For my Final Project, I created a video interviewing UChicago students on their perspectives on whether or not humanity is doomed. This video as a Panopto video is linked above and below and should also be embedded as a YouTube video below:
I left my interviews very open-ended. I provided them little context on my project, our class, and my questions before filming. I explained more about the class, my perspective on whether or not we’re doomed, and answered any questions they might have had after. I first asked them “Are We Doomed?” Most of those interviewed did think humanity is doomed, each with their own explanation of why. I then followed up with “Why?” or “Why not?” I then asked what they thought would be the potential cause of humanity’s downfall, and again why. Many pointed to climate change as being the cause of humanity’s eventual downfall, though answers varied from AI, nuclear warfare, and even microplastic’s effects on male fertility. As this project was aimed at getting my generation’s (Gen Z) perspective, I then asked if they thought that our generation would agree with their answers and why. Unsurprisingly, pretty much every respondent thought that their generation would agree with their answers. They cited our generation’s revolutionary approach to change making through activism, as well as our sensibility to existential threats like climate change as we have been able to witness their immediate consequences in our short lifetime. When asked the final question, “Do you have any proposals for intervention?” many respondents cited this same revolutionary and innovative spirit aimed at necessitating change for future generations. While some acknowledged that education surrounding these existential threats, regulation on AI, or carbon taxing, most respondents cited political and policy solutions. While some acknowledged the difficulty of implementing change at a larger, national, or governmental level, most claimed that the large corporations and nations that are most responsible for contributing to climate change via carbon emissions should be the ones responsible for mitigating its consequences.
There were many different sentiments of variations of salience, including hope and dismay, throughout the project. Perhaps my data was skewed by conducting my interviews on an extremely warm and sunny February afternoon in Chicago. This may have uplifted people’s spirits and limited feelings of dismay and doom. For example, one respondent said “If the world is going to end, at least we can be outside enjoying it!” This particularly warm Chicago Winter day also could’ve caused more people to cite climate change as the ultimate demise of humanity’s doom. Many respondents discussed the weather – particularly the warmest February Chicago has had in 153 years of record-keeping – as a terrifying warning of the end of the world’s quickening approach. Though this statistic makes sense in the bigger scheme of 2024 being the hottest year on record, it also demonstrates how saliently the effects of climate change are already being experienced. Through interviews with a mirage of college students – with different backgrounds, ages, specialties, and interests – I gained insight into how individuals respond to and feel about these existential challenges.
I also wanted to include my own perspectives on the questions asked in these interviews. I think the question: “Are we Doomed” is a very interesting yet difficult one to answer. Humans are and will be eventually doomed. It is the only thing we can be as sure of as our being right now. Just as humans evolved to live on this Earth, the Earth evolved to create and house humans. Humanity has changed drastically over the past 200,000 years, and so has the planet. Yes, humanity is increasingly affecting the Earth and its evolution, as it is affecting us. As Mann wrote in Our Fragile Moment, “It’s almost as if this planet, Earth, was custom made for us. And yet it wasn’t. Paleoclimatology appreciate two seemingly contradictory realities.” The only thing we can be more sure of than humanity’s existence as it is now is its doom. At some point, humanity will cease to exist on Earth. This may occur sooner than originated or planned due to human actions, but I don’t think any of us will be around to find out. I ultimately do think humanity is doomed – as it is intrinsic to our existence – but I do think humans are doing nothing but speeding up our doom.
I think climate change is the immediate existential threat that scares me the most and that I think will eventually lead to our demise. Though there are a million other potential dooming existential threats – an unexpected asteroid could hit Earth tomorrow, wiping out humanity – I think that climate change is the most dooming. As mentioned in the video by a participant that thought nuclear warfare would lead to the demise of humanity, the lack of control and fact that nuclear fate is so out of the individual or civilian’s hand is especially dooming. Ultimately, if nuclear warfare does ruin humanity, it will have been enacted or decided upon by very few – even one – individuals. However, I think there is something even more dooming about the collective acknowledgement, agreement, and anxiety that climate change will doom us all, yet our inability to do anything about it. Humanity has the capabilities to mitigate this threat, it’s just a matter of whether or not we will do enough quickly enough. At the current rate of action, I don’t think anything humanity can halt the existential threats the consequences of climate change pose. While the necessary change must come from the top-emitting large corporations and nations, there are actions we must all be taking at the individual and community level everyday starting now. Yes, the onset of existential threats being out of our control is terrifying, but it is more dooming to have the capability to potentially prevent the existential threats and not doing enough quickly enough to save us.
An interesting point brought up in my interviews was our generations’ belief of and reliance on a new technological development providing the climate change answers and solutions we have been lacking. While I don’t necessarily think I share this belief, I do think that at this point, this may be the only way to remedy climate change’s impact. Many effective solutions come from advances in technological developments, including investment in green energy, decarbonization, cutting the prices of renewable energy, divesting from fossil fuels, a carbon tax, and expanding nuclear power. Nuclear power provides an interesting context under which to analyze existential threats, serving as a potential source and solution to humanity’s doom. Modern-day context, especially in relation to US-China relations and the war in Ukraine, provides unique challenges as there is a simultaneous and paradoxical pursuit of nuclear disarmament as well as nuclear modernization. Nuclear energy proves to be a potentially powerful and effective alternative energy source to burning fossil fuels. However, political distrust of scientific institutions, and the complex global dynamics complicate – with justified salience – mobilization. Addressing the complexities of nuclear issues requires collective efforts, diplomatic initiatives, and a commitment to fostering global equality. I think our generation is much more welcoming of the concept of nuclear energy than the older generations. However, this is just because we were not yet around to witness the destructive threats nuclear energy can pose to society. While there is still a lot of technological progress and discoveries that need to be made before humanity can rely on nuclear power enough to phase out fossil fuels, there is also a lot of political and cultural progress and transitions that need to be made that will allow society to embrace this energy transition.
Ultimately, I think that the largest hindrance to mitigating existential threats and humanity’s doom is ourselves. “Humanity retains an enormous amount of control. We hold the growth story of the 21st century in our hands.” – David Wallace-Wells in “Beyond Catastrophe: A New Climate Reality is Coming Into View.”