Some might fabricate noble end/goals to justify wicked means

 Aren't the means in 'end justifies the means' scenarios, ends-for-themselves?

Since asking this question I realized that some could use the end simply to justify the means. Means that are dubiously moral could be excused so far as PR goes if attached to some noble end such as creating Utopia. Until the Utopia or whatever is actualized any sort of ruthless means could be justified or propped up with reference to the goal that is the end.

An example would be that means or methods A through B are wicked, yet the noble and very important goal/end #5 is of great social importance.

A + B+ C + D = 5 is morally acceptable for those that believe the end justifies the means when it is true

however

If A + B + C + D ≠ 5, or A + B+ C + D does not add up to produce goal/end 5 it is immoral.

I would guess that is an example of consequential from one point of view.

Practically speaking though if one has a fine goal of such importance that it allows all manner of crime or political fascism as means to accomplish then many people enjoying the luxury of superior felony-edge over their fellow human might just make up noble ends to justify their crooked or evil means.

Concerning the 'when' of the collapse of the world

 Too many answers that are somewhat superfluous to choose from for an answer on the topic of when the world will collapse. The world could be compared to a souffle’ that is on the brink of collapse, yet it might be more like a lemon meringue pie with the frilly stuff actually somewhat solid or foamy in the better cases, and that could be compared to the inner Earth with various levels of hot stone running toward magma and deep within a nickel iron core of chewy nougat for science fiction league extra-terrestrial mole-mining engines from deep space. One might prefer something more serious than the house of cards kind of thing though.

There is apparently 3x the water in the oceans located 400 miles down in the Earth’s transition zone. Not much danger of the plates floating over convection currents to deflate like an air mattress floating on the ocean though. So one can move on from that.

Scientists discover an ocean 400 miles beneath our feet that could fill our oceans three times over - ExtremeTech

After decades of theorizing and searching, scientists are reporting that they've finally found a massive reservoir of water in the Earth's mantle -- a reservoir so vast that could fill the Earth's oceans three times over. As always, the more we understand about how the Earth formed, and how its multitude of interior layers continue to function, the more accurately we can predict the future. Weather, sea levels, climate change -- these are all closely linked to the tectonic activity that endlessly churns away beneath our feet.

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/184564-scientists-discover-an-ocean-400-miles-beneath-our-feet-that-could-fill-our-oceans-three-times-over

If the world is entangled massless particles in the Higgs field that have a relative third dimension because they slow to sub-light speed in the viscous cosmologically constant gooeyness of it- it might be compared to hand sanitizer gel I suppose, then the world and Universe could collapse from three dimensions to two any second now. One can be certain or precise about that obviously; time is just an apparent quality of the three dimensional mass moving or jostling about in the Higgs field, thus for massless particles not trapped into being mass time may not exist. That brings up all kinds of questions plainly concerning what the Higgs field is in-itself and why does it have time at all.

If time does not exist for zero-dimension points believed to be the foundation of matter when it is energy before it expands or something into one-dimension strings, how can they ever exist for a moment. If time does not exist for zero-dimension points of energy that is something to consider as it pertains to the ‘whenness’ of the collapse of the Universe and the place called the firmament or stardusty-clumped planet Y’Earth.

It might be better to consider the planetary economy and the voracious consumption of natural resources going on by the 8 billion people living in-the-word and of it- a collapse of the resource base and global economy could happen by the turn of the century or sooner through various kinds of military conflict or viral wmds. Optimistically though the planet might return to some new general Christian ethics and try to repair the damage its caused to the Environment, to the poor and others living on Earth. Perhaps that is unlikely yet it isn’t impossible.

With very good sense and intelligence that allows better political ideas and social coordination the people of the world might just squeak through hard times ahead in the next two centuries with new means of food production in zero gravity food-growing bubbles with potatoes the size of Manhattan or Rhode Island being grown like vast centrist fungal planets in forests underground, dehydrated and sent to Earth if special delivery packages that won’t burn up in the atmosphere. Anything is possible really. Otherwise James Lovelock and Jacques Cousteau each said humanity had about 200 or 300 years to go before the collapse of the bubble of human civilization.

If Russia hadn't sold Alaska- what Alaska would be today

 If Russia hadn’t sold Alaska to the United States…what an interesting question of alternative history. Russia sold Alaska to the United States to prevent the British from getting it. That was a good idea for Britain with Alaska in their royal swag bag could have attacked Russia through Siberia across the Bering Strait.

By the year 1867 Russia promyshlenniki had taken most of the valuable furs that were easily accessible. The United States with its victory over the confederacy was still young and energetic with an expanding economy. Russia ended its own slavery-like institution of serfdom right after the ending of slavery in the U.S.A., and Britain had supported the southern states in the U.S. civil war; since Russia couldn’t very well afford to defend on Eastern and Western frontiers the Tsar probably thought it was better to have an ally with the U.S.A. rather than an opponent or worse- Brits, on the Eastern front.

