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Adolf Hitler, consum, Consumer Culture, Cornucopianism, Demagogue, Euro Crisis, Food Insecurity, Fossil Fuel Dependency, Industrial Revolution, Infinite Growth Paradigm, Joseph Tainter, Military Industrial Complex, Native American Genocide, Norman Pagett, Overpopulation, Peak Oil, Religious Fanaticism, Resource Wars, Scottish Secession, Slavery, Sykes and Picot, Techno-Optimists, Tensions in the South China Sea, The Age of Oil, The End of More, The Resource Curse, The Third Reich, Vladimir Putin, War for Profit, World War I, World War II
Author: Norman Pagett (The End of More)
But how can we define an oil age? It has been about 150 years since the first deep oilwells were sunk, and just over 200 years since the viable steam engine was developed. The two are linked, because the steam engine made deep drilling of oilwells possible and gave us access to a hundred million years worth of fossilized sunlight. Perhaps we have not strictly had an oil age, but rather the first and only age where we enjoy vast amounts of surplus energy that we have extracted from hydrocarbon fuels, of which oil is the most energy dense. It has brought us material wealth, and the means to indulge in wholesale killing of each other and all other species. It gave excesses of food and a population that consumed that food and grew to five or six times the sustainable level of the planet. In the timespan of human existence, the ascendance of modern industrialised man has been a short flash of light and heat that has briefly lifted us out of the mire of the middle ages, but at a considerable cost to the environment.
Our mistake has been to think of that elevation as both divine and permanent. That certainty of permanence explains the mad scramble to come up with ‘alternatives’ and ‘renewables’ in the last decade or two. Something to keep current politicians in office and the masses pacified. It is important that we accept the seductive indoctrination that prayers will be answered and technology will continue to deliver all that can be imagined. The majority have come to believe in the economics of cornucopianism, where wishing for something will make it happen, while ignoring the reality that everything we have is derived from finite hydrocarbon fuels. If we spend enough money, alternatives will always be found to sustain our lifestyle. They won’t of course, and the conflicts that have been fought over oil are proof that they won’t. The pivot of world oil economy is Saudi Arabia, (the concept of ‘Saudi America’ is too ludicrous for discussion here), but that fantasy land of sand dunes and tall towers is being encircled by fanatics who know that when the jugular of global oil is cut, the industrial complexity of the developed west will die.
When (not if) that happens, we might be lucky to hold onto an existence akin to that of the 14th century, which is what the religious zealots want to inflict on all of us. If we’re unlucky, then we must expect something that will be much darker and as yet inadmissible to modern minds that do not have the scope to deal with its implications. That infers an unpleasant imagery of pre-history that we prefer to ignore. Understandably, most think the same way; this is why we cling to the comforting promise of ‘infinite growth’. The alternative is just too awful. Instead we have been encouraged to believe that we can do without oil and not only still run around on wheels, but have a purpose for doing so. And by some means yet to be invented, keep our wings as well.
Our oil age will not end through lack of it, but by fighting over what’s left. So choose your luck‐factor and take that thought where you will, you are on your own with it. Many reasons are given for starting wars, but ultimately there is only one: the pursuit of (energy) resources. Human greed drove improvements in weaponry, and the means of destruction and acquisition became more deadly over thousands of years even though there was more than enough for everyone. The input of oil was the game changer of warfare; history over the last century has shown that conflict was not diminished, but amplified, by the prosperity and technology created by oil. Since the 1860s when black gold gushed from the earth, the economic and political thinking of the pre‐oil era was seamlessly grafted onto the industrial potential of the 19th century, thereby enabling Rockefeller, Ford, Carnegie, Vanderbilt and many others to accumulate fabulous wealth. Their business acumen was undeniable, but none of it could have been brought into existence without energy-rich oil. The use of fossil fuels in our military machines industrialised our methods of killing while at the same time becoming synonymous with progress and commerce. War became a business, the purpose of which was the acquisition of more energy in the pursuit of profit. Battlefield deaths on an industrial scale were an unlisted debit on balance sheets.
WWI started with the muscle power of horses and ended with tanks, demonstrating the murderous scope of mechanized warfare. Recognizing the critical value of oil and its sources, leaders carved up the Middle East to ensure its supply. An exercise in map making in the 1920s by the English and French civil servants Sykes and Picot set the scene for carnage that has raged throughout the Middle East ever since. Arbitrary lines in the sand were drawn, artificial oil states in the Persian Gulf region were created without regard to tribal affiliations, and a quarrelsome orphan Israel was dumped into the lap of unwilling Bedouins. As the quantity of oil there became apparent, all the major nations were drawn into the race for it because those who controlled this key resource were certain to subjugate those who did not.
The critical nature of oil made WWII inevitable. To sustain their empires, the Germans and Japanese slaughtered their way across Europe and Asia in a grab for resources, primarily oil. They promised infinite prosperity and their peoples cheered them on while deaths elsewhere were being counted in millions. With most of the world’s known oil supplies in the hands of his enemies, Adolf Hitler knew he had to have the oilfields of southern Russia and the Middle East to sustain his war machine. He failed, and his dream of a ‘Greater Germany’ collapsed not because of inferior soldiers but because there was insufficient energy input to sustain his plan for world domination. Hitler’s perception of infinite growth in his ‘thousand year Reich’ mirrors our present-day view of ‘permanent affluence’: vast quantities of oil had to be burned to sustain his fantasy. In our desperate scramble for ever-diminishing energy resources, we are in the same mad race to perpetuate the delusion of infinite economic growth. The oil pendulum has swung the other way with roughly 85% of world oil now outside the borders of the USA and Canada in countries not always of a friendly disposition. And just like the Fuhrer, political leaders of today are promising that which is beyond their means to provide. To mask this reality, they have invaded oil-producing nations in the name of ‘freedom’, claiming ‘victories’ which have left only wreckage and simmering animosity behind. So too did Hitler spread a similar line of propaganda that he was liberating other nations from the threat of communism. The second world war that left Europe and Japan flattened in 1945 might be seen as history, but it was just the first of many oil wars, and the politics of it were a side issue. WWII serves as a grim reminder of how violent and destructive humans can be in their ruthless pursuit of energy resources. Hitler’s own ‘oil age’ lasted just twelve years, and it set the pattern for the world oil age that is now in terminal decline.
Don’t be deceived by the democratic righteousness that defeated Hitler’s fascism. 150 years earlier the American empire was created with the same kind of energy grab. The European immigrant peoples who forced their way across America from the 1700s onwards needed resources on which to survive and to sustain the prosperity of an expanding nation just as the Germans and the Japanese did in 1940. The native inhabitants of the American continent were in the way of civilization and progress; their subjugation was a precursor to what happened later in Europe and Asia. Expansive prairies had to be cleared to convert the energy locked in grain and meat to feed the invaders and provide negotiable currency. This self-perpetuating process went into overdrive with the discovery of oil, and the ultimate conversion of that oil into more food resources and hardware added to the wealth of the growing nation. An expanding population needed employment, and the raw energy from oil, coal, and gas supplied it. America and the rest of the industrialised world had the means to build bigger, better, faster machines in endless succession, and created the most powerful country on earth. Everybody was going to be rich, forever. The universal law of consumption was relentless: more demanded more.
Meat and grain grew with relatively little human intervention, but other crops needed to be worked with human muscle. So the slave trade came into being. Slavery might be given many unpleasant names, but essentially it is the acquisition of one energy form to convert it into another for profit. Buy and feed the slave, use slave labour to do work, sell the product of that work. By the time the slave is worn out, several more will have been produced. This was simple economics by 18th century standards but the human consequences were again horrific, costing more millions of lives. It also brought on the American civil war where the slave‐muscled South was overwhelmed by the industrialised muscle that drove the armies of the North.
All the European empires forged out of so-called ‘empty lands’ across the world followed a similar pattern of resource acquisition and an absolute disregard for weaker peoples. It is an unpleasantness that we choose to ignore, but it confirms the killing force that drives us to acquire and convert energy to our own use. The seemingly limitless amount of oil and its energy density appeared to be the answer to all our labour problems. Oil became our ultimate slave. Or so we thought.
We now have maybe 20 years worth of usable oil left. There are certainly no more than 30, perhaps as little as 10. If one of the crazy sects running loose in the Middle East managed to get hold of a nuclear device, setting it off on the Gharwar oilfield of Saudi Arabia, it would be endgame overnight. That is perhaps too bleak a prospect, but we should not discount that notion entirely.
Before our oil to food arrangement, the planet supported something over one billion people. We now have over seven billion, and the mothers of the next two billion are alive now and approaching the age of reproduction. Preachers, scientists and politicians will not stop the basic human function of eating and procreation, so if unchecked nine billion people will be here by 2040/50, and set to go on rising after that. Every new arrival expects to be fed, watered, clothed and housed, but by no stretch of the imagination will the global food system be able to feed that number let alone sustain them with what would be expected by way of the most basic material comfort. No one dares to stand up and make the rather obvious point that we are not going to reach 9 billion. Something has to give, and that giving is going to be very unpleasant.
