Mike talks about peak oil – we are a ways away from that because of fracking. I just wrote an article on that Array Fracking.
Another view of oil – The End Of Petrotyranny.
Hydrogen Fuel Cells are coming along.
He is far too pessimistic in my view. He goes into the hockey stick of people but, he does not take into account the population peak due around 2050 due to demographics followed by a gentle decline.
He is pretty good on the financial collapse about 33:00 in.
At 43:00 – the people running the planet are losing control – that seems evident.
At 53:00 he talks about military decision making. Also how to survive the collapse. He is a prepper. He discusses North Korea and Cuba. He says everything will be local. That is an old American Communist trope from the 60s. As exemplified by Planet Drum. If you go to that page note Peter Berg. He once tried to recruit me. I was to out of control. He couldn’t run me. I’m still the same. I aim to misbehave.
He says community will save us. My community is here. Which is no where. I get by with a little help from my friends. On the Internet. He also discounts human ingenuity. Typical political science major. I’m an engineer. I’m way more optimistic. Way more.
What do I think about Mike these days? He has been co-opted by the oligarchy – the elite. The CIA. All he has is graphs and projections. I have seen the future. What do I think? Study of Endocannabinoids The Science will collapse the cost of medical care. That will free a big fraction of the current medical costs. If we can get the government out of the way. He discounts “infinite resources”. But we have a solar system available to us if we can figure out how to use it. Infinite? No. But a lot bigger resource pool than what we have now.
The book mentioned at the end:
A Presidential Energy Policy: Twenty-Five Points Addressing the Siamese Twins of Energy and Money
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
Comments
5 responses to “Collapse”
It’s true that some of the things that are currently global will become more local–like manufacturing and energy. Or at least more individualized, less centralized.
But, ironically, that will simply make them MORE global. Except that it will be the raw materials and information that travels the greatest distances, not so much actual energy and manufactured goods.
By the way, could you explain how “localism” was an “American Communist trope from the 60s”? I’ve never actually figured out how the two became linked, and it’s not clear to me from the Planet Drum site.
Neil,
I have no idea how they became associated. It was a “given”. The idea was that you should adapt to your local environment. We weren’t “made” to eat food not from our local area. It was unhealthful. Modern farming was evil.
I never bought into that. But I kept my mouth shut. It saved arguments.
That was in the “back to the land” days of the hippie era. Cities were unhealthful.
Ah, gotcha. It came from the hippie commune “get away from society to create a better society” thing. I thought you meant from the actual CPUSA folks. My best guess has always been that the hippie culture generated that as part of the whole Rousseau-ian “noble savage” ideal. Then the SDS crowd adopted it because it was essential for co-opting the hippies, and found that it suited their purposes marvelously.
That’s my guess, anyway.
Neil,
That would be my guess too. An “organic” movement was to be used as a means of control.