No. If something like that were to happen, it probably would've happened during the Cold War. Warfare and international conflict is changing to the point where it occupies cyberspace, is focused around espionage and is removed from the need of bayonets or trench shovels. Our greatest threats will come with our advancements. Whether we will properly respond to techno-socio-economic phenomena like unemployment-causing automation and the development of an artificial general intelligence, as well as things like nuclear terrorism and divergent cultures.
Would you also consider the problems that would arise from water shortages under that as well?
Quote from: Bacon's Shelf on January 17, 2015, 05:33:14 PMWould you also consider the problems that would arise from water shortages under that as well?Not especially, I don't think water shortages will be especially consequential. Technology which allows on-the-go sanitation of water, as well as developing desalination capacities, will remedy most of it.
Quote from: Meta Cognition on January 17, 2015, 05:34:52 PMQuote from: Bacon's Shelf on January 17, 2015, 05:33:14 PMWould you also consider the problems that would arise from water shortages under that as well?Not especially, I don't think water shortages will be especially consequential. Technology which allows on-the-go sanitation of water, as well as developing desalination capacities, will remedy most of it.Well that's a fair point. But to counter that, you would then be faced with the problems offered by shortages of minerals and fuel to create and operate such technologies, right?
Quote from: Bacon's Shelf on January 17, 2015, 05:36:09 PMQuote from: Meta Cognition on January 17, 2015, 05:34:52 PMQuote from: Bacon's Shelf on January 17, 2015, 05:33:14 PMWould you also consider the problems that would arise from water shortages under that as well?Not especially, I don't think water shortages will be especially consequential. Technology which allows on-the-go sanitation of water, as well as developing desalination capacities, will remedy most of it.Well that's a fair point. But to counter that, you would then be faced with the problems offered by shortages of minerals and fuel to create and operate such technologies, right?Not especially; resource shortages are always overstated. One of the mechanisms of the market is that it replaces gradually more expensive resources or operations with cheaper ones--it did this with silicon and fiber optic during the shortages of copper. And, of course, the development of more sustainable energy sources like solar and nuclear will become more attractive as they get cheaper and oil gets dearer.
What if I were to tell you that WWII never happened?
It's very possible, especially since the collapse is near.
No generation has really seen their whole life through peacetime.