In the first decade of the 21st century, numerous wars have been fought over oil, and are being fought now. Wars are fought over resources because on nature’s terms, gentle contentedness is not a good strategy for survival; we are collectively powerless against genetic forces that dictate our lives no matter how much we protest otherwise. Downsized to whatever level, nature will ultimately force the choice of survival or death, and the outcome will be of no consequence other than to you and yours. To expect humankind to change within a single generation is stretching credibility beyond breaking point. Those who look forward to a life of bucolic bliss in a downsized oil‐less world might do well to think about that. Whether killing and butchering an animal to eat it, or invading another nation to secure oil supplies, we must appropriate energy sources to facilitate survival. You may think there’s a choice about doing that, but there isn’t, other than in the matter of scale. Whether paying a butcher to cut and wrap your steak, or paying soldiers to invade Iraq, securing sufficient energy to live is what we have to do to survive.
For the moment, nature keeps us supplied with oil, and we’ve pulled off the neat trick of converting it directly into food. Not knowing when our oil is finished and our food supply will run out is the little teaser for the early 21st century. Right now, most people think that food comes from supermarket shelves and freezers, which is just as well. The food trucks moving around the country are basically mobile warehouses, delivering food just in time for it to be consumed. When the realization dawns that the food trucks have stopped, the food held in stock by retailers will be stripped bare in hours. The oil age for everyone will have come to an end.
But oil carries man’s destiny in far more subtle ways than food supplies. It holds nations together. The USA is a vast territory of disparate peoples and ideas, held together by a common bond of prosperity and a basic consensus that government and law generally works for the good of all. And the inhabitants of empires are always convinced that theirs is permanent and protected by gods. That definition would apply to many large nations to a greater or lesser degree. But the bonds that hold it together, godly or otherwise, are entirely subject to availability of affordable oil. Empires (and the USA is an empire) remain whole so long as the means exists to maintain them. Oil has become that means.
Without oil, the nation will begin its decline into disparate regions. Without interconnecting transport, the United States of America cannot remain united. The force necessary to prevent a breakup will not be there, so within a decade (probably far less) of oil supply failure, the USA will cease to exist. The cracks are already there along linguistic, economic, racial, political and geographic lines. Even now it would be possible to take a pretty good guess at where those regions will split off.
This will be denied and resisted of course, but armies and police forces have power only as long as their fuel lasts. They will be unable to prevent secession in whatever form it takes. It might just be that Washington will come to govern not much more than the original colonies. Given a suitably deranged political leader and prayers to the right god, fully armed groups are ready to believe that the ‘American Dream’ can be restored. Such demagoguery sets the stage for years of regional violence over the basics of life, particularly food and water. The horror of it will be justified by warped views of right and wrong, clinging to a denial mentality magnified beyond any imagining by the privation that an oil-less society will bring.
This scenario is not exclusive to the USA. The British Empire was built on coal. When the coal was gone the empire faded away. Then in the 80s and 90s the UK became awash with cheap oil from the North Sea, and everyone was reasonably prosperous, particularly Scotland. Now the oil surplus has gone, and the UK is in decline again as a net importer. The ‘oil prosperity’ is fading away. Scotland is losing its main source of income and wants to secede from the United Kingdom, convinced that independence will somehow restore their wealth. Things will get very unpleasant when they realize that an independent Scotland will eventually be reduced to the economic level of Greece. The link between oil and the ability to eat is clear. The UK has to import 40% of its food, and much of the rest depends on oil to produce it, which also has to be imported. It is the end of the UK’s oil age, but few admit to it being the end of a food age as well. The same problem is being revealed in the current fiasco of the European union, but a little more advanced than the USA and UK. Oil-fueled prosperity is falling dramatically in the poorer southern countries. Greece, Spain and Portugal and a swathe of smaller nations have to import all their oil which only worked when oil was cheap. Now it’s expensive, and they are facing bankruptcy. 50 years of ‘unity’ is dissolving like a mirage in the face of the difficulties that smaller states are suffering. Without cheap oil, their economies cannot function, and so are disintegrating. United Europe needs oil to stay united just as the USA does. Russia’s oil dependent economy is crumbling, and Putin is having to make threatening postures to divert attention from his problems. His oil age is ending in a different way and yet we cannot tell if his posturing is just that, but a shortage of resources in the past has invariably brought conflict.
Move to the Far East and the nations around the South China Sea are all threatening one another, again the focus of the argument being the oil and gas fields of the region. They all know that without oil they cannot survive, and are prepared to fight for every last drop of the stuff, no matter what the cost. As a measure of what the dispute is about, the volume of oil in question is 11 billion barrels. One billion barrels is less than a month of world consumption. They are preparing to fight over the last dregs in confirmation of man’s desperation over oil shortages. Eventually, this problem will hit every nation and individual on earth as our oil‐crutch is kicked away. And with the oil age fading into history for us all, there will be no shortage of violent resistance to this inconvenient truth.
Will technological innovation save us?…
xraymike79 said:
Only one person is in touch with reality in response to this techno-utopian article about the “Shale Revolution” and “driverless cars”….
Peak oil is not a theory but a fact. In order for it to be a theory oil has to be an infinite resource.
Hubbert was referring to U.S. and world crude oil production. He did not include shale oil.
According to the EIA, shale oil production will peak after only a few years. After that, natural gas has to take over.
Energy returns for crude oil, shale oil, natural gas, etc., are low.
The use of shale oil doesn’t disprove peak oil but the opposite. Otherwise, conventional production should have continued rising to meet demand.
Oil consumption has been dropping for the U.S., EU, and Japan because of economic crisis. It’s been rising for the rest of the world because of increasing economic activity due to more credit created.
Credit creation will not be steady because of chronic financial crisis. Right now, several sources argue that a second global financial crisis will take place.
If demand drops, it will be because the global economy cannot afford high oil prices. With that, the same economy will weaken in the long run.
Thus, we see a permanent credit crisis coupled with peak oil; another factor to consider is environmental damage combined with the effects of global warming. The effects of these will be peak demand.
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jay said:
Just to begin the discussion. Yes the oil age is ending and climate change is worsening.We thought the 20c was tough but it was a picnic compared to what’s coming. Don’t need a crystal ball to work that out.
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Robert Callaghan said:
Should be called the end of the food age.
Great work Mike.
Watch a real scientist lose his shit over the Arctic.
In Sao Paulo Brazil, they poo in a bag or bucket because they can’t afford the water to flush their toilets. On the days the water does come on, it is usually around 4 a.m., so you have to get up early to get your share from the low pressure trickle of water that comes from your tap.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/sao-paulo-worries-grow-serious-drought-grips-brazils-largest-city-n385136
Do you ever wonder why your goldfish can out-stare you?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11607315/Humans-have-shorter-attention-span-than-goldfish-thanks-to-smartphones.html
Collapse: Why How When.
We only have about 10% of our earth’s original forests left. We destroy more than 20 million acres of forest every year. We already slashed and burned half the rainforests on earth. Rainforest soil is of poor quality and quantity so farming it only degrades it even faster. Rainforest roots are so dense, they don’t require robust and plentiful soils. But, why is this so important to how fast collapse will be? The answer lies straight ahead.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/forests/solutions/our-disappearing-forests/
http://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/kling/rainforest/rainforest.html
http://infoamazonia.org/projects/fire/
https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/soil-erosion-and-degradation
In 2007, the IPCC told us emissions must peak by 2015 to stay within 2 °C of warming.
In 2014, the IPCC told us emissions must peak by 2030 to stay within 2 °C of warming.
The IPCC says we can make this change because of what they call “negative-emissions bio-energy”. meaning we will get energy by consuming plant matter so it pulls more CO2 out of the air than it emits; for which, by the way, no such technology exists, and the kicker is, they say, that we will need 1.5 billion acres of NEW farmland to do it. That much farmland is about the size of India, which is equal to nearly 50% of all the arable land on earth.
