The more I think about it, the more I feel like people seem to have some level of desire to see “THE END”. Call it morbid curiosity. Call it nihilism. Call it death anxiety. Whatever. It seems like with all the effort people give to thinking about “the downfall”, there must be some fascination with it.
There’s so many forms of it. Doomsday preppers. Prophetic apocalypses. Global warfare. Climate disasters. The rise of fascism. People see “THE END” in so many different ways. And with the world not becoming any less precarious any time soon, we can only expect these mass-anxities to continue. (And the rich guys certainly have a vested interest in the end of everything. They get to keep their High Score.)
Or maybe not. Maybe human civilization (in at least some form) will continue for millennia more. Maybe we’re far off from the end. But one thing is certain: for each and every one of us walking this earth, the end is at most a century away, give or take a few decades.
“How grand would it be to witness the end of everything!” cries the mortal pretender. For it is not just his death, but the death of all that he knows – and he gets to bear witness.
I don’t know if it’s wanting to see “The End” as you put it, but at least in my case I’m just tired of all the “We’re this close to doomsday!” stuff and think to myself “Holy crap, just get it over with already” - the idea being that after everything turns to absolute crap, the only direction left is back up.
Like either the world is going to end soon, or we’re going to figure out how to get along as a collective, global society. But while we’re stuck in between the two, it’s annoying.
i feel you. i recently learned about the “Doomsday Clock” that has apparently been ticking up and down since 1947, and was apparently just moved from 90 seconds to 89 seconds. seems like such a ridiculous, unhelpful way to conceptualize challenges to society. learning about it did nothing to impact my sense of power in affecting it, and really just increased my sense of despair as time marches on without concern