Society may collapse by 2040: New analysis supports old prediction by MIT

There is a serious chance that human society may collapse by 2040 if the global priorities regarding ‘economic growth’ do not change. This has been ascertained recently after a 1972 MIT study was reassessed by a senior director of KPMG.

As per the old report by a team of scientists at MIT, civilization was bound to collapse if corporations and governments continued to pursue economic growth, irrespective of its environmental damage. It also said that natural resources would become so scarce that further economic growth would become impossible, and personal welfare would nosedive.

The most infamous scenario forecast by the report says that by 2040, the world’s economic growth would peak but thereafter, the graph will take a sharp downturn. This will severely impact the global population with regard to food availability and natural resources. This imminent collapse will not end the human race, but the standard of human living conditions will degrade drastically.

Now, nearly half a century later, Gaya Herrington who is a Sustainability and Dynamic System Analysis Lead at KPMG, reassessed the MIT study to observe the predictions made in 1972. And to her horror, there is a close alignment to all the predicted scenarios. Herrington wrote in her study that the scenarios indicate that continuing business as usual to pursue constant growth, will not be possible after 2040.

But beyond all this, there is a silver lining. Herrington says that changes in policies like population control, reduced industrial output and prioritising health and education are the factors that can prevent this horrific downfall. Using the example of covid 19 pandemic and how the world dealt with this global crisis, she says that it is still possible to control the situation.

Herrington believes that it's not yet too late for human society to intentionally change its course and alter the trajectory of the future.