The acronym for this fantasy is BECCS (Bio-Energy Carbon Capture & Storage). The real acronym is BS (Bull Shit). Where do you think we’ll find all this new farmland? The rainforests. World hunger will guarantee it. Why? Read on.
http://www.nature.com/news/policy-climate-advisers-must-maintain-integrity-1.17468
http://www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2015/may/12/the-climate-advisers-dilemma
In 60 years, human agriculture will ground to a stop because of soil loss and degradation. 20% of China’s soil and 50% of its groundwater is already unsafe. We are right now already slashing and burning Brazil’s rainforests just to feed China’s pigs. China’s pigs already eat 50% of the soy grown in South America. The Chinese are buying up farmland all over the earth.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/only-60-years-of-farming-left-if-soil-degradation-continues/
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31478-china-s-communist-capitalist-ecological-apocalypse?tsk=adminpreview
http://www.zdnet.com/article/the-whole-world-wants-south-americas-farmland/
Because we add 1 million people to earth every 5 days who would like to eat for 50 years, we have to grow more food over the next 50 years than we grew in all of the last 10,000 years, combined. We already converted nearly half the earth’s surface into cities and farmland.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/aug/31/climatechange.food
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/have-we-reached-peak-food-shortages-loom-as-global-production-rates-slow-10009185.html
http://news.berkeley.edu/2012/06/06/scientists-uncover-evidence-of-impending-tipping-point-for-earth/
We will need 12 million acres of brand new farmland EVERY year for 30 years to feed that many people all their lives. Instead, we are losing 24 million acres of farmland EVERY year. We are losing soil at twice the rate we need to grow it just to be able to eat, never mind the additional requirements of BECCS.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/25/treating-soil-like-dirt-fatal-mistake-human-life
We will soon run out of easy access to 2 critical fertilizers which are irreplaceable, cannot be manufactured by humans and for which there are no substitutes.
http://www.nature.com/news/be-persuasive-be-brave-be-arrested-if-necessary-1.11796
In 10 years 4 billion people will be without enough water.
In 10 years 2 billion people will be severely short of water.
http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/scarcity.shtml
Ground water depletion has gone critical in major agricultural centers worldwide.
http://mashable.com/2015/06/16/groundwater-aquifers-depleted/
http://www.worldcrunch.com/world-affairs/take-5-alarming-droughts-around-the-world/droughts-global-warming-water-shortage/c1s19067/#.VYGtolVVikq
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-06/uoc–at061615.php
The world’s rivers and lakes are drying up.
http://www.worldpreservationfoundation.org/topic.php?cat=climateChange&vid=48#.VYHzqfm4S1s
Drought is spreading across the earth. Try growing food for 8 billion people without water and soil. We kill elephants and orangutans before slashing and burning Indonesia’s remaining rainforests just to grow palm oil that is burned in Northern Europe’s German cars. We call this the Green Economy on account of how green people are behind the ears when it comes to their e-CON-omy.
http://www.eldoradocountyweather.com/climate/world-maps/world-drought-risk.html
In 25 years we will pass peak energy and minerals.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378011001361
This will happen when all our new solar panels and wind mills stop working and become expensive junk we can’t afford to replace or recycle in times of shortages in water, food, energy, minerals and civility. Recycling their component alloys costs more and uses more energy than mining for them does. Green Jobs without the pension.
http://energyinformative.org/lifespan-solar-panels/
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148113005727
Over the next 50 years energy demand will double (at the same time we have to reduce emissions at least 50%) because over 2 billion rural refugees will move to cities, and 75% of the infrastructure they require does not even exist yet. Already, China has poured more concrete in the last few years than the U.S.A. has in all of the last 100 years. Concrete production is a super-emitter of carbon into the air.
Yet, it also takes 10 times the amount of rated renewable energy to close one equally rated fossil fuel plant simply because renewable energy is intermittent and fossil energy is not. It will be a physical impossibility to meet all future demand with 100% renewable energy and reduce emissions all at the same time.
M.I.T. predicts world economic collapse in 15 years.
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-04/new-research-tracks-40-year-old-prediction-world-economy-will-collapse-2030
Lloyd’s of London predicts the end of civilization in 25 years.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/society-will-collapse-by-2040-due-to-catastrophic-food-shortages-says-foreign-officefunded-study-10336406.html
But, don’t you worry your pretty little head about any of this because there’s always our backup planet.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/01/project-exodus-critic-at-large-kolbert?mbid=social_facebook
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xraymike79 said:
Norman Pagett wrote it with minor edits by me. I also added the graphics.
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mikestasse said:
Reblogged this on Damn the Matrix.
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Daniel Dancer said:
Not to worry . . . abrupt climate change will likely trump peak oil. Either way, oil . . . basically the compressed, undead, “zombie stuff” of previous life on Earth . . . will be the source of our demise. And we thought a “zombie-apocalypse” was just fiction!
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Reverse Engineer said:
Nice one XRM. i am going to Cross Post it to the Diner under a Guest byline.
RE
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xraymike79 said:
Must attribute it to Norman Pagett at my site here. Thanks!
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Pingback: The End of the Oil Age. | EndGameWatch | Scoop...
xraymike79 said:
Pingback from http://www.blckdgrd.com:
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xraymike79 said:
Scientists warn that new sustainable technologies will be needed for humanity just to stay even in the arms race against the microorganisms that can rapidly spoil the outputs of the modern food system.
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Reverse Engineer said:
Of course. I have both links to Norman’s Amazon page and to your Blog. I always do full attributions as well as inform before I cross post anything.
Also, do you have a contact email for Norman? I’d like to do a Podcast with him to promote his book.
RE
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xraymike79 said:
Yes, I’ll email it to you privately right now. Don’t know if he will do a podcast, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. I’d love to listen to it.
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Pingback: The End of the Oil Age | Doomstead Diner
xraymike79 said:
Posted on Reddit (Collapse of Civilization):
The End of the Oil Age. When (not if) that happens, we might be lucky to hold onto an existence akin the 14th century
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Anthony William O'brien said:
In your dreams. The biosphere was much more vibrant, the sea teaming with fish the land relatively brimming with naturally occurring food. We are going to a place much darker than the 14th century, our descendants will envy the cave man.
The Bushmen of the Kalahari is a more realistic analogy. If the few that remain can learn to get along.
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End_of_More (@End_of_More) said:
I did say—14th century if we’re lucky
personally i think we’ll be unlucky
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Apneaman said:
Olympic Cyclist Vs. Toaster: Can He Power It?
World famous track cyclist Robert Förstemann battles a 700w toaster. Can he, with his 74cm legs, generate enough energy to create a golden-brown toast?
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xraymike79 said:
That was great! Those thighs look like tree trunks. We have no idea of how dependent we are on our fossil-fueled energy slaves.
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Jerry McManus said:
I have a lot of respect for Tainter, but what a disappointment at the end of the interview to see him peddle the same old absurd hopium of “renewable” and nuclear energy.
Especially considering that earlier in the interview they touched on the only truly comprehensive solution, namely radical simplification of industrial society, the very solution that is in fact the only direct logical conclusion of his work on complexity and diminishing returns, only to apparently dismiss it as unrealistic!
Anyway, collapse can be defined as moving from one level of complexity to a much lower level of complexity, so the takeaway message is we will simplify. It just won’t be voluntary, and it won’t be pretty.
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xraymike79 said:
Definitely some cognitive dissonance going on in that interview. In the first part, Tainter defines sustainability for civilizations as follows:
“…there is a tendency to think that sustainability emerges simply as a passive consequence of consuming less. What I find is that’s not the case. Sustainability is an active condition of solving problems. And solving problems often causes societies to grow more complex.”
So yes we will not voluntarily decide to de-complexify our civilization.
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Jerry McManus said:
I had the exact same question, given his definition then at what point does “complex” become “unsustainable”? Not at all clear in the interview or in his writing, perhaps because he is coming at it as an archeologist.
From an ecological perspective it is unambiguous: Don’t use resources faster than they can be replaced and don’t produce wastes faster than they can be safely absorbed by the environment. That definition of “sustainable” holds for bands of hunter/gatherers as well as for our current crop of overpopulated and nuclear armed industrial societies.
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david higham said:
Yes. Also worth emphasizing that the waste products of a hunter-gatherer society were entirely bio-degradable,in glaring contrast to the waste products of an industrial civilisation. Those waste products have a cascading effect of very serious problems,as discussed in ‘Poisoned Planet’ by Julian Cribb.See also the video by him that you posted on the previous thread.
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xraymike79 said:
Who didn’t get the memo?… “The American lifestyle is nonnegotiable.”
I remember in a past interview that Tainter emphatically said he did not see any changes coming to the economic system running the world. He also believes we’ll be able to repair all the ecological damage we’ve done. Maybe so, but that would require a change in economics and culture, neither of which will come in time.
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Systemic Disorder said:
You can’t have infinite growth on a finite planet. Nature will impose its limits on humanity if we don’t do it ourselves. But, sadly, we are on course to burn enough fossil fuels and throw enough greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to tip the Earth into a runaway chain reaction of destructive global warming and run out of energy.
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xraymike79 said:
Ironically, from the “porknetwork:
Thirteen countries were 100 percent dependent on imports for their grain supply by 2013, an 18 percent increase from 1961.
*Interconnectedness in the global economy may lower the chance for war, but it also makes the global system much more fragile.
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Apneaman said:
https://stevecutts.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/owned.jpg?w=1002&h=605
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foodnstuff said:
Reblogged this on Foodnstuff and commented:
This is one of the best and most pertinent posts I’ve seen on the end of the oil age and energy decline. Watch the interview at the end with Joseph Tainter, author of The Collapse of Complex Societies and take note of the answer he gives to a questioner about whether technological innovation will save us.
This came from the comments section:
“Anyway, collapse can be defined as moving from one level of complexity to a much lower level of complexity, so the takeaway message is we will simplify. It just won’t be voluntary, and it won’t be pretty.”
