Musings on the End of the World

 Lately, I’ve noticed the news is taking on an increasingly apocalyptic tone, whether it be by swine flu, economic collapse, or a geomagnetic anomaly, and it got me thinking. Why are we so fascinated by mass destruction? What is it about the end of the world that we find so captivating? It is not just modern American culture; almost every culture has a concept and fascination with the apocalypse, which suggest to me that it is an inherently human characteristic. In the same way that we find are entranced by a tornado or a hurricane, we are enthralled by the possibility of decent into chaos, of reclamation of entropy of sorts.
 I think part of it lies in the fact that, at some level, we all know it is inevitable. Whether it come in the form of an all consuming atomic war or a pandemic, or a slow collapse into chaos, every nation on the Earth today will eventual fall apart. We have seen this happen countless times in the past, and we, just as our ancestors did, know it’s coming eventually. Maybe the reason we’re more interested right now is that it seems more imminent. The current economic condition, combined with a background of tense political relations around the world (Israel/Palestine, Russia/US/Eastern Europe, North Korea/everyone else), gives us a glimpse at the chaos that is always a possibility. And possibly we all realize at some level what occurred to me a few months back; that in a profusely nuclear armed world, the next major world conflict will likely result in the death of most of the world’s population. As Albert Einstein put it, “I do not know with what weapons World War 3 will be fought, but World War 4 will be fought with sticks and stones.” To me, the idea that we will never have another World War is naive. It will happen, and when it does, the losing side, probably in an act of desperation, will nuke Moscow or Hong Kong or New York or Paris or London, and in 24 hours, most of the population of the world will be dead, most of it’s cites smoldering craters. 
Or is it the finality that facinates us? Maybe we all wish our lives were different, more exciting, but we lack the courage to do anything about it. If society were to end, the choice would no longer be left up to us; our only option would be to wander through the post-apocalyptic wasteland, fighting for survival, stealing to eat, owning nothing but the shirt on our backs. I have to admit, this sounds strangely appealing, probably because it has been romanticised by popular fiction. Or it could be that we all secretly like the idea of living fast and dying young, of having no responsibilities, of a nomadic lifestyle, and realize that this is the only option in a post-apocalyptic environment. In a way, this is an example of the Other, an unknowable, but somehow attractive idea. A kind of exoticism, except with regard to a culture that does not yet exist.
 It is interesting to me that although the description of the eshcaton differs wildly from culture to culture, we all have some idea of it. Radical Alterity brings up the interesting point that the Japanese have a unique perspective in that they have had a brush with ultimate destruction at the end of WWII. I would argue that the World Wars have greatly influenced the whole world’s idea of what the end would look like by giving us all a preview, even though it was only Japan that felt the bite of nuclear weapons. Before this century, we had never seen wide scale destruction. The idea of entire countrysides being purged of life, of whole cities being leveled and rendered unlivable by residual explosives would have seemed ridiculous before we saw this very thing unleashed upon Europe and Asia. The appearance of this type of destructive capability led to a change in the ideas regarding our worlds expiration date: before this century, it was assumed the end of the world would be of supernatural origin (a Christian Apocalypse or a Norse Ragnarök, for example) because gods were the only ones with enough power to kill a planet. Today, most depictions show a manmade apocalypse, by all consuming war, or destructive climate change, or manmade virus infestation, or sentient computer takeover. I think we are finally realizing our power to destroy ourselves, and we’re oddly fascinated by the idea. We have become modern day Prometheus, thieves of the holy fire. I think we are impressed with ourselves for becoming powerful enough to render an entire planet lifeless, even if it is our own.