Garyb, I dunno man. You choose web articles that illustrate your point. So lets look at them...
The Mininstry of Defence in the UK is going to make it a point to paint a bleak future in order that they get funding. Chris Parry, author of the 2007 guesswork into the future, has no more gravitas as a seer into the future than anyone else on this forum.
I don't have the time to trawl thru a 169-page MoD report - as well-produced and pretty as it is. But one thing I did notice is that the document production team felt it necessary to highlight in _italics_ those verbs that should not be misinterpreted - _likely_ and _unlikely_, _may_ and _will_... so, careful study of the narrative of document is vital in order to determine a holistic understanding of its content...
It'd be cool if you could get me a link to that UN article that speaks of the 500 million global population figure you have bandied about on this thread.
I realise that these documents exist, from the MoD in the UK, to the UN's accords and stated intentions, to the positioning of idealistic and religious groups. But are these not similar to political manifesto prior to election day, similar to scientific submissions by quacks and charlatans and sensationalists, similar to economists' projections that the banking sector is solid and won't crash, all of which we give weight to, all of which are never fulfilled? Point being, the message is often secondary to an ulterior motive - be that to get elected (Read My Lips - No New Taxes!), to be celebrated (Look - Cold Fusion guys!), to look after your friends (the market is solid - it's different this time), to get funding (flashmobs will require a new kind of weapon), to justify inaction (we need to reduce population to 500 million, so let the starving and sick die off before they get a chance to breed while we line our pockets and position our power while we still can), to sell newspapers and fill news column inches (open any newspaper any day of the week for examples!), to the distasteful misanthropic hysteria and prejudice in its myriad forms...
You speak of e-alerts - do you put e-alerts of web articles and pdfs into your browser Favourites, under the heading "Conspiratorial Ammunition", and keep them for five+ years?
Only kidding...
What I don't quite get is that you have said that it's governments that want us to believe in this, but yet you take down the same road!
And I'll desist from fighting Hubird's battles around your labelling of his 'foolishness'...
For me, yes, if there is a framework that most closely resonates with me, it too would be Buddhism. Probably because it focusses on the self to extrapolate good and useful behaviour in society. But, that's just one philosophy that has been subsumed as a organised religion. Most other philosophies don't end up in the "organised religion" category - other philosophies, not coming under the heading of "organised religion", stimulate me further.
My father used say (quoting Hamlet) - To thy own self be true.
I didn't actually understand what that meant, until relatively recently...
I trust in the better nature of humanity. I feel however that it is when people aren't honest with themselves, aren't willing or capable of objectifying their thoughts and regulating their behaviour, or don't even realise that it is possible in moments of silence to take a break from the self-reinforcing story they spout to others and to themselves, that important things, like morality and altruism, start to fall apart. And once someone 'gets away' with acting immorally or selfishly, the story they retrospectively tell themselves of the experience is reinforced.
Another thing I really don't get about forums on the net is how -quickly- people are either misunderstood, or have their words or positions twisted, and are downright rude and insulting. Things get inflamed far too quickly! Within two or three posts, the mood can turn sour. Hope this forum doesn't prove to be OK with that kind of thing...
Bobby who? Bobby McFerrin!

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