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It's best not to worry, of course.

But what do you worry about?

 

I just read something about the top worries, predictable ones like money, sex, job, health.

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Cash. I want more. I think I'd say that however much I'd have though.

 

Also, my sanity living here is a bit of a worry.

 

And earthquakes, the bastards.

 

And getting the lady preggers.

 

And my job.

 

I don't worry.

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There'll be a few of us in the same boat there. It sometimes takes a big big effort to quit the relative comfort of the English schools and get back into the real world ;\)

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I worry about stuff like climate change, war, economic meltdown, and peak oil. The future doesn't look very rosy.

 

We've got a really nice setup, so I don't worry about personal stuff at all.

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> I worry about stuff like climate change, war, economic meltdown, and peak oil. The future doesn't look very rosy.

 

Me too. But I think before we have much trouble with those, the next influenza pandemic is going to be the most immediate horror.

 

With hindsight though, I think the future never looked very rosy. It's just easier now to find out about some of the future scenarios thanks to improved communications.

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Tens of millions killed in 1918. Bloody hell.

 

You're right that in some senses, people have always been living in blissful ignorance. Regarding population growth and resource use, what warnings there were from people like the Club of Rome were just ignored. The risk of nuclear war was also higher, or at least more of a issue, during the Cold War. You don't get books like When The Wind Blows or films like Threads or the wimpy, God-awful The Day After anymore. Things looked much better at the end of the Cold War and there was a great chance for disarmament and demobilization. Of course, it wasn't taken, the armies are still huge, and the nukes are still sitting there on hair-trigger alert. One little malfunction and away we go.

 

As for the economy, under Clinton the US government at least ran a balanced budget. The ballooning level of US debt now makes a major correction to the dollar, and by extension, world recession, far more likely. The world economy is now so interconnected and reliant on the US as the "consumer of last resort" that it will drag everyone else down. A major run on the dollar was not forecast in say, the late 1990s; indeed, a minor financial collapse had to be remedied because hedge funds had been excessively borrowing interest-free yen and buying US bonds in expectation of a dollar appreciation that did not materialize. When the dollar reached 140 yen or so, Merrill Lynch predicted it would hit 170 by the end of 1998, instead of falling to below 120 as it did. The worry here is not especially a big recession in itself, it's the radicalizing effect it would have on politics. Scapegoats would have to be found, especially now that materialism and self-interest are so firmly entrenched as middle-class values.

 

While the Internet makes it far easier to hear alternative opinions and to learn about unreported developments like peak oil, I think the Bush administration alone is sufficient proof that things are genuinely getting worse.

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China - for many different reasons.

Oil - connected to China

Pollution - connected to everyone, but China is very notable and increasingly prominent polluter.

global instability - connected to oil.

Climate change - going back to oil again.

Viruses - a Bird flu/Ebola-esqe plague will hit in our lifetimes, the clock is ticking.

My family dog - she was run over by a lying toerag bitch of a neighbour.

My computer -its about to die.

My son - he is very naughty at the moment - terrible 2's

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