Resurgence of a new dark age

A disconcerting series of political and economic failures will cause increased suffering and alienation of the lower classes of the Western world. Members of all social classes are likely to become more attached to religious beliefs offering personal salvation as Western optimism succumbs to a failure of nerve, a loss of faith in established secular ideals and institutions not unlike that which was experienced in the late Roman empire. Increasingly the South will also pose a severe threat to the West, as it rapidly overruns its ecological carrying capacity. The likelihood that survivalist groups, mystical cults, political demagogues, and the power of military forces will thrive in sch a social climate has led some futurists to envision a coming "dark age".