Read more: 鈥�2013 Smart Guide: 10 ideas that will shape the year鈥�
A FEW days ago, a woman called 快猫短视频鈥榮 subscription desk with an unusual question. Was it true that the world would end in a week鈥檚 time? She was worried about her young relatives: 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 deserve to die,鈥� she told our sympathetic, if nonplussed, representative.
Our usual response to such enquiries is to say there鈥檚 about as much reason to expect the world to end this week as any other, which is to say: not much (鈥�Countering the new horsemen of the apocalypse鈥�, 快猫短视频, 1 December, p 5). But surprising numbers of people think otherwise. In , about 2 per cent of people said they expected the world to end before 2012 does; 15 per cent 鈥� many of them evangelical Christians 鈥� said the end would come in their lifetimes.
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Most of us are jokier about prophecies of doom, but still subject to deep-seated anxiety about what the future will bring. The order of things has crumbled in recent years. But we should relish, rather than fear, the challenge of rebuilding it. After all, apocalyptic thinking is also about renewal: those waiting for the world to end usually expect a better one to take its place (鈥�The end is always nigh in the human mind鈥�, 快猫短视频, 4 June 2011, p 30).
There is certainly cause for concern. Struggling western economies eye the fate of Greece uneasily. Democracy鈥檚 birthplace has plunged abruptly from apparent affluence to penury. Nor are its problems confined to its borders: its economic crisis is turning into a continent-wide public health problem, with long-vanquished 鈥渢ropical鈥� diseases staging a troubling comeback (鈥�Greek crisis: How to prevent a humanitarian disaster鈥�, 快猫短视频, 26 May, p 6).
There鈥檚 better news on the global scale 鈥� although it still has its befuddling features. The Global Burden of Disease report released last week shows life expectancies to have risen significantly around the world over the past 40 years 鈥� but we now die of different causes, from AIDS to traffic accidents. Strikingly, excess weight is now a bigger global health problem than undernutrition (see 鈥�Overeating now bigger global problem than lack of food鈥�).
And the general increase in living standards is being thrown into doubt by climate change, which is becoming more serious, more quickly, than most feared (鈥�Climate change: It鈥檚 even worse than we thought鈥�, 快猫短视频, 17 November, p 34). Thankfully, public acceptance of the problem seems also to be on the rise. Some 6 out of 10 people in the PRRI poll think the severity of recent natural disasters is evidence of global climate change. That鈥檚 a bolder link than most scientists would make. But then again, more than a third of those polled took such disasters as evidence of the end of the world.
This is a deeply unhelpful reaction. Our species has certainly made a mess of the atmosphere, and it will take immense efforts to sort it out. But we are capable of them. It鈥檚 our species that built a huge machine to test our theories of the universe鈥檚 finest workings. It鈥檚 also our species that this year winched a giant robot down to the surface of another planet to see what鈥檚 there. And beyond sating our curiosity, it鈥檚 our species that鈥檚 cut the death rate in our under-5s by 60 per cent in 20 years.
So yes, the world is complicated, and the challenges we face are enormous. But we mustn鈥檛 just throw up our hands in despair: all the ingenuity and determination we can muster will be needed. We have to believe that we can make the world a better place, and act to make it one. We shouldn鈥檛 view the end of the old world as a threat 鈥� but as an opportunity.
聯We have to believe that we can make the world a better place, and act to make it one聰