That's the big lie, "society" doesn't have to collapse, it already has. Crushed under the weight of parasites it became too weak to shake off, now, shackled to the millstone it once built, most of humanity moves mindlessly by coercion rather than with cohesion and purpose.

The threat looming, and what people like Randal wet their panties at the thought of, is systemic collapse. The systems society built to provide survival needs and comfort are still currently rolling even after the death of their creators. But the parasites siphoning off resources that should go into maintenance, to instead get personally fat and keep retightening the shackles is leading them into disrepair. On our current trajectory systemic collapse is inevitable, the timeline is the only debatable point.

Rekindling a cohesive society and throwing off the parasites holding the coercive reins does not necessitate systemic collapse. People aren't going to forget how to make medicine or run power plants just because you take the shackles off them. But systemic collapse will necessitate the rekindling of cohesive societies to survive in the absence of systemic safety nets.

So that's the fork in the road. The optimists will hope humanity is on average smart and strong enough to lurch away from the oncoming pitfall once it finally becomes obvious enough. Whilst the pessimists will think humanity is too fat and indolent to do anything before it's too late, and will have to starve for a while in the pit before it is lean enough to climb out again. And the idiots will think nothing is wrong.