We live in dark times.
The Doomsday Clock is at two minutes to midnight, meaning we could easily see the end of the world as we know it.
World War 3 fiction has been on the go pretty steadily since the end of World War II. The conflicts that have arisen since then, while devastating, have not been anywhere near as scary and apocalyptic as the second World War. Meaning WW3 would likely top it and destroy us all.
u/ShinHayato asked:
What's going to cause World War 3?
Here were some of those answers.
Living In Fear
GiphyI vote water #1. Oil has alternatives, a huge portion of our demand for water comes from creating food, desalination or altering the supply of fresh water in any meaningful way is incredibly intensive, and the fuse from 'supply is interrupted' to' societal collapse' is very, very short.
War Hawking
I would venture it'll be a dispute over oil or another vital natural resource. Nobody wants war as it hurts the domestic politics at home in the long run, especially in a federal or parliamentary system. But if the domestic situation is so bad (stupid high car fuel, heating, energy, etc) a major hegemon may choose war to either distract the public from the problem in the short-term or attempt to solve it outright, by invading and annexing another, probably less powerful state/area who already has built in access to that resource. (Persian Gulf, Arctic, East China Sea).
Can imagine it would snowball from there, especially if and when other hegemon's feel their own supply lines are now in jeopardy.
Literally On The Brink
The EU has a financial crisis, sparking a rash of Brexit-like movements across the continent. Desperate to hold things together, the EU, backed by Germany, will declare that no one is allowed to secede from the union without their permission. France will try anyway. Germany invades France again.
The English speaking world might give France a hard time, but goddammit, France is like a younger sibling to them. Only they are allowed to pick on France, so they show up for round three with Germany.
With the US and the UK tied up in western Europe, Russia and China will see their chance and try and take over the former Soviet bloc states and southeast Asia respectively. The parts of Africa and South America that aren't exactly stable even in the best of times break down completely while the rest of the world is too busy fighting each other to keep an eye on them, and the chaos slips over the borders and spreads throughout the whole region causing diplomatic relations to break down and everyone starts pointing fingers at everyone else. Eventually someone points a gun instead of a finger and all hell breaks loose.
This All Could Happen Shortly
There are lots of possibilities, but the most likely are:
- North Korea launches an attack on Japan or South Korea
- Iran versus Saudi Arabia versus Israel leading to an all-out war in the Middle East, from Turkey to Indonesia.
- A successful cyber attack by North Korea, Russia or China against the USA, then a counter-attack by the USA, leading to widespread chaos and a global economic and infrastructure crash. This would be an entirely new situation and lead to martial law and massive military controls in many countries. Democracy is discarded by military dictatorships and new border wars flair up globally. A very real and very ugly scenario.
At This Point, It's Willful
Ignorance. In a world where information is at our fingertips, people have grown dumber than ever. Nothing is questioned anymore. People make their own little bubble of reality and are afraid to venture beyond.
The Thing That Causes Every Other War
Misunderstanding, mirroring, a remarkably improbable mistake all in an environment where all the rulers think they got stuff under control. Most big things are really just a series of small things that happen one after another is a way that seems obvious and predictable only in hindsight.
Germany Part 2
China is the only nation with the size and (soon to be) power to enter into a conflict with the kind of massive, existential stakes necessary to drag the great powers of the entire world into a war.
It would take something like an expansionist push to actually conquer large swaths of territory including that held or considered critical to the West. However, there are numerous places that extremely destructive wars could break out between individual powers, and with the tendency for those wars or civil wars to internationalize...who knows.
-Cough Cough- Trump
Someone is going to either Tweet, Snap, or Facebook something overtly offensive and it will just ignite a chain of events that we will never get back.
The End Of The World
I reckon that the cause of World War 3 would likely be a nuclear war and World War 4 would just be a Nuclear Winter and the consequences of the War, where us, humans would fight to get basic necessities to survive,ie food and water.
I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones —Einstein
The Profit Of Disaster
GiphyI'll give a serious answer. Climate Change triggering wars. How?
- Places like North Pole (or close to it) were inhabitable forever. Due to climate change, ice is receding from these areas and we have found a lot of resources like natural gas in this area. This has created a lot of disputes between Russia and US/Canada. Every year, the chance of a flair up between these powers continues to rise.
- A lot of countries will lose significant land or in worse cases submerge completely under water. Example: Bangladesh. This can cause large refugee crisis and could easily trigger wars of territorial conquest
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.