QE: Is This The End of the World As We Know It? Christopher Gaiser Section 007

QE: Is This The End of the World As We Know It? 

Question Everything is a collection of articles written in The Stone, the philosophical section of The NY Times. 

The section concerning this blog post is "Is This the End of the World As We Know It?" 

What a question... my answer is an enthusiastic "maybe!" History is full of horrible statistics about swaths of people who have met terrible ends at the hands of forces beyond their control. Believing that we are less mortal than millions of people before us is naive and arrogant, but why should that spoil the fun? Learn to die, then live your life until death comes for you in whatever form it arrives.

How to Be a Prophet of Doom by Alison McQueen

Alison McQueen focuses on the existential terror of nuclear war. Since the Cold War and duck-and-cover drills, more psychological theater than real protection. We’ve lived in a world where total annihilation is one miscalculation away.

She draws on the work of Hans J. Morgenthau and his essay “Death in a Nuclear Age.” Morgenthau argues that nuclear war doesn’t just kill people, it destroys the meaning of death. There’s no nobility in mass incineration. Leonidas died at Thermopylae with honor; Socrates drank hemlock with dignity. But there’s no glory in being vaporized anonymously with 50 million others.

In a nuclear scenario, not only do we die, but there’s no one left to remember us. In a secular age, where remembrance replaces religious afterlife, even that vanishes. Death becomes meaningless. McQueen forces us to consider: if even the idea of dying well is gone, what does that do to how we live?

To Philosophize Is to Learn How to Die by Simon Critchley

Simon Critchley continues this line of thought by arguing that modern society hides from death. COVID-19 shattered that illusion. For many, it was their first close encounter with mortality.

Critchley pulls from philosophers like Montaigne and Heidegger, who believed that to live well, one must learn to accept death. He suggests we shouldn't chase control, but embrace unpredictability. This isn’t just poetic, it’s practical. When we accept that we’re going to die, we stop wasting energy pretending otherwise.

COVID-19 was, for many, a wake-up call. It pulled back the curtain on just how fragile life is, especially for those in wealthy countries who’d managed to stay insulated from suffering. Personally, I think people can inoculate themselves against the fear of death pragmatically, through reflection and exposure, rather than avoidance.

Our Cruel Treatment of Animals Led to the Coronavirus — David Benatar

Benatar argues that the pandemic wasn’t just an accident of nature; it was a product of our behavior. From wet markets to factory farms, our mistreatment of animals creates the conditions for disease.

He notes that HIV came from primates, mad cow disease from poor cattle farming, and COVID-19 may have emerged from a live animal market. (While some of these comparisons aren’t biologically equivalent, prions and viruses don’t respond to antibiotics; the overall point stands: we are reckless.)

His deeper point is moral: if we treat animals with more respect, perhaps we’d start treating humans better, too. If we shift how we relate to life itself, that might ripple outward.

He ends by saying that it may feel harsh to bring this up during a crisis, but not saying it would be worse. His quote sums it up:

“Even self-interest is an imperfect motivator... we display remarkably little wisdom, even of a prudential kind.”

My Own Reflections

So, is this the end of the world as we know it?

Maybe.

But that doesn’t mean despair. Philosophy doesn’t offer perfect answers, but it does offer better questions. And maybe that's enough to help us face whatever comes next.

Learning to Die, Accepting Death Rather than Trying to Master It

Stories about accepting death and the futility of trying to escape it exist in every culture. 

A very contemporary example is JK Rowling's Tale of the Three Brothers featured in the final Harry Potter movie and book. 

This cautionary children's tale is to me a modern parable about death. This ties directly into the philosophical idea that learning to die is essential to living well. The third brother doesn’t deny death or obsess over it; he simply lives his life fully and without fear. In contrast, Voldemort’s entire arc is a cautionary tale about the terror of death. He seeks immortality through horcruxes, domination, and control, but in doing so, he loses his soul literally and figuratively. Harry, on the other hand, accepts the possibility of death and willingly walks into it to save others. That act, rooted in courage and acceptance,  ultimately defeats Voldemort. Rowling’s world reinforces the ancient truth: peace isn’t found in avoiding death, but in understanding and embracing its place in the human experience.\

Kisa Gotami - The Buddhist Parable on Death and Loss

One of the most profound lessons about accepting death comes from an ancient Buddhist parable the story of Kisa Gotami. After losing her only child, Kisa was overwhelmed by grief and wandered the village, begging for someone to bring him back to life. She eventually approached the Buddha, who promised to help her, but only if she could find a single mustard seed from a household that had never experienced death. With hope in her heart, she went door to door. But at every home, she heard stories of loss: parents, siblings, children, friends. Slowly, she came to understand that death touches everyone. Her grief didn’t vanish, but it transformed. She no longer saw herself as singled out by suffering, but part of a shared human experience.

This story isn’t about erasing sorrow. It’s about realizing that trying to escape death or pretending it’s avoidable only deepens pain. True peace comes from recognizing the universality of loss and learning to live with it. The Buddha didn’t teach her how to bring back the dead; he taught her how to stop demanding that life be something it’s not.

This ties back into my earlier point about inoculating oneself against the fear of death through reflection and exposure. Unfortunately for Kisa Gotami, that lesson came only after devastating personal loss. But not everyone needs to wait for tragedy to learn how to live with mortality. By choosing a vocation or engaging in service that puts you in contact with human suffering, such as joining the Peace Corps, volunteering at a nursing home, or spending time with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, you begin to build a quiet familiarity with life’s limits.

Rather than shielding ourselves from pain or death, these experiences slowly teach us that suffering is part of the human condition. They don’t make death easier, but they make it less alien. In this way, we can learn to die—not by growing numb, but by cultivating compassion, humility, and resilience in the face of what is inevitable.

Concluding Thoughts 

All of the articles I summarized and reflected on from The Stone speak of apocalyptic scenarios and disasters that could potentially end the world "as we know it." But do we truly understand what that means? The phrase doesn’t necessarily imply total extinction — it suggests a transformation, a point of no return in how we live, relate, and think. Whether it’s nuclear war, pandemics, ecological collapse, or the moral decay that comes from fear and denial, the world may indeed be shifting beneath our feet.

But the solution isn’t panic — it’s awareness. As many of these philosophers argue, the way forward isn’t through control, denial, or retreat into comfort. It’s through facing death, chaos, and change with clarity and acceptance. Learning to die, as strange as that sounds may be the first step in learning how to live wisely.

If this is the end of the world as we know it, maybe that’s not entirely a bad thing. Maybe what comes next depends on how courageously we meet the truth of our mortality — and how willing we are to help each other live meaningfully in the face of it.

Epilogue 

Some songs that I like that fit well into the discussed themes.

The first is the classic Billy Joel song We Didn't Start the Fire then the second is Fall Out Boy's modernized cover of it.