No, it won’t be pretty. But how to make people aware and how to implement change? The answer’s beyond me. I’m just doing what I can on a personal level and hoping I’ll be pushing up daisies before it all gets too nasty.
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Ken said:
Tainter’s final phrase of Nuclear energy saddens me. We Cannot manage the waste it produces on geological time frame even now. In a future with less energy and more (literally horsepower) and human muscle power, how is it possible to maintain or dismantle or build new ones? Robots get fried trying to look into Fuckishima; workers can only be working for a short time before they have reached levels of radiation that will kill them. It is bleeding into the ocean 4 years later and we have no idea of how to stop it. It will continue to do so for the next 500 thousand years or so. That is our best option?
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david higham said:
Very good essay. ‘The End of More’ by Norman is very good as well. There is no doubt that he is correct that the world population will not reach 9 billion.
Collectively,we we were not able to act on a fairly basic truth that should not have been hard to understand. The Earth cannot support an ever-growing human population. Either we limited our population by the most humane means possible by limiting birth rates, or nature would limit it for us by increasing death rates via famines,wars and pandemics. Those are now in our near future.
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James said:
Diminishing returns, no returns, negative returns, collapse. Penicillin had great returns for a human civilization whose main goal was the most rapid growth possible. Humans were saved to work in their technological cells to increase output, to extract more from the environment. In medicine currently the research and development costs are tremendous and the returns are much more limited. Even though the costs are prohibitive, the government will mandate participation in medical insurance until the middle class is entirely bankrupt. But we must have the complexity to save lives so the people can work in the cells and grow profits even larger, right? Even though the labor participation rate is falling through the floor. Or perhaps we believe we are rich enough to maintain bodies with industrial disease on life support until each and every one passes the century mark, thereby further exacerbating the industrial disease. It is technologically feasible, but it is not economically or environmentally feasible. Even if the energy were found, the externalities created would further add to the diminishing returns and eventually shut the effort down.
Diminishing returns can result from increasingly expensive energy and resources and/or an overreach into information and tool complexity which is incapable of paying for itself. Some of the complexity in healthcare and defense will likely be supported for a while by reducing the discretionary income of the middle class (already happening with 0% interest rates and lower wages), but this won’t last long. Will McDonalds and Wal-Mart collapse before General Dynamics and Pfizer or after? Maybe whatever pensions remain will be forced into buying Treasuries to support military waste. We’re consuming the fat now and there’s not much remaining. Next we burn through muscle (unsupportable tissues) and weaken ourselves in the process, not to gain some positive addition of energy but rather in an effort to divert the remaining energy into the essential organs. Closed businesses and idle workers. The middle class will be sacrificed to keep the essential organs working and the banking system has elected itself most essential while the average citizen, working in the equivalent of muscular tissue, are really very expendable. And don’t raise your voice, one of the beneficiaries of your loss of income is the bolstering of law enforcement to control your increasing dissatisfaction with being turned into unemployed peons. The end result, after many years of wasting away, is a loss of economic “blood pressure” that ends in system chaos and death.
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Apneaman said:
“very expendable” I always like to use the phrase “it starts on the periphery and works towards the center”. It seem like the ones on the periphery don’t like it there and are going all out to move towards the center instead of just laying down and dying. It looks like it is going to get very crowded in the middle with refugees – climate, war, economic. The responses from government and the citizens alike should prove interesting.
Economic exodus means two-thirds of Puerto Ricans may soon live in US
The Caribbean territory, whose residents are US citizens, is groaning under $73bn debt forcing it to ration water, close schools and watch its health system collapse
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/02/puerto-rico-economy-exodus-us-mainland
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John Weber said:
There is the assumption that humans will change their ways and conserve energy and not consume, consume, consume. This is akin to Jevons’ paradox (perhaps their is one more Germaine). If the energy is available, what will stop continued consumption of tools and toys? Who will go first with this restraint and restricting? Think of the uproar if legislated.
It is comforting to prefer the noise of delusional magical thinking and pretending that the system of perpetual growth can work forever; that some variant of business as usual can persist. There is just too much tied up with it and any unraveling would be far too chaotic and unpredictable. Wrapping our heads around the eventualities of global warming; of overshoot; of the desecration of world wildlife; of the acidification of the oceans; of the poisoning of pollinators stymies.
A world no longer powered by fossil fuels, no matter what incarnation, is almost inconceivable and for many terrifying. . It is indeed traumatic for what it might (probably) means not just for us but also for our love ones, children, grandchildren. Our hearts break. We want to fix it. So we do more technology and more ultimate harm.
It is like a person diagnosed with lung cancer saying he/she will just smoke these organic, non sprayed cigarettes for a little bit longer instead of facing the reality of the situation, quitting and having the operation.
We are slowly technogizing ourselves into extinction. Technology is seductive. Is it the power? Is it the comfort? Or is it some internal particularly human attribute that drives it? Technology surrounds us and becomes part of our story and myths. Technology tantalizes the human mind to make, combine, invent. There are always unintended consequences with technology. It effects how we experience the world in time and space. It affects how we feel the world. If all the externalities were included in the prices and cost to nature, we would be very, very wary of technology.
I think we have moved from technology in the service of religion (pyramids and gothic cathedrals) to religion and culture in the service of technology. It isn’t a deity that will save humanity but in the eyes of many – it will be technology.
We will do more of the same, business as usual until there are no more holes in the ground to dig, no more water above and below to contaminate, no humans to wage slave, no other lifeforms to eliminate. Yes, we are building Trojan horses in our hearts, minds and spirits. It will be elitist and entitlement and hubris – both a bang and a whimper.
http://sunweber.blogspot.com/2015/06/a-bang-and-whimper.html
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Mel Strawn said:
…from my 1952 Korean experience (UN POW Camp #1, Koje-do). Results of suppression of protesting (“rioting”) in prisoner compound. I was told, by GI Sgt, to keep the painting out of sight of work gang of POW’s passing by as I fotographed it to send to wife in States. The front lines are everywhere all the time.
(Painting is of prisoner casualties on stretchers… don’t know how to post images or videos as “comment.”components.. ????)
Good post, Mike. Peter Wadhams’ video should be required seeing & listening. Confused by “CH4 being 27%’ > CO2 part, however; thought it was 100+ > over 20 years, down to 20%> after… (GuyMcPherson..)??
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Jerry McManus said:
Agreed that the discussion by Wadhams of CH4 was confusing.
My understanding, albeit somewhat limited:
– CH4 has a higher heat-trapping potential than CO2
– CH4 does not stay resident in the atmosphere as long as CO2
– CH4 is oxidized by a chemical compound in the atmosphere called hydroxyl radical
– One byproduct of the oxidation of CH4 is CO2
– CO2 is resident in the atmosphere on time scales of decades or possibly centuries
– CH4 is resident in the atmosphere on time scales of weeks or possibly months
– A large scale localized burst of CH4 could potentially overwhelm the available supply of hydroxyl thus greatly slowing the oxidation process and increasing the heat-trapping potential relative to CO2
I believe the reason that we see various numbers that measure CH4 greenhouse effect relative to CO2 is because of this oxidation process. CH4 has much higher heat-trapping potential than CO2 in the short term, but then under normal conditions it is fairly quickly broken down into CO2 via oxidation, therefore any estimate relative to CO2 must take that into account while also averaging over time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxyl_radical
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xraymike79 said:
You would just post the URL of the painting.
I think the key for understanding why the GHG potency of CH4 is 27 times that of CO2 is because it is averaged over a 100 year timescale. Initially it is very high, but then drops precipitously within the first 2 decades.
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Mel Strawn said:
Mike –
“just post the painting’s URL” – so, would a Dropbox link in my supposed comment do it? Or– how to give a single painting a URL? …if it’s in my Facebook page fotos folio??
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Jerry McManus said:
Mel,
If you can open the image in your web browser, then just copy and paste whatever is in the “address bar” into your comment. If you don’t know what a URL is, or what the address bar is, then you need to beef up your computer skills a bit more before attempting to post an image. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.
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Jerry McManus said:
I’m currently re-reading Tainter’s book “Collapse of Complex Societies”. So far nothing to contradict my earlier comments.
His basic thesis is as follows:
1. human societies are problem-solving organizations
2. sociopolitical systems require energy for their maintenance
3. increased complexity carries with it increased costs per capita
4. investment in sociopolitical complexity as a problem solving response often reaches a point of declining marginal returns
His basic analysis is as follows:
– Complex societies constantly face “stress” in the form of conflict, resource depletion, and/or environmental crisis.
– To cope with stress a society needs some sort of surplus capacity in the form of food or energy
– As marginal returns on complexity diminish the society is forced to invest greater capacity in just maintaining the status quo
– Eventually the investments required just to maintain status quo become so great that the society is unable to cope with “stress” and becomes acutely vulnerable to collapse.
