still might not be over, as the new UN-commissioned report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed that there is a small 12-year window to limit global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius).

More than 133 authors drawing from 6,000+ peer-reviewed scientific papers indicate that global warming needs to be reigned in, to prevent such an end of the world we know.

To put it simply, the difference between 1.5°C of global warming and 2°C  will have the following consequences:

• Sea levels would rise another two inches, leading to coastal flooding for 10 million more people
• The rages of insects, including pollinators, will decrease threefold
• Marine fisheries’ declines would double
• Maize harvests would decline by more than double

However, to succeed in the goal to prevent the increase of global temperature, the entire world needs to unite. As Vox blogger David Roberts explained that we need an immediate, coordinated crash program of re-industrialization, involving every major country in the world.

We can all start small and still contribute to the cause, as follows:

• Avoid cars and planes and travel by bike, bus, or train instead of cars or planes
• Use a smart thermostat in the home and upgrade to more energy-efficient appliances
• Eat about 30% less animal products

If we act fast, there is hope that we can postpone the World One’s doomsday prediction for several decades.

Sources:
bigthink.com
www.mnn.com