I do feel quite certain that society as we know it is on the brink of profound changes. To some, that MIGHT seem like the end of the world.
When you consider our dependence on oil, enviromental changes that are already starting (and probably beyond our control anyway), and just human nature in general, I think that it is not unthinkable that we will have a police state or other unpleasant form of society in the future.
We were actually talking about this earlier this week... if Ivan slammed into Florida, which believe me, we are already limping from the past two storms, we would *need* to be under martial law for a while. People would be freaking out.
We've become soft, Mother Nature is a raging bitch, and people who have power don't like giving it up. It wouldn't take too many more category 5 storms, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc for our society to crumble.
BTW, I don't subscribe to any doomsday scenarios. I just think that all the factors are coming together for society as we know it to change pretty drastically in the next decade.