This analysis is entirely consistent with the “Limits to Growth” report which came to much the same conclusion in their “standard run” world model simulation. In that scenario the global society was forced to invest greater and greater amounts of “capital” (not necessarily just money) into the extraction of non-renewable resources and thus sucking the life out of the rest of the economy. Eventually a threshold is crossed beyond which business as usual can no longer be sustained and the society collapses.
All of which can be neatly summarized as “all attempts to sustain the unsustainable only make the resulting collapse that much worse”
The real chilling part of the book is where he does a brief historical survey of collapsed civilizations, example after example of societies that met much the same fate. Once prosperous, then suddenly civic society breaks down, outlying areas and the underclass openly revolt, population radically declines, urban centers are abandoned save for a few lone squatters, public spaces and cultural icons are either burned and looted or crudely partitioned into smaller hovels. Centuries of “dark ages” follow as the once great cities slowly crumble.
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TR said:
Homo sapien is very busy manufacturing more & more CO2 producers, environmental degraders, resource wasters. Their children are so special.
Mankind is Industrial Civilization?
If we could fuck ourselves, maybe we wouldn’t have a pop. problem.
I think we have definitely screwed ourselves.
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Stephen said:
Whenever someone tells me to go fuck myself, I reply, “Whew, If I could do that, I’d never leave the house. Well except once in a while, you know, to take myself out to a nice dinner.”
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Ken Barrows said:
No one can predict the future, but it’s clear in the present that the system is only maintained because global debt rises faster than global output (pick your preferred measure). When debt cannot increase fast enough, things will fall apart. Quickly.
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Ed said:
That is nonsense Ken. The future is perfectly predictable. No fossil energy means no cars, no planes, no renewable energy, no nuclear energy, vastly less jobs, vastly less food, vastly less people to name just a few. Debt/money on the other hand is purely a human construct and can be ‘disappeared’ quite easily. Print and give everyone $1 million and their debt is gone. You can’t print energy.
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Ken Barrows said:
I agree with you, Ed. My point is that the model of expanding material abundance has already collapsed; we just don’t know it yet 😉
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Jerry McManus said:
Interesting observation Ken. A few years ago I helped transcribe a chapter from Garrett Hardin’s book “Living Within Limits” that may be of interest.
Growth: Real and Spurious (pdf)
Click to access hardin_living_within_limits_ch_8.pdf
Keeping in mind the book was written 20 years ago, so the “formidable challenge” is indeed upon us now. Look no further than the negative interest rates, capital controls, and so-called “bail-ins” that we are seeing all over the world as we speak.
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Ed said:
How many people born this year will see their 80th birthday ? Very few. In 100 years time we will be burning wood to cook with and using draught animals to do our heavy work for us. Stationary wind turbines and radio active exclusion zones round former nuclear power plants will remind us of the good old days. The oil age. From now to then will be quite a journey.
I just hope to have another 30 years (to take me beyond 80) living the high life at the expense of the young.
This blog does not help. I want them to believe in space travel, driverless cars and endless growth. Above all I want them to believe in their future, to work ever harder in order to pay me rent on houses that they can no longer afford but I own, to pay taxes to provide me with my pension that they have no hope of receiving themselves. Too look after me in my old age when they probably won’t reach it themselves.
So please please stop doing this “reality” shit.
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Mel Strawn said:
Ed, I’m well past my 80th…and finding out (by working in NGO environments on the climate-sustainability-collapse front) that few can even bear to talk about unfolding “reality”. So, following your little “stop doing this….”, I resign, check-mated. :>)
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Ed said:
Hi Mel, When I wrote ‘please stop doing this “reality” shit’ I was being ironic. The reality is so ghastly that it is hard to face. Even harder when one realises that there are NO solutions to our finite fossil energy predicament.
I want to see a roll out of renewable energy generation as a way of temporarily extending the oil age. This could give us extra time to voluntarily reduce Earth’s population during our energy descent. The chances of doing this are under 1% in my opinion though. There is a 99% chance that renewable energy roll out will be wasted in order to maintain or increase world population, in which case this will only succeed to increase the pain in the end.
The young need to wake up and realise that my generation are shafting them.
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xraymike79 said:
Pingback from PeakOil.com:
http://peakoil.com/generalideas/the-end-of-the-oil-age
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James said:
Good morning fellow humans. Did you awake in your cells this morning to the loud ring of a synchronizing device? Will you travel to your production cells for your coordinated anabolic exercises? When you’re done I’m sure your product will be dumped into the general circulation with a location tag on it so that it may be delivered to the next cell for further assembly and final use. Are they providing you with enough pay to maintain your own cellular metabolism and a few diversions for your numb minds? Ain’t it grand, fireworks and all. Mindless work for mindless growth for mindless people reproducing mindlessly until mindless collapse. God bless you America and get to work, the interest must be paid. (I forgot, it’s Sunday, go worship a God or go back to bed or something.)
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Apneaman said:
Oh Canada – Oh fuck!
Saskatchewan wildfires force nearly 8,000 people out of homes
Canadian Forces called in to help care for thousands headed to refuge in Alberta
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/saskatchewan-wildfires-force-nearly-8-000-people-out-of-homes-1.3138560
New B.C. wildfires spark evacuation orders, states of emergency
Homes near Kelowna, Port Hardy, Pemberton affected
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/new-b-c-wildfires-spark-evacuation-orders-states-of-emergency-1.3138558
So much for the local meme that we will be alright because we are technically living in/surrounded by a rain forest.
Fishing ban issued as Vancouver Island drought conditions worsen
http://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/fishing-ban-issued-as-vancouver-island-drought-conditions-worsen-1.2452848
Metro Vancouver toughens water restrictions as reservoirs drop
http://www.surreyleader.com/news/311586991.html
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Apneaman said:
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Stephen said:
Thanks Apneaman, love their moves and Martha had an intensity that was genuine and can’t be matched by today’s performers.
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TR said:
Brings back skating rinks & loud music at public beaches on small lakes.
Heard this many times at the same places & didn’t realize,at that time being young & dumb,it might describe Industrial Civilization. It wasn’t long before I got it.
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Robert Callaghan said:
more scary shit, but they won’t let me comment, can’t imagine why not.
http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2015/07/graph-of-day-world-arable-land-per.html
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Apneaman said:
Haze in Vancouver from the wildfires
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Ann said:
Apneaman: I live in the southern interior of B.C. and the sky looks the same here. There is new fire burning since Saturday, July 4 just up the valley from me, caused by lightning, in the middle of nowhere, with no towns, no cabins, no lakes, no roads anywhere near. It’s small right now (25 hectares) but 0% contained. They may let it burn itself out, which is a good idea because then it would take 50 years for another one to burn there. They’ll probably only intervene when it gets close to anything. So, enjoy your smoke! I am. Until I’m not.
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Apneaman said:
Major Midwest flood risk underestimated by as much as five feet, study finds
High-water marks inching higher as global warming makes megafloods more common
https://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/28557.aspx
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Apneaman said:
Hey Anne, I lived in Salmon Arm until last year when I had to move to the coast to help my mom out. I don’t think it matters all that much where one lives once the permanent drought ramps up.
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Ann said:
Apneaman: I live near Kamloops. One fire is now contained, and two more have popped up. One was caused by lightning, one was caused by people. Tomorrow is supposed to be 38 degrees C. Our farm house has cedar shingle siding and asphalt roofing. We haven’t got a chance.
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TR said:
My question might be : “Will world agriculture be able to support a human population in 10 years?
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Ann said:
My informed answer is: No.
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Apneaman said:
It’s too late to save our world, so enjoy the spectacle of doom
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/05/too-late-to-save-world-heathrow-runway-stewart-lee
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TR said:
I so enjoy all the links that keep me entertained while I wait for NTHE.
I finally have an appointment with a psychiatrist. rofl
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Apneaman said:
FFS even our family get togethers are cancerous.
America’s BBQ Grills Create as Much Carbon as a Big Coal Plant
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2015/07/your-grills-smoky-truth
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david higham said:
A faulty analysis. Charcoal is lumped together with gas and electric.
Wood and charcoal burning does not necessarily cause a problem, because they are part of the ‘current ‘or ‘short term’ carbon cycle. The principal problem is from fossil carbon, which is not part of that cycle, again entering it.
Of course, if the wood or charcoal come from an area being deforested and not being replanted with trees, that is contributing to rising atmospheric CO2 levels.
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TR said:
There are probably some that would like to analyze all the CO2 in the atmosphere into good & bad.lol
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david higham said:
If we had only burnt wood,charcoal and other biomass we would not have a climate disruption problem.
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End_of_More (@End_of_More) said:
but then we would not have had all those lovely shiny toys to play with.
Rockefeller would have stayed in his dry goods store
Edison would have been a candlestick maker
Ford would have remained a blacksmith
Adolf Hitler would have remained a housepainter.
