Scientists from MIT in Boston have been looking at the future of our planet. What will change economically and socially?
The questions are asked. These are quite complex questions, in which many variables are at play, and which have interested experts and scientists for years.
prediction MIT civilization collapse in phase with reality
Is this study serious and is it really possible to predict the years to come? It would seem so. In 1972, a group of experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) tried to determine when the collapse of society would occur, using computer modelling.
The verdict? A specific date, and pretty close to it: 2040. Although the study wasn’t taken seriously at the time, some decided to take it further and update it, and it seems that these grim predictions are not to be underestimated. We are well on our way down this bleak path, it is true, but all may not be lost. Let’s take a closer look.
There have been many warnings over the past 50 years that our activities may be so unsustainable that they could cause a collapse, which is expected by the middle of the 21st century, 2040 to be exact. The 1972 report by MIT scientists was clear: the experts had already identified the “limits” of industrial development at the time, which would cause a long-term collapse.
But apparently, they were not taken too seriously. In addition to causing a stir, this analysis was also mocked and questioned. Today, however, the topic seems more relevant than ever. That’s why new research has attempted to update the 1970s predictions, with results that are far from reassuring.
This 1972 study is not a death study but a precise mathematical and economic model. In 2009, another team of researchers had already conducted a similar study, later published by American Scientist, which claimed that what was said in 1972 was not so unrealistic. “We are almost exactly in line with these results 35 years later, the proposed model was very accurate,” they had said.
Then, in 2021, it was Dutch sustainability researcher Gaya Herrington who provided further confirmation. In her new in-depth study based on the previous ones, she said, “I was curious to see the supposed scenarios unfold today, and the current data are unfortunately consistent with the predictions made in 1972.”
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