There are radically different inferences we can derive from the current notions of the word generation. A generation may refer to:
1. the entire body of individuals born and living at about the same time 2. the term of years, roughly 30 among human beings, accepted as the average period between the birth of parents and the birth of their offspring. 3. a group of individuals, most of whom are the same approximate age, having similar ideas, problems, attitudes, etc.
From these somewhat reconcilable criteria we can conclude almost anything. Depending on your particular predispositions, you can emphasize ‘about the same time,’ ‘parents and offspring,’ or ‘having similar ideas.’ From our contemporary perspective some ancient civilizations like the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Babylonians can be lumped into a single generation. Surely these early humans had more cultural affinity among themselves then they have with us. From this perspective, the generations have become exponentially smaller over time because of the symbiotic relationship between culture, economics, and technology. For example, we can and do often treat the entire 17th Century, from Keppler and Galileo to Descartes and Newton, as a single generation not being particularly aware momentarily that Newton was born almost a full year after Galileo died. If instead we opt for a more objective father-son criterion and leave a generation at a span of 20 or 30 years, our conclusions are bound to be different. Therefore, generation is a convenient term that leaves the time frame of when extinction is going to happen to the particular inclinations of every individual. This is intentional. I am not and don't claim to be the Apostle John or Nostradamus. I do not pretend to know the day and hour that Man will become extinct. This depends on the actions of millions of individuals and, therefore, is impossible to predict. My argument is qualitative; not quantitative. It deals with inevitability. I am saying that extinction is a natural process that eventually catches up with every species. I am saying that Mother Nature programs the death of her offspring the moment they come out of her womb. I am also saying that this predictable process indicates that our time is more or less up. Our extinction is inevitable and it will happen within a generation (i.e., soon). It is up to you now to apply your own criteria and judgment to the mechanisms I describe here to figure out what the words generation and soon mean to you. Having said this, I will nevertheless venture a guess and say that a global economic collapse is very likely to occur within the next 10 years. Personally, I believe it will happen much sooner. Specifically, my guess is that the U.S. Stock Market will crash in a matter of days or weeks at most and that the U.S. Government will be powerless to reverse it. This gargantuan event will be followed by massive unemployment in the U.S., by the disintegration of global markets, and finally by massive global unemployment. Unable to procure food, urbanites in every city of the world will starve to death and kill each other. Cannibalism is necessarily the last stage of a mass extinction. I justify these statements in this module.