Ain’t history a bitch
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david higham said:
Yes. Our progress trap has us in an inescapable pincer’s grip. We’ve raided the treasure trove of fossil fuels to construct a bubble civilisation which is dependent on that finite trove to continue. The civilisation we have constructed has other systemic flaws that guarantee it will collapse. And the burning of those fossil fuels is leading to gargantuan climate disruption problems, probably an uninhabitable climate over most or all of the planet, and a devastated,unproductive ocean.
Meanwhile, are adding an extra 200 thousand humans to the system each day.
I agree with you that the exponential population curve will peak and trend down before we reach 9 billion. We were definitely too smart for our own good, and definitely not wise.
I’ve mentioned in a previous comment that your book is well worth reading. Well done.
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End_of_More (@End_of_More) said:
thank you for your kind comments about my book
always good to know that the pain from head-banging-against-wall has been worthwhile
Have you seen Prof.Albert Bartletts lecture on exponential growth?
Well worth taking an hour to watch if you haven’t—scary stuff
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Apneaman said:
Germany Breaks its All-Time Heat Record
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=3034
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xraymike79 said:
The news is becoming more grim at an accelerating rate these days. Don’t know if I can bear to look anymore. Someone left me this message with a reference to an interesting sounding book:
I’m reading Cordelia Fine’s book A Mind of Its Own, which is a fairly clear explanation of how most humans’ brains work. There is no doubt in MY MIND that your dark humor accurately reflects humanity’s last gasp (in my opinion a good thing).
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Apneaman said:
I have read a number of similar books on cognitive psychology, but not that one. I did find this interesting paragraph from a review of the book with a quote from the author that I bet many a doomer could relate to in whole or in part.
“There is in fact a category of people who get unusually close to the truth about themselves and the world. Their self-perceptions are more balanced, they assign responsibility for success and failure more even-handedly, and their predictions for the future are more realistic,” Fine writes. “These people are living testimony to the dangers of self-knowledge. They are the clinically depressed”
http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=book&id=4751
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Mel Strawn said:
Yes, many of us who have followed the lay-available information re our unfolding “reality” (for me since Silent Spring in the ’60’s) are at risk of ‘clinical depression’. Trying to avoid that and also maintaining an affirmative view of life’s positive possibilities, past, present and future, I wonder how to use our battery of studies for community benefit. Burying heads in sand and/or twisting the arms of the partially (accept as much as one wants to believe) informed choir seem to lack appeal and efficacy…
I’m amazed and intrigued by Peter Wadham’s cheery demeanor as he discusses the Arctic collapse scenario in this thread’s post. Alone is a hard place to be.
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Ed said:
How depressed you get about “reality” depends on your age, capital, where you live and family. If you are over 50, got a some capital behind you, live in first world country, in small country town on the edge of National park and have no children then you can live with “reality”. However if I are young, up to my eyeballs in debt, live in a third world city or the US (just joking) or have children, I think that I too would opt for “denial”.
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Robert Callaghan said:
Totally
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Ray said:
Guy McPherson. The guy runs a cult with no balls. Near Term Human Extinction. Why include the ‘h?’ You think, in all our anthropocentric glory, he was referring to sea anemones? Second, I take issue with ‘near term.’ How vague. How convenient. As opposed to ‘far term.’ So what exactly is ‘near term,’ anyway? Next week? Next year? A few decades? A couple of centuries? Given how our species has been around for 2 million years give or take a few millenia, 10000 years would still be considered near term.
And how is this pronouncement earth shattering, anyway? We’re all going to die. All species go extinct. So what if we’re speeding it along? We’ve had a good ride. What’s the average survival span of a species? I don’t think there’s an answer, but 2 million years is nothing to scoff at. That being said, I have a few suggestions.
First, grow a pair and name a date. That way all the privileged white baby boomers can throw a kumbaya party that ends in suicide. I’ll even mail the hemlock.
Second, you don’t hear any minorities bewailing the end of the world. Why is that? Maybe because they never had it good to begin with. The end of everything won’t make a difference. Little sympathy from that corner for white man’s plight, I’m sure.
Third, if the rest of the species had a vote, we’d be dead already. Minus a few cats and dogs. They’re domesticated, you see. Slave mentality.
Fourth, have some fun. At night, after the gas station closes, empty the gas reservoirs. In the morning, make sure to be the first customer at the pump. This will ensure the opportunity to hold the attendant with an earnest stare as you pronounce the oil age is over. You’ll have a captive audience to expound on all the reasons why the ending of the world is a corollary.
Why wait for the inevitable, Guy? Spare the world and do it today! But if you insist on waiting for the end to come, can you move your goddamn car? You’re blocking the road.
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jay said:
Hi Ray! 🙂 He has named a date! Anytime between 18 months from now out to 2030. 2030 is only 15 years from now.
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James said:
We’re accessories within a cancer that makes us feel rich, special and successful and we’re not too interested in the negative impacts we’re having because our minds are preoccupied with rewards and how to navigate the environment to get them. The human brain may also actively obfuscate any negative “feelings” when the rewards are great enough. This is why environmentalists are largely demonized, because they stand in the way of direct reward to save something that gives little to no reward. Humans unflinchingly murder young harp seals for their fur. The reward is great enough to justify murder. Of course a forest doesn’t have big brown eyes and is even more easily destroyed for the associated rewards. In addition, regarding our actions, the lower brain and rewarding neurochemicals trump logical conclusions which, if heeded, would retard our damaging activity. I would not be surprised if. as our predicament becomes more obvious and serious, that we do not seek “reward” even more aggressively. For those in touch with reality and unable to acquire sufficient reward, there are always anti-depressant medications.
Warmest temperature in Germany and what do you see? Pictures of apes jumping in swimming pools. You see, destroying the environment can be so rewarding.
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Robert Callaghan said:
Nice writing Mike
So Two Lizards Go Into A Bar
Hunter S. Thompson went into a bar full of lizards.
Why Looking Makes Me See Things
——————————–
Southern Ocean Carbon Cycle Rates Decline 24% In 20 Years
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GL062769/abstract
Antarctic Krill Decline 80% In 40 Years
http://weeklysciencequiz.blogspot.dk/2012/09/the-keystone-species-of-southern-ocean.html
Ocean planktons decline 40% Since 1950
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/phytoplankton-population/
Soil And Forest Destruction Rates Out Of Control
http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2015/07/graph-of-day-world-arable-land-per.html
Food Water Degradation And Loss Rates Out Of Control
Methane Rates Rise On Land And Sea
Mass Extinction Rates Approach Runaway Speed
My Desire For Hallucinations Out Of Control
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Apneaman said:
I wonder if anyone working at WaPo connects the dots.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
5 insane facts about how America has gotten bigger
How America’s food, cars, chickens and more have grown in past decades
“It’s July 4, and today we celebrate our freedom to be big. That’s because, if you look at the data the general philosophy in the United States seems to be “bigger is better.” And over the past several decades, Americans have supersized our sodas, our refrigerators, our big-box retailers and ourselves — even our feet have gotten larger.
Here’s a look at a few of the most startling things that have grown in size in the U.S. over the past few decades:…….”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/04/the-unbelievable-growth-of-americans-food-bodies-houses-and-cars-visualized/
How new drugs helping millions of Americans live longer are also making them go broke
Half a million Americans now take $50,000 in prescription drugs per year. Who ultimately pays the cost?
“The number of Americans taking expensive prescription drugs is rising quickly. In 2014, 576,000 Americans took at least $50,000 worth of prescription drugs, up from only 352,000 the year before, according to a recent report by Express Scripts, which manages pharmacy benefits for government agencies, labor unions, and other big employers.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/06/30/how-new-drugs-helping-millions-of-americans-live-longer-are-also-making-them-go-broke/
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Apneaman said:
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Apneaman said:
Gerardo Ceballos is an ecologist and conservationist working on macro ecology, population and community ecology, endangered species, protected areas, and coupling development and conservation. He is a professor at the Instituto de Ecologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Ceballos has published more than 450 scientific and outreach papers and 40 book. His book Annihilation of Nature: Human Extinction of Birds and Mammals will be published in August.
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xraymike79 said:
Oh that’s comforting. He cites the Pope(The Encyclical) and Obama(“Climate Change is a security threat”) as examples that we’re going in the right direction to save ourselves from extinction.
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Apneaman said:
Much different than his quote when interviewed last week on the big study. Leading questions? The camera? The wife?
“If it is allowed to continue, life would take many millions of years to recover and our species itself would likely disappear early on,” said the lead author, Gerardo Ceballos.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33209548
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xraymike79 said:
The little niños.
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Dredd said:
I enjoyed reading this post xraymide79. Thanks for all the hard work that goes into this great blog of yours.
One has to wonder sometimes if The Age of Oil is the advent of unnatural selection.
Ernst Mayr, the famous evolutionist, declared that human intelligence is a lethal mutation (On The Origin of Unnatural Selection)
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TR said:
This might rhyme with your post.
“I think human consciousness is a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware. Nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself. We are creatures that shouldn’t exist under natural law… The honorable thing for our species to do is to stop reproducing and walk hand in hand, brothers and sisters, into extinction — one last midnight.”
