How close to collapse is modern society?

June 15th this year was a day like any other until just before 8pm. Then the power went. Being summer, it was still light, but the fridge and the freezer were off, as was the cooker. As time passed and it became clear the electricity wasn’t going to come back on any time soon, let alone in time for our evening meal, a sense of helplessness and frustration descended on me.

It set me thinking, too.

Just how close is modern society, with all our technology and our knowledge, to the edge? How near to collapse are we all the time? It seems we’re not that much better off than the ancient hunter-gatherers hiding in a cave from a storm. But why are we so vulnerable, especially to power-cuts, when as a race we have learnt so much since ancient times? Here are a couple of the factors involved.

First, I think, is the fact that we have become over-reliant on computers to run the essentials of our lives. Water, gas, air-traffic control, the banking system and, particularly, the generation and distribution of electricity: all these cannot run without computer control or, at least, computer assistance. It makes no sense to depend quite so much for our electricity on something that itself is vulnerable to power outages!

Secondly, the current obsession with global warming is another reason, in my opinion. It distracts scientists and politicians from real, immediate problems facing humanity, including pollution, population overgrowth and lack of stability in electricity supplies. For example, wind turbines, the warmists’ dream generator, is in reality a nightmare: they cause damage to their immediate environment and local wildlife; are thought cause ill-health in those living near; and are simply unable to generate enough electricity to meet demand, day in, day out.

What this comes down to is that in the same way the stress of modern life means that it doesn’t take too much to push an individual over the edge mentally, it takes relatively little to bring modern society to the point of collapse – at least, in theory.

But I think we’re more able to cope with disaster than our ancestors, so perhaps we are better off than the ancients, after all.