European history and politics of an alternative nature based on real history is beyond the scope of my comment. I am no expert on European history either. One observes the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 and the growing power of neo-Germany that might have been a concern of Russia that was not misplaced. Germany defeated the Tsar’s Russian army in 1914 rather swiftly in 1914 leading the way to end Russian aristocracy and enabling the rise of the Red Bolsheviki (if I may use that term).

England and Germany were great industrial powers presenting a grim specter to the west of dark clouds of war sometime in the future. France actually made and donated the Statue of Liberty during the 1870s after the loss to Prussia. Alaska was a better gift providing needed cash.

Russian entry into World War I

Russia entered World War I in the three days succeeding July 28, 1914 — beginning with Austria-Hungary 's declaration of war against Serbia , a Russian ally. Via St Petersburg , the Russian Empire sent an ultimatum to Vienna warning Austria-Hungary not to attack Serbia. Following the invasion of Serbia, Russia began to mobilize its very large reserve army. Consequently, on July 31, the German Empire in Berlin demanded Russian demobilization. There was no response; hence, on the same day, Germany declared war on Russia. In accordance with its war plan, Germany ignored Russia and moved first against France by declaring war on August 3, and by sending its main armies through Belgium to surround Paris. The threat to France caused Britain to declare war on Germany on August 4. The main belligerents had been established. (The Ottoman Empire soon joined the Central Powers and fought Russia along their border.) Historians researching the causes of World War I have emphasised the role of Germany and Austria-Hungary. Scholarly consensus has typically minimised Russian involvement in the outbreak of this mass conflict. Key elements were Russia's defence of Orthodox Serbia , its pan-Slavic roles, its treaty obligations with France, and its concern with protecting its status as a great power. However, historian Sean McMeekin has emphasised Russian plans to expand its empire southward and to seize Constantinople as an outlet to the Mediterranean Sea. [1] Archduke Franz Ferdinand , heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated by Bosnian Serbs on 28 June 1914 due to Austria-Hungary's annexation of the largely Slavic province. Vienna was unable to find evidence that the Serbian state had sponsored this assassination but, one month later, it issued an ultimatum to Serbia , which it knew would be rejected and thus lead to war. Austria-Hungary deemed Serbia to be deserving of punishment for the assassination. Although Russia had no formal treaty obligation to Serbia, it wanted to control the Balkans, and had a long-term perspective toward gaining a military advantage over Germany and Austria-Hungary. Russia had incentive to delay militarization, and the majority of its leaders wanted to avoid war. However, Russia had the support of France and feared that a failure to defend Serbia would lead to the loss of Russian credibility, constituting a major political defeat in its goal of controlling the Balkans. [2] Tsar Nicholas II mobilized Russian forces on 30 July 1914 to threaten Austria-Hungary if it invaded Serbia. Christopher Clark stated: "The Russian general mobilisation [of 30 July] was one of the most momentous decisions of the July crisis ". The first general mobilization occurred before the German government had declared a state of impending war. [3] Germany felt threatened by Russia, responding with its own mobilization and a declaration of war on 1 August 1914. At the outset of hostilities, Russian forces led offensives against both Germany and Austr

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_entry_into_World_War_I

I don’t believe the history of Alaska reasonably could have gone another way than it did unless at some earlier time Napoleon and Suvarov and become one force with Tsarina Catherine the Great and Napoleon able to get along and together dominate all of northern Eurasia extending to North America destroying the British in the process and letting Canada join the U.S.A. as five or six new states. In that case Russia would have probably kept Alaska and built a bridge or Causeway long ago affecting global warming earlier by stopping the flow of cool Arctic water south in that part of the world. Instead Napoleon spent his time avoiding a battle with Suvarov (who retired undefeated) and the rest is history.

In reply to 'did capitalism build civilization?'

The historian Arnold Toynbee wrote that 23 civilizations have existed in world history. One could argue that some ancient ones existed for reasons other than monetary policy or the form of economy reasonably well in some of the ancient empires like that of Sumeria and Egypt, or rather, the form of social organization was more important than a free market. When kings, emperors and royals owned everything trade and work still occurred yet there was sometimes no middle class of capitalists building up their wealth ; many people were still slaves. Political liberation and freedom from idol worship needed to develop before people could conduct their lives in civilization with more autonomy.

One might alternatively argue rather realistically that capital is anything of value, so a social order that increases to reach a level recognized as a civilization implicitly had to build up capital in the form of structures, people, ideas, culture etc. The state and political economy may have many forms of production, ownership, political power, allocation of resources. Exclusivity can take many forms too- even socialism and communism have elements of exclusivity in economics.

Toynbee in his last major work wrote that there is just one world civilization today. It has a lot of capital.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2lJUOv0hLA fall of Summeria

Is the U.S.A. keeping up in the big weapons race for the assurance of mutual destruction

 So far as I know the U.S.A. has been developing rail-guns since 1990. The navy has some prototypes that are advanced.