~ Rust Cohle, ‘True Detective‘
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Dredd said:
They do rhyme in the sense that both climate change induced by murderers and true detective are true detective stories.
One is without a prosecutor to prosecute the mass murderers (MOMCOM’s Mass Suicide & Murder Pact – 2 ).
That is because this realm of murderers are above the law (The Private Empire’s Social Media Hit Squads).
Their game now is to pin it on someone else.
For example, Inhofe and his cadre of denies blame it on God.
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Dredd said:
typo: “For example, Inhofe and his cadre of denies blame it on God.”
should be: “For example, Inhofe and his cadre of deniers blame it on God.”
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Jerry McManus said:
I know this has probably been posted here before, but I thought it was worth a re-do in light of recent events in Greece
Trade-Off
Financial System Supply-Chain Cross-Contagion: a study in global systemic collapse. (pdf)
David Korowicz
Click to access Trade-Off1.pdf
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Jerry McManus said:
More fodder for the McPherson bashers:
Mass Extinction: It’s the End of the World as We Know It
Dahr Jamail
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31661-mass-extinction-it-s-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it
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Ray said:
And it’s such tasty fodder.
BREAKING NEWS: We’re going to go extinct! So what if it’s sooner rather than later? We won’t care. We’ll be dead. The last person on earth won’t even realize he or she represents the last of the species. And it won’t even make the news because no one will be there to report it. But just for fun, the last person can always interview himself. Even better if he develops dissociative identity disorder. That could throw a metaphysical wrench into the works of the ‘last man standing.’ Actually, I think what he means is all white men will go extinct by 2030. Since everyone else doesn’t count, it amounts to the same thing.
I’m praying the last person is Guy McPherson.
McPherson’s only scandalous because your average american is a supersized mass of torpitude. The future seldom coincides with how we imagine it but that doesn’t stop people from trying. Just ask a meterologist. McPherson wants to pass himself off as Nostradamus? Go for it. It’s all fun and pretension. Doesn’t change a thing. Entropy rules the world. To their credit, americans are doing their best to accelerate the process.
I love these doomer groups. Doomers, made up of privileged well-fed white people moaning and groaning about how bad everything is, are sitting around trading horror stories waiting for something they’ll never know has occurred. I’ve read this play before. It’s called “Waiting for Godot.”
Some guy mentions a date – ‘somewhere between now and 2030.’ That’s not a date. That’s a range. But why split hairs? There’ll be no way of knowing, will there?
But go ahead and wait. I’d prefer something a little more proactive. Fire up the nuclear subs. Build more plants in earthquake zones! Are you listening, Japan? Thankfully, they are.
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Ray said:
Humans have a hard time entertaining doubt. Instead, you have a group of people who have transferred their smug self-assured sense of entitlement from an optimistic future to a negative one. All the inbred congratulations about ‘getting it,’ and the disdain for the sheeple who are still asleep. As if getting it makes a difference other than in their narrow virtual reality. It’s pretentious and arrogant. Even the smart coffee bean can’t avoid the grinder, which means it wasn’t that smart to begin with.
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xraymike79 said:
According to an important new study in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, we’re in the midst of a global “renaissance of coal” that’s not confined to just a few countries like China or India. Rather, coal is becoming the energy source of choice for a vast array of poorer and fast-growing countries around the world, particularly in Southeast Asia. “This renaissance of coal,” the authors write, “has even accelerated in the last decade.”
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xraymike79 said:
Experts voice fears for B.C.’s climate future, as western wildfires rage [VIDEO]
Chris Carlsten, an associate professor of medicine and the Endowed Chair of Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease at UBC, said he hoped the fires would be an eye-opener. “Looking at downtown Vancouver, people have never seen it like the way it looks today with the smog. It really looks like these images of Beijing and other cities they never thought it would be the case here.”
Carlsten noted that Canadians are fortunate to have good air quality, but that we could lose it if we’re not careful.
But they already lost it.
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Apneaman said:
When the End of Human Civilization Is Your Day Job
Among many climate scientists, gloom has set in. Things are worse than we think, but they can’t really talk about it.
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a36228/ballad-of-the-sad-climatologists-0815/
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Jerry McManus said:
That Esquire article is a real eye-opener. Climate scientists, the very people on this planet who are most informed about just how stuffed we are, and yet they stridently refuse to actually admit that fact in public because it feels too much like “futility” which doesn’t “incentivize” people.
Not because they deny we’re totally stuffed, mind you, just that they think there is no point in publicly saying that we’re stuffed.
No, not us respectable climate scientists, oh no! We don’t do the doom and gloom thing. Absolutely not! It is obviously far, far better to indulge in worthless platitudes about “carbon budgets”.
Un-fucking-believable.
Even more telling, ask those same scientists about their children’s future and suddenly the cognitive dissonance overwhelms them, the thin veneer of false optimism and “detachment” evaporates and they choke up on the prospect of their little bambinos growing up in a nightmare world rendered uninhabitable by industrial civilization. Poor babies!
Oh well, I guess that beats wasting everyone’s time being a
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xraymike79 said:
One of the few articles that attempts to lift the pervasive shroud of normalcy bias in modern culture. Even the scientists are in denial, and they can’t help it because they are human too and live within the constructs of industrial civilization. Michael Mann says:
We can solve this problem in a way that doesn’t disrupt our lifestyle, he says.
No, we can’t. Holding on to this fantasy is the primary reason why we are failing.
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icarus62 said:
I think our lifestyle *is* the problem…
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Mel Strawn said:
Yep–but we are all coming onto the mass production assembly line (birth) sans clothes and with no retroactive vote (to be here or not). Consider the great circle philosophies (Bhuddist, Indigenous Americans, et al): our life style (demand) requires more stuff requires emissions from fossil fuels requires extraction of finite resources (carbon) requires capital (fiat variety currently employed) requires a faux lifestyle that….etc., etc.. Welcome, all newcomers to Gerbil wheel world.
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Jerry McManus said:
Yeah, that one jumped out at me too. God forbid we should disrupt our lifestyle!
It’s been called the “progress trap” and we are so fucking stuck, flailing like blood-sucking insects in amber.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_trap
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Short_History_of_Progress
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xraymike79 said:
Hmmm yes.. Or like dinosaurs in tar pits.
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Apneaman said:
While I agree that climate scientists are well informed in many matters, there are scientists from other fields who don’t get the press or have the rock star status, but have more knowledge and expertise as it pertains to our survival. This comment I made earlier today at the peakoil.com forum explains my position:
Re: When End Of Civ. Is Your Day Job
Post by Apneaman » Wed 08 Jul 2015, 14:17:28
Scary stuff from the climate scientists, but what really disturbs me is what the scientists from the biology fields say. I think we are all aware of Guy McPherson (conservation biologist) and his premise that it’s the habitat loss that will drive our extinction as it does for every living thing. People claim he is a cultist, but it’s not like he is the only scientist to suggest our extinction at our own hand and most of the scientists who make similar claims seem to all come from biology. I appreciate climate scientists, but those who study atmospheric physics and chemistry are not the experts on living things and thus not the go to people on the intricate web of life. I see a pattern with people who do not like what McPherson says – they like to focus on him and only him and/or his regulars and keep well away from any mention of the other scientists who have said the same thing or say extinction or a mass die back could happen if we don’t change (we have not changed, nor will we – imo). I have found a few of McPherson’s pieces of evidence to be unsupportive, but most of it is overwhelming, including this recent study:
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Accelerated modern human – induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction
Click to access e1400253.full.pdf
“We are now entering the sixth great mass extinction event,” said Gerardo Ceballos of the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, lead author of the Science Advances study. “If it is allowed to continue, life would take many millions of years to recover, and our species itself would likely disappear early on.”
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2015/06/25/1-6th-mass-extinction-under-way-and-humans-are-reason-why.html
How about this wildlife biologist:
Web of life unravelling, wildlife biologist says
“Wildlife biologist Neil Dawe says he wouldn’t be surprised if the generation after him witnesses the extinction of humanity.”
“All around him, even in a place as beautiful as the Little Qualicum River estuary, his office for 30 years as a biologist for the Canadian Wildlife Service, he sees the unravelling of “the web of life.”
“It’s happening very quickly,” he says.”
“Everything is worse and we’re still doing the same things,” he says.
“Because ecosystems are so resilient, they don’t exact immediate punishment on the stupid.”
https://web.archive.org/web/20131105135121/http://www.oceansidestar.com/news/web-of-life-unravelling-wildlife-biologist-says-1.605499
Or this micro biologist:
Eminent Australian scientist Professor Frank Fenner, who helped to wipe out smallpox, predicts humans will probably be extinct within 100 years, because of overpopulation, environmental destruction and climate change.
