The red line is adjusted for inflation.
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Currency devaluation rose spectacularly in the early 1970s. I wonder why? Could it be because US peak oil was in 1970?
---Futilitist
The red line is adjusted for inflation.
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Why will they likely be poorer? Peak oil perhaps?
Farmers will have dirt and sun, but no fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, or fuel for their tractors. Some people will still farm, of course, but overall yields will be around 30% of what they are now.
Most people will starve.
Maybe you will be lucky and survive. But most people will not have the options you have. Those people will be dangerous to you and your family.
That is silly. There weren't as many people before we had gas-powered delivery trucks. Now we are reliant on them.
As an exercise, ask yourself why we don't survive on solar energy only right now.
You make it sound so simple.
1. No, it doesn't. It assumes correctly that alternatives will fall short of requirements. They currently do.
And a crisis could start any day now.
2. No, it doesn't. It assumes that the price will rise rapidly to unaffordable levels.
The population grew while energy was cheap. Population growth is now slowing because energy is getting more expensive. It is a bad sign, not a good one.
Then you will be very pleased by how fast the scales will rebalance.
Then why have we been wasting our time these last few centuries developing fossil fuels?
Once again, your imaginary solar civilization does not exist today and we are about to have a crisis. We will not be able to adapt fast enough even if your vision for the future were possible, which it is not.
That won't be necessary.
Several reasons. More expensive energy will, in general, reduce the standard of living. Before the population peaks around the end of the 21st century, there will be shortages that mean that not everyone can have the same amount of stuff they do now. (Rare earths, plastics etc.) But the biggest reason is just that there are boom/bust cycles in every town, city, state and country in the world. The richest city today will not be the richest city in 100 years; that title will move on, as it always has.
That's about right.
No, most people will eat different foods. If we can only grow 30% of our current crop, for example, and we dedicated all of that to feeding people we'd have no problems keeping everyone alive. Most of that output currently goes to cattle feed, and corn fed cattle are an unnecessary luxury. You might have to eat cornmeal bread instead of your Big Mac.
Don't mean to disillusion you, but right now there are people dangerous to you and your family - and there always have been. Compared to the 1600's, for example, where large tribes of natives wanted you and your family dead - and there was very little organized law - you're going to be in better shape overall.
Because oil is cheap. Once oil becomes expensive, they will switch to alternatives. That is already happening.
Because oil (and coal) is cheaper. Nuclear is almost cheaper.
It is extremely simple, just expensive - which is why we haven't done it in a big way yet.
As did every single alternative (INCLUDING oil) until the need was sufficient to drive its deployment.
Sure could! And a meteor could hit the planet and crack it in half.
Let's see what happens then:
-Oil prices rise astronomically due to scarcity.
-Every single expensive and impractical method for recovering oil becomes practical.
-Every single oil company makes billions selling the now-scarce oil at astronomical prices.
-Supply goes up, price comes down.
I wasn't saying it was a good thing. I am saying that the author's assumptions were incorrect - which is what you were asking about.
They've been rebalancing for thousands of years; nothing new here.
Because they are cheap and easy to use. Why spend more money/effort than you need to?
My rooftop and car disproves your statement. It is demonstrably possible, if we choose to do it. What do you think might induce someone to choose it?
Cool!
No, the US government starting printing vast amounts of money to pay for the Vietnam War...so much so that other nations like France started demanding US gold instead of dollars to settle trade accounts.Currency devaluation rose spectacularly in the early 1970s. I wonder why? Could it be because US peak oil was in 1970?
Don't worry, be happy. I'm glad you aren't in charge.
This is how the collapse of excess can actually function as an asset to human civilization....fewer donuts in circulation adds up to lighter human bodies which thus need fewer calories to move about from point A to point B!No, most people will eat different foods. If we can only grow 30% of our current crop, for example, and we dedicated all of that to feeding people we'd have no problems keeping everyone alive. Most of that output currently goes to cattle feed, and corn fed cattle are an unnecessary luxury.
Don't worry, people like me are. Which is why we're developing new sources of energy and more efficient ways to use the sources we have. It's something of a legacy to leave our children.
If anything I'm glad I don't see myself as helpless and hopeless, just waiting for the end. But whatever floats your boat.
This is how the collapse of excess can actually function as an asset to human civilization....fewer donuts in circulation adds up to lighter human bodies which thus need fewer calories to move about from point A to point B!
The advantage of raising animals has always been that animals convert inedible biomass into wonderfully nutritious human foods.
Goats for example, will clear out huge amounts of underbrush and tree buds and convert them into lovely feta cheese...with a little help from the bipeds.
If you set chickens loose in your backyard they will eat every insect in sight and turn them into eggs for breakfast.
This is why chickens have such a quick pecking action...to grab the bugs before they can run or fly away.
I don't just sit around hopelessly waiting for the end. I practice a philosophy called Futilitism, hence the name Futilitist. Futilitism teaches that there is practical utility to be found even in utter futility. The fact that the world will come to an end very soon means that every moment is precious.
So anything you do is futile, and all you can do is prepare for the end. Like I said, I am glad I am not that way. I am even more grateful that people like Maxwell, Edison, Einstein, Mendel, Fleming, Tesla, Fleischmann and Pons etc. were not that way.
You seem frightened by the word futile. It is just a word. You really have nothing to fear.
I just got through telling you that I am not preparing for the end, I am living in the moment.
Also, Fleischmann and Pons in the same group as Maxwell, Edison, Einstein, Mendel, Fleming, and Tesla? Seriously? Do you think that cold fusion will save us?
Farmers will have dirt and sun,
---Futilitist![]()
Farming causes the nature of the soil to decline either by direct loss of the soil bulk over time by inevitable erosion, or depletion of minerals like phosphorus. Since farming has been going on in the Midwest, I've heard that the soil depth has already decreased from 6 feet down to 3 feet.
Greed , waste and excess will simply become unaffordable.So basically we will avoid all catastrophe by trimming the fat and waste?
I guess all we have to do is instantly eliminate all human greed in the world and we will be just fine.
Greed , waste and excess will simply become unaffordable.
Consider how far a wealthy senator of ancient Rome would have to downsize to reach the level of an ordinary Roman citizen living a reasonable decent life.
This is what will happen on a nationwide scale...we will simply have to become sane.
Not through government coercion...but through economic necessity.
This apocalypse mentality has got to stop really
Inotherwords what concerns me is that it is possible to talk ourselves into an apocalypse ........
Greed , waste and excess will simply become unaffordable.
Consider how far a wealthy senator of ancient Rome would have to downsize to reach the level of an ordinary Roman citizen living a reasonable decent life.
This is what will happen on a nationwide scale...we will simply have to become sane.
Not through government coercion...but through economic necessity.
This is what will happen on a nationwide scale...we will simply have to become sane.
This apocalypse mentality has got to stop really
Sure there is science , such as magnetic field flip , sun behavior and religious predictions
But I think we should just get a grip and research what is going on in reality , by ourselves investigating any point of view with questions
Only then will we really understand what awaits us now , in the near future , and beyond
Inotherwords what concerns me is that it is possible to talk ourselves into an apocalypse ........