It's not the end, it's a transition. Western civilization is under attack from chaotic elements within its own body, who are driven by what is at base a suicidal impulse. They will cripple Western civilization, and the world will slip down to a lower level of technology. The human population will shrink because it will no longer be able to feed itself, but it will not disappear. The elite who believe they will still be running things will lose their power and end up cast down with the rest of us. My guess is that world civilization will regress to a pre-technological level, but not to a pre-industrial level. However, illiteracy will be widespread. Most people will live their entire lives unable to read a book. Forget going into space, forget fusion power, forget medical immortality, because none of those things and things like them are going to happen in the new Dark Age that is coming upon us. The good news is that the transition will be so slow, most people will not even realize it is happening. When they get old, they may look back and say, "You know, things were better when I was a child." And they will be right. We stood on the doorstep of colonizing our solar system. But we blinked and took a step back. We lost what may have been humanity's only chance to progress beyond where we are now. From here on, we regress. How long will the new Dark Age last? It could be centuries. It could be thousands of years. Or it could be forever.