世界似乎确信末日将至——而社交媒体正在放大这种信念，说服人们囤积食物、水、发电机和其他物品。
The world seems convinced the end is near— and social media is amplifying that belief, convincing people to stock up on food, water, generators and other items. Why it matters:
为何重要：网络讨论正在助长关于社会崩溃的病毒式预测，这发生在人们对未来日益不安的背景下。但你明天大概率不会死。
Online chatter is fueling viral predictions of societal collapse amid growing unease about the future. But you're probably not going to die tomorrow. What they're saying:
他们怎么说：肯特大学研究员迈克尔·米尔斯研究末日备灾已逾十年，他告诉 Axios，现代末日恐惧不一定关乎某个具体的启示录场景。
Michael Mills, a researcher at the University of Kent who has studied doomsday prepping for more than a decade, told Axios that modern doomsday fears aren't necessarily about a specific apocalyptic scenario.
- “在大多数情况下，这是对不确定性的整体反应，”米尔斯说。
• "It's an overall reaction to uncertainty in most cases," Mills said.
- 他指出，冷战时期的生存主义者往往聚焦于核冲突，而现代备灾者担心恐怖主义、气候灾难、地缘政治威胁和新兴技术。
• He noted that whereas Cold War-era survivalists were often focused on nuclear conflict, modern preppers worry about terrorism, climate disasters, geopolitical threats and emerging technologies.
- 他将现代心态描述为“对不确定性的多重担忧”。
• He described the modern mindset as a "multifaceted concern with uncertainty."
事态发展：病毒式帖子反复敦促世界各地民众囤积食物和水，此前各国政府发布过类似建议，前联邦调查局副局长丹·邦吉诺也发出过警告。
State of play: Viral posts have repeatedly urged people around the world to stock up on food and water, following similar recommendations from various governments and warnings from former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino.
- 事态关注度高到总统特朗普周一在采访中被问及此事。他说美国人不需要囤积物资，因为美国“状况良好。我们很强大。我们拥有强大的军队，不会遇到那种问题。”
• The situation has gotten so buzzy that President Trump was asked about it in an interview Monday. He said Americans don't need to stock up because the U.S. is "in good shape. We're strong. We have a great military and we will not have those kind of problems."
- 另外，拥有 1790 万 X 平台粉丝的保守派评论员塔克·卡尔森周日晚间发布长文，指控以色列总理内塔尼亚胡正施压特朗普在中期选举后重启对伊朗的袭击，可能动用核武器。顺便说一句，卡尔森一直在预测类似的末日场景，而且之前预测过错。
• Separately, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson — a man with 17.9 million followers on X alone — published a lengthy post Sunday evening alleging that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pressuring Trump to launch renewed attacks on Iran after the midterms, potentially with a nuclear weapon. For what it's worth, Carlson has been predicting similar doomsday scenarios for a while, and he's been wrong before.
- 五角大楼新曝光的计划要求美军基地做好准备，在没有外部支援的情况下至少运作 90 天，这让一些人感到恐慌，不禁发问：“政府到底知道什么内情却不告诉我们？”
• And the Pentagon's newly reported plan calls for U.S. military bases to prepare to operate without outside support for at least 90 days, terrifying some people into asking, "What's the government know that they're not telling us?" The big picture:
大局观：对财务不安全感的担忧、医疗费用飙升、缺乏应急储蓄，以及年轻一代被认为买不起房，所有这些因素共同加剧了“生活不妙”的感觉。
Worries about financial insecurity skyrocketing health care costs a lack of rainy-day savings and younger generations' perceived inability to buy a house all contribute to the feeling that life is not okay.
- 然后是人工智能，它可能削减数千个工作岗位，助长网络攻击，或协助制造危险且可能致命的生物疾病。
• Then you've got AI, which could cut thousands of jobs, enable a cyberattack or help engineer a dangerous, and potentially deadly, biological disease.
- 再就是地缘政治局势：战争、种族灭绝以及全球战争的可能性，因为中国持续威胁台湾，且传闻四起，称美国和以色列将通过新一轮袭击重燃伊朗战争。
• And then there's the geopolitical situation: wars, genocide and the possibility of global warfare as China continues to threaten Taiwan and rumors abound that the U.S. and Israel will reignite the Iran war with a fresh round of attacks.
聚焦：政治不确定性也会助长末日预言文化，尤其是在重大选举前后。• 米尔斯将备灾运动描述为历史上偏向右翼，在奥巴马和拜登政府期间恐惧感上升，而在特朗普 2016 年获胜后，部分备灾者的恐惧感有所缓解。
Zoom in: Political uncertainty can also fuel doomsday prediction culture, particularly around major elections • Mills described the prepper movement as historically right-leaning, with fears increasing during the Obama and Biden administrations and subsiding among some preppers after Trump's 2016 victory.
- 米尔斯表示：“在选举期间，‘往往让人觉得一切都岌岌可危……我们不知道这些竞争会向哪个方向发展，因此这种不确定性自然会升温。’”
• During elections, "where it can often seem that everything is at stake... we don't know which way those contests are going to go and so naturally that uncertainty kind of flares up," Mills said. Reality check:
现实核查：为灾难做准备并不等于你是阴谋论者。政府通常会警示民众潜在灾害，例如建议在飓风来临前撤离。
Preparing for a catastrophe doesn't make you a conspiracy theorist. Governments commonly warn people about potential disasters, like advising them to evacuate before a hurricane.
- 米尔斯区分了常规应急准备与备灾行动，后者通常涉及为持续数周或数月、有时甚至更久的灾难做准备。
• Mills distinguishes ordinary emergency readiness from prepping, which typically involves preparing for disasters lasting weeks or months, sometimes longer.
核心结论：没人知道下一场灾难（如果有的话）会是什么。
The bottom line: Nobody knows what catastrophe, if any, might come next.
- 但有备无患、储备足以应付断电几天的物资，能让身处黑暗中稍微不那么恐惧。
• But feeling prepared and stocking up for a couple of days without power can make sitting in the dark a little less scary.