AssertUtf8: ä
Name: PopulationMinimum
Year: 2094
Title: The World in Crisis
Short: The world population hits its lowest point of 6.3 billion in 2094, twenty-four years after The Crash of 2070, a catastrophic event that precipitated a collapse of global technology and subsequent enduring crisis.
Headline: "Global Population Tumbles: Crisis Point Reached at 6.3 Billion Amid Technological Collapse Aftermath"
Post: "2094 Global Population Hits Crisis Low of 6.3 Billion in 2094 Following Technology Collapse. The world population hits its lowest point of 6.3 billion in 2094, twenty-four years after The Crash of 2070, a catastrophic event that precipitated a collapse of global technology and subsequent enduring crisis... more: http://jmp1.de/e2094"
Image: en_2094_PopulationMinimum.jpg
Author: Heiner Wolf
Translation: Heiner Wolf
Tags: [Population crisis, Technological Collapse, Global Population, The Crash, Economic Crisis]
Topics: [statistics]
Text: |
  By 2094, the world was a starkly different place, following a catastrophic event known as The Crash in 2070, which led to a worldwide technological breakdown, disrupting networks and state structures. "The Crash", also led to an enormous decrease in the global population, plunging to a low of 6.3 billion. This crisis point marks the depth of a societal and economic upheaval that has reshaped humanity's way of life. Only a few resilient enclaves managed to withstand the crisis. The Crash, a consequence of over-reliance on complex, layered technologies, global markets, and intricate production chains, sent the world into a spiraling crisis that would last for decades.
  Before the crash, starting in 2040, humanity had embarked on a global climate engineering project called SPICE (Stratospheric Particle Injection for Climate Engineering). The project managed to lower the global temperature by two degrees by 2060. However, the aerosols used in the process were not permanent, lasting only a few years, and keeping the climate engineering program operational required significant resources. When an economic crisis struck, funding for the program evaporated. Consequently, within five years, global temperatures spiked by an additional 1.5 degrees and up to 4 degrees in some regions, compounding the already dire situation.
  The Crash was primarily due to the hyper-specialization of technology, a situation where no single individual could create an entire device or system. This, combined with layered technologies, where one technology is dependent on several others, created a fragile global technological infrastructure prone to collapse. Furthermore, invaluable knowledge and skills became trapped in digital libraries, which were rendered inaccessible after the crash. The high-tech tools needed to access this knowledge were themselves locked within the now unreadable archives, and without renewal, these digital archives decayed, resulting in a permanent loss within 20 to 40 years. 
  The high-tech global markets and production chains also collapsed, unable to sustain their operations due to the decrease in consumers and difficulties in transporting goods over long distances. The Crash led to the fragmentation of global markets, drastically affecting the production of high-tech products. The necessary investments for such products became unfeasible in a world with fewer consumers and less capital. The extended supply chains, once a hallmark of a global market, disintegrated as international trade dwindled.
  Among the chaos, a data conservator named Chotoveli emerged as a beacon of hope. Prior to The Crash, Chotoveli had been a distinguished data scientist, renowned for his ground-breaking work in digital preservation techniques. When the world's technological infrastructure began to crumble, Chotoveli, utilizing his expertise, managed to salvage and protect a substantial amount of critical digital data. His tireless efforts during and after The Crash ensured that a vast wealth of knowledge was not lost forever, becoming a crucial asset for humanity's recovery.
  Equally significant was Zaza Wachtang, who operated the IT center ROBOit in Georgia during the Crash. She preserved IT hardware, hardware designs, software, and source codes, her team working relentlessly to repair and reactivate IT systems. Through maintaining the ROBOit knowledge base, she contributed significantly to overcoming the crisis in the Caucasus region. Tragically, Wachtang was killed in 2081 while defending ROBOit against looters.
  The situation in near-Earth space was equally grim. By 2076, a collection of modules from various international space stations, cut off from Earth due to the Crash, had formed a cluster known as "Dher" (Hindi for heap or junkyard). Without ground support, these stations faced severe challenges, from system failures to dwindling supplies. The brave scientists and engineers aboard had to rely on their ingenuity and adaptability to survive, repurposing available materials, recycling waste, and growing food in microgravity conditions.
  As humanity grappled with the fallout, state structures and networks slowly started to re-emerge between 2072 and 2115. It was during this period that the North European countries, although hit hard by The Crash, found an unexpected respite in the altered climate. The global temperature spike, while causing havoc in many parts of the world, created a milder and more manageable climate in the north. Where others faced temperature extremes and droughts, these nations found themselves in a comparatively beneficial situation.
  During this period, a new belief system, Yksityiskohta (also known as Yksityis), which emphasized the individual and the common good emanating from many independent individuals, gained prominence. This belief system emerged in Northern Europe, one of the most developed regions on Earth in the mid-21st century and thus heavily affected by the technological fallout. With larger organizations unable to provide support, people turned to their own abilities and resources, leading to a shift away from organized religions. Yksityiskohta, combining elements of the Gaia hypothesis, nativism, and Shinto kami, resonated with the people's new reality. Its emphasis on self-reliance and self-organization allowed a traumatized population to reclaim a sense of agency and control over their lives.
  The Crash and its fallout had indeed resulted in a significant loss of life and a decline in living standards. The year 2094 stands as a grim milestone in humanity's timeline, marking the lowest ebb of the world population in the aftermath of the Crash. It symbolizes the harsh consequences of over-reliance on technology and the fragility of our global systems. 
  By 2120, the global per capita social product managed to reach pre-crisis levels, but the world population hitting a low of 6.3 billion in 2094, was slow to recover.