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Economic, Climate & Religious Challenges – How Serious?

Talk given by Des Moore on November 23, 2011 to The Australian Club

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Crisis, crisis, crisis - almost everywhere we turn there is said to be a crisis. But does this mean we are seriously threatened by some event that we cannot avoid and, if so, what is the extent of damage that might occur to our lives? Or can we take action to prevent or limit that damage?

Today there are supposed serious threats to our economic well-being and even our very existence. First, from a major slow-down in economic growth or even a 1930s- type recession. Second, from a warming in temperatures that if not stopped quickly could eventually eliminate mankind. Third, from a group which seeks to either convert us to its religion or to eliminate those of us unwilling to accept that.

This is not the first time mankind has faced such threats and we should now be in a better position to respond to them. Many periods of recession or depression have been experienced with some involving panics and a complete absence of rational thinking. Despite all this living standards have continued to increase and have never been higher. And although there has been a similar long history of predictions of doom from floods and droughts, we have successfully emerged from the last so-called little ice age and are generally experiencing favourable natural conditions. On the religious side, there is also a long history of human battles centred around rival religious beliefs and these continue particularly in the Middle East. But historic differences within the western world have largely dissipated.

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