This too is a common belief of fundamentalist Christians (though by no means limited to them), and has many of the same effects as the belief that “Within my lifetime, a magic genie will appear that grants all our wishes and solves all our problems.” For instance, no one will save for retirement if they think the world will end before they retire. And it’s not important to worry about the state of the environment in 50 years, if the world ends in 25.
However this belief has an important distinction from the belief in magic genies. To the extent that the belief the world is going to end is based in actual facts and not superstition, and to the extent that it leads people to take effective action to prevent the world from ending, this belief can be helpful. For instance, one reason the world didn’t already end in nuclear war is that many people worked very hard to avoid that fate. On a smaller, not-quite-world-ending scale, Y2K was a non-event because thousands of programmers spent tens, perhaps hundreds-of-thousands of work-years fixing the problem before it could instantiate.
However, if a belief that the world will end leads one to fatalism, and to giving up on planning for or considering the future, then it is equally as harmful as a belief in magic wish-granting genies.
On a smaller, not-quite-world-ending scale, Y2K was a non-event because thousands of programmers spent tens, perhaps hundreds-of-thousands of work-years fixing the problem before it could instantiate.
Except, it was a non-event even in those places where this didn’t happen.
Within my lifetime, the world will end.
This too is a common belief of fundamentalist Christians (though by no means limited to them), and has many of the same effects as the belief that “Within my lifetime, a magic genie will appear that grants all our wishes and solves all our problems.” For instance, no one will save for retirement if they think the world will end before they retire. And it’s not important to worry about the state of the environment in 50 years, if the world ends in 25.
However this belief has an important distinction from the belief in magic genies. To the extent that the belief the world is going to end is based in actual facts and not superstition, and to the extent that it leads people to take effective action to prevent the world from ending, this belief can be helpful. For instance, one reason the world didn’t already end in nuclear war is that many people worked very hard to avoid that fate. On a smaller, not-quite-world-ending scale, Y2K was a non-event because thousands of programmers spent tens, perhaps hundreds-of-thousands of work-years fixing the problem before it could instantiate.
However, if a belief that the world will end leads one to fatalism, and to giving up on planning for or considering the future, then it is equally as harmful as a belief in magic wish-granting genies.
Except, it was a non-event even in those places where this didn’t happen.