Apocalypse Now? Only In Our Fevered Dreams
Doomsday fear-mongering reached a high pitch this year. Let’s try to stay focused on more immediate problems in 2024.
A view of Luke Jerram's sculpture, Mars: War & Peace, in St. John the Baptist Church in 2023.
Photographer: Anadolu/Anadolu“I mean, sometimes you get these like, late civilization vibes,” said Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive officer, at a recent event for the Cybertruck, his piece of absurdist automotive art. “The apocalypse could come along at any moment. And here at Tesla, we have the finest in apocalypse technology.”
There’s a lot of this end-of-days talk around right now. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, there were stories about Silicon Valley billionaires prepping for Armageddon by purchasing bunkers in New Zealand. But this year I’ve been hearing and reading more and more of it, especially linked to artificial intelligence.