The concept of big weapons does provide some amusing images to consider though. Imagine a vast rail gun of a thousand miles in length set against Chinese and Russian rail guns of a similar size and placed a few hundred yards apart pointing at one another- a speed-of-light blast when they went off with the logic of kings.

Hypersonic missiles? Who knows, the world may be saturated with self-driving drones able to deliver all manner of hurt one of these days, unfortunately. Getting to the point of empowerment fast is obviously prestigious- like winning an auto race where one can destroy the opponents- lasers are fairly quick too and can be repurposed as flashlights for energy efficiency.

Governments/organizations with the temptation to censor

 I believe governments tend to do what they want to do when they can get away with it. China for example has progressively rolled back Hong Kong’s political liberty giving it the coup de grace with the requirement that anyone running for office must be patriotic as defined, presumably by the CPC.

Beijing backs plan to tighten control over Hong Kong’s electoral system

National People’s Congress closes plenary session by approving changes that expand control of Beijing-friendly forces over Hong Kong’s political structure.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3125071/details-chinese-legislatures-changes-hong-kongs-elections

Governments are just social organizations, although Louis the XIV said L'etat c'est moi. Political organizations that really want something will cheat to get it, or whatever it takes. If suppressing free speech would help then they will repress free speech. What is compelling is defined sometimes by the organization with the compulsion.

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4175030 hotline to report cultural 'nihilism' on the internet in China

If the coconut cream pie cooling down that looks so fine is compelling enough someone may bust their budget to afford a slice. Power isn’t much use to some unless it is employed to procure advantage and more power. It is comparable to big body gravity that often will not quit harassing less quantitative clumps of mass.

If the Communist Party of China is increasing in power along with the economy and it has Corporate Plutocrat Collusion to in it each may find it useful to repress political speech that would differ, dissent or diverge from their corporate and collective agenda. So one must hope they are or become at least God-fearing environmentally minded tyrants if nothing else.

Illegal migration to the U.S.A. has been a problem for quite a few decades

 Immigration was an issue during the Reagan administration. Out of control borders concerned U.S. citizens even then- they make a mockery of political self-determination and make congressional controls over immigration irrelevant. Therefore the U.S. congress attempted without much luck to fix the problem in 1986 with legislation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Reform_and_Control_Act_of_1986

I was concerned myself with the illegal immigration problem because I repainted home exteriors and illegal aliens were direct competition. U.S. winters put an end to painting seasonally in the north so I rode a bicycle across the southern states look for homes to paint.

I would see hundreds of illegal migrants on street corners in Phoenix and couldn’t get any work myself even at labor ready where I could sit around all day if I wanted. In South Carolina I repainted a home that had a new paint job on it the year before with the best Sherwin-WIlliams exterior paint (Duration I believe it was) that had failed and the paint peeled off in sheets. The problem was that a contractor had hired five illegal aliens to prep and pressure wash the structure that didn’t know what they were doing and worked cheap. They washed the building and it was smooth yet the heavily sub-oxidized dusty paint remained on the house and the contractor sprayed over that so it came off. I did all the work myself in fixing the mess, and used emulsa-bond paint additive to soak through the dusty paint and let new self-priming paint from Lowes that I used adhere well.

Illegal aliens were a problem going back at least to the 1980s when I worked for a while in Oregon and was a member of the national guard for a time. Down the highway in central America there was a civil war or two going on and the threat of communist travelling north was present. Of course President Reagan probably sought to balance the issue of allowing in communist guerillas to the U.S.A. through lax border security with the tradition wish of capitalists to make a profit exploiting cheap labor- and what is better than illegal labor that can’t agitate much for pay increases or unionizing.

Oregon was saturated with illegal aliens and ICE would make some large scale arrests now and then such as one underground mushroom growing factory that had 30 illegals arrested. There were sensational crimes such as when one illegal alien strangled to death a pair of nuns with their crucifixes that brought some public notice of the presence of illegal non-citizens free to wander across the border, commit crimes and disappear into the shadows and jungles of who knows where.

My concern today isn’t much about direct competition with illegal workers so much as the overpopulation of the nation (320 million). I remember when it had 160 million citizens and I liked it better. I had Mexican friends growing up in school and it really isn’t about racism with me at least- it is about too many people, too much cheap labor and the failure of the government to adapt to the declining ecosphere and limited natural resources and work for an ecological economic transformation to sustainability. There needs to be coordination with repairing the social structure of the nation so there are no people forever oppressed to live in poverty structurally without medical, dental or cheap patenting prospects.

I should stipulate that at this point in history I think that the U.S. democracy is largely dead. What seems to have replace it and made it into an economic platform without nationhood is the Chinese Communist Party and Corporate Plutocrat Collusion. Those CPCs pursue materialism in an inhuman sort of way with repression of civil rights and individualism useful tools for their empowerment.