The world is a messy place these days. Social conflicts, global crises, countries fighting other countries, wars, politicians intent on escalating the situation instead of doing something constructive, and humanitarian sensibilities on the ground are all things we witness on a daily basis. This is why the questions and conspiracies of whether World War 3 is imminent or not are not that strange.
But, a question that might seem strange would be, is the human race actively wishing for the world to end? Do humans secretly want something as humongous and devastating as a World War to take place just so that the world as we know it can end?
Apparently, it is not as strange as one might think. Social media posts and even experts have commented on how true this is.
Do Humans Want The World To End?
A Reddit post made on r/collapse, titled “Romanticising the Apocalypse: Why We Secretly Wish the World Ends,” seems to address this.
The post links to a YouTube video by The Functional Melancholic, where the creator states that “Romanticising the apocalypse is less about destruction and more about permission to stop pretending you’re okay and stop performing a role and maybe stop being emotionally responsible for a society that abandoned you a long time ago… So you imagine an ending you know not because you want death but because you want peace actually…You can want the world to end and still love parts of it. You know the two aren’t mutually exclusive.
You can still want to torch the systems that hollowed you out and still get misty-eyed over your friend’s laugh. Or the way the sunlight hits that one cracked window in your kitchen at 4:23 pm in the month of June. Or maybe your old dog still thumps his tail when you say his name even though his legs barely work anymore.”
User wingedSherlock also wrote, “I expected flying cars I’ve long held the view that the only reason we don’t all pitch ourselves off a cliff at the impending doom that is collapse (and I include climate and societal collapse in equal measures) is the prospect of being finally free. All that humankind have achieved so far, all our societal structures, our real or imagined progress, also made us slaves – sometimes unbearably self-aware slaves – to said systems.
15,000 years ago, a single human living in a hunter-gatherer society had all the knowledge of how to survive, and a strong, capable body to boot. Imagine the joy of just being alive! Today, most of us rely on systems we never personally signed up for, and the price to pay is crippling conformity, with entertainment to get us through the day.
This “unlife” is absolutely not what we have evolved for, wired for. So I wouldn’t even call it “romanticising collapse”. It’s just a very normal, very natural yearning for freedom and authenticity.”
A Quora question called “Do you wish the world should end right now?” also received responses from people who wanted the world to end, as well as those who were at peace with its eventual end.
User Chantal Cao commented, “Yes, please! Save me the misery of having to be part of the next Great Depression. It sucks to know you grew up in the 90s when things were on crack and just swell…. then flash forward twenty years watching the world deteriorate.
Save me the misery of working for peanuts, being replaced by a millennial asshole at my job, raising spoiled children on IPads, the racism, and the discrimination of this society.
Please, I would love to get away from it all. My first option is to be on a desolate island away from everyone. However, somehow, somebody will use social media or a satellite to find me. You can never get away in peace unless the world blows up. Lol.
But as we all know, the only option is to have the world blow up. And no I don’t believe in terrorism, but the world we live in today does suck and makes you think.”
Read More: What Is Climate Anxiety And Why Does It Matter
Quora user J. Clay wrote, “Yes and no. But first, clarify what you mean by world…the earth, life, the universe. Every time we accept a new core belief, our world as we once knew it ends almost immediately.
It’s like believing in the Easter Bunny or believing a friend betrayed you. Your world would be completely different from here on out. So by that standard, yes, I like when my previous world ends because I’m slowly letting go of illusions. Nothing exists beyond its purpose.
The same will be for the Earth. Once we’ve learned what we need, there will be no need for the Earth. The “no” part of my answer comes from what we can’t end. Death has an ending, but life does not. We are life. Yet when we cling to a limited identity, the illusion of death exists. This is because we would grow tired of holding onto that limited identity. So it will die, but we will not.”
A 2022 Psychology Today report talked about the apocalypse narrative, writng, how it is “A paradox, but yet, in a world in which there is so much uncertainty and conflict, a belief in a fated and meaningful ‘end to all life’ might seem a more consoling option than a life lived without any kind of guiding narrative at all—a life of meaningless fragments that is itself a ‘great disappointment.'”
In an April 2025 report by Politics and Rights Review called “Does Humanity Have a Death Wish?” it states, “As we idly stand by in the face of possible ecological, economic and societal collapse, we must seriously question whether humankind is under the sway of a collective unconscious death wish.”
The report ominously writes, “Through our continued maltreatment and sullying of the Earth, we are slowly committing global suicide. Like a sadomasochist or a drug addict, we know that we are hurting ourselves, yet it just doesn’t move us to action.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Politics and Rights Review, Psychology Today, Quora
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: end of the world, world war three, breaking news, conflict zones, Foreign Policy, Gaza crisis, Global Affairs, global news, India Pakistan tensions, international conflict, International Relations, iran israel conflict, military tension, russia ukraine war, Terrorist attacks, ukraine war, viral theories, war and peace, world events, world politics, World War 3, apocalypse narrative, apocalypse addiction
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