Fenner, who is emeritus professor of microbiology at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, said homo sapiens will not be able to survive the population explosion and “unbridled consumption,” and will become extinct, perhaps within a century, along with many other species.”
http://phys.org/news/2010-06-humans-extinct-years-eminent-scientist.html
And then there are the marine biologists, like Jeremy Jackson, who are also giving extremely dire warnings as well and usually tempered with “if we don’t do something” at the end. OK, they may not be running around saying it’s already over like McPherson, but how many working scientists can we reasonably expect to say that? Many of these people have families and bills like everyone else and is there any scientific way to 100% predict human extinction? I think most humans, including scientists, are psychologically incapable of coming to the conclusion that the species could end in a generation or 3. Intellectually, I know it’s possible, but I often have a hard time believing/feeling it could happen in spite of my sarcastic and cynical doomer rants. It’s intresting how many unqualified people assuredly state that it is not even possible – it’s not up for discussion.
Jeremy Jackson: Sea Level Rise is Dangerous – AKA Ocean Apocalypse.
“Maybe most humans, including scientists, are psychologically incapable of coming to the conclusion that the species could end in a generation or 3.”
Your brain won’t allow you to believe the apocalypse could actually happen
http://io9.com/5848857/your-brain-wont-allow-you-to-believe-the-apocalypse-could-actually-happen
It’s all so absurd and surreal.
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Mel Strawn said:
Appreciate this substantive discussion re the McPherson “issue”. Clive Hamilton’s Requiem For A Species offers measured and useful perspectives and references (!) re our overall considerations on how to handle the infosphere.
Thanks….
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Apneaman said:
ESCAPE FROM REALITY
This generation wants more everything, study finds
“Young people want more sex, relationships, jobs, travels, houses and friends, a study has found, showing how the pace of life has increased and attention spans have diminished.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-generation-wants-more-everything-study-finds-10368180.html
Hikikomori: Japanese men locking themselves in their bedrooms for years, creating social and health problem
“It is one of the biggest social and health problems facing Japan – about 1 million people, mostly men, have locked themselves in their bedrooms and will not come out.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-07/hikikomori-japanese-men-locking-themselves-in-their-bedrooms/6601656
Heroin deaths have quadrupled in the past decade
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/07/07/heroin-deaths-have-quadrupled-in-the-past-decade/
Americans Are Drinking More — A Lot More
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/americans-are-drinking-more-lot-more-n347126
Soaring obesity rates due to abundance of calorie-laden food
http://www.digitaljournal.com/life/health/soaring-obesity-rates-due-to-abundance-of-calorie-laden-food/article/437274
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xraymike79 said:
Great, sobering analysis…
Despite the hype of renewables, it has not translated into a reduction in fossil fuels. The only time this has happened over the last 40 years was during the global recessions of 1980 and 2009…
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Ray said:
“Un-fucking-believable.” People don’t get into positions of power by peddling despair. So your surprise and anger over their refusal to admit we’re fucked amounts to moral outrage. Why is admission so important to you? Moral high ground? Some external validation that confirms your self-worth? Let’s see if there’s anything else to be gained.
A politician would use redundancy: we’re utterly fucked. And then he’d be excused from office. Considering that politicians are morons, this would be a positive step. A scientist, esoteric jargon that makes him sound more important: our species is eschatologically terminal. Not much to be gained here since most people have stopped listening to scientists anyway. This would assure that all people would stop listening.
Let’s say you grow impatient, take a page from the Jehovah Witnesses enlightenment program, and go door to door trying to convince people the end is nigh. It might go like this:
A: We’re fucked.
B:Really? Then you won’t mind fucking yourself.
———–
A: Did you know we’re fucked?
B: Really? Then let’s get started. (as he holds open the door with a lascivious wink).
—————–
A:We’re fucked.
B:Great. You won’t be disturbing me during Game of Thrones again. Something to look forward to.
—————–
A: We’re fucked.
B: Don’t make no difference to me. I got the cancer.
————
Let’s suppose you find someone receptive.
B: I’m on board. I believe you. So, what do we do?
A:Well, we’re fucked. Nothing.
B:Couldn’t we build green technology?
A:Won’t save us. Richard Heinberg – nice guy, hopelessly deluded.
B:How about petitioning people who have power?
A:Bill McKibben’s tried that. He’s changing his name to ‘Futile.’
B:There must be something we can do?
A:We can wait for the end and share horror stories and try not to have babies
B:Nah. I’d rather have some fun before I die. Thanks, though.
——————
As you are aware, people already know, even if they won’t admit it. Hollywood apocalypse movies are all the rage with zombies, hunger games, and a whole bunch of other crap. Most of them end with a hero saving civilization, to be expected in a fantasy driven medium. There was one movie where a man, demonized into a villain, of course, tried to reduce human population by hacking people’s cellphones and turning them all into homicidal maniacs. This response to overshoot is no more fanciful than any of the serious proposals out there and it has the bonus of targeting industrialized people who are doing most of the burning. What happened? A king’s man kills him and restores the status quo. The white knight is then rewarded by getting to fuck a swedish princess up the ass. The social hierarchy preserved. Whew!
You don’t need my permission to continue reading things that confirm your grim view. People like Orlov and Greer make money off of spoon-feeding a marginalized sector what to think and what to expect. Really no different than the rest of the masses who are supposedly asleep.
By the way, you can’t grow up in an uninhabitable world. So, no need to worry. Sweet dreams.
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Apneaman said:
Yeah Ray sounds like you are having a ball. If you got something to say stop your babbling drooling rant and speak it plainly or shut the fuck up.
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Ray said:
No subtlety. It’s unappreciated. I avoided euphemism and redundancy. A straight line is one of my favorites.
I’ll use that as a guiding principle.
Taking umbrage with dissidence? Unsurprising since everything on this site is apparently established doctrine. I will give credit to Mike, though. No way in hell Greer would allow my comments. Bardi writes something on his blog about dinosaurs and it’s gospel. Yet, I not only accept the possibility that humans go extinct in 15 years, I cheer for it. But you could be wrong. We could die out on Jan. 1st 2031. Ever consider that? No, because you’re an unthinking fundamentalist.
David Hume had a great question for zealots. How do you know?
Not to mention, cui bono, huh? Having trouble sleeping, apnea man? I notice you frequently link to riceman. Enough with the superheros. Christ, it’s enough. You should have noticed that 75% of american males are fat. Fit the category? And are using your belief in impending doom as an excuse from counting calories or that diabetic condition you are soon to suffer from, if not already? Belief in impending demise alleviates a lot of worry and responsiblity. It’s a doctrine of convenience for those who don’t wish to make substantive changes in their lives. The internet is addictive and judging from your post count, you’re leading the way.
There are self-serving reasons for adhering to this dogmatic faith. It’s faith, apneaman. No matter how many scientists you drag up, it’s still faith. The truth is, no one knows. And I’m saying, it doesn’t matter. We’re going to die individually and collectively. Not if, but when. The onus is on you, who makes these assertions with certainty, to prove your point. You can’t.
Tough love, but you’re a lonely, embittered man. No one who spends as much time on the internet as you do is healthy.
But you’re right about one thing. I’m having fun. Happy Doomer Day to you. Look on the bright side. Every day is Doomer Day!
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Ray said:
You’ll find a receptive audience at the local old age home. Those folks are always happy to hear that death is near.
BTW, Mike. There is no truth behind the american hologram. Just a rancid onion.
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Apneaman said:
How would you know how much time I spend online? You following me? Noticing me? Must take just as much time to do that (Count my posts), even more effort when hiding behind multiple handles like a skulking rat fuck. Maybe you’re a fan, but having a hard time admitting it to yourself. Come look me up in Vancouver, I’ll give you an autograph and maybe let you toss my salad if you ask nicely.
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Apneaman said:
What killed the dinosaurs? (hint: probably not what you used to think)
“In Walt Disney’s movie “Fantasia” (1940), dinosaurs were shown as dying in a hot and dry world, full of active volcanoes. Recent discoveries show that something like that might really have happened and that the idea that the dinosaurs were killed by an asteroidal impact appears to be incompatible with the available data. Rather, it seems that the dinosaurs died out because of the global warming resulting from the emission of large amounts of greenhouse gases from volcanoes. In several respects, it is not unlike what’s happening today to us. ”
http://cassandralegacy.blogspot.ca/2015/07/what-killed-dinosaurs-hint-probably-not.html
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Dredd said:
A distinguished scientific committee was tasked with that hypothesis vs. the new evidence of the real events that took place:
(Science Daily, 3/4/10).
An interesting aspect of the story is that suppression caused by denial caused the evidence to be suppressed by cowtowed scientists (State Crimes Against Democracy).
It was the same mentality driving climate science denial today.
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Robert Callaghan said:
The Permian Extinction took 80,000 years after eruption.
The Dinosaur Extinction took 33,000 years after impact.
Our Human Extinction will take 33 years after Game Of Thrones.
We are a flash in the ‘snuff film’ pan.
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xraymike79 said:
LOL. Sounds better as ‘snuff film’ pan. Yeah, you could say our own self-inflicted extinction is the biggest snuff film ever created.
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Dredd said:
“wiping out much of life on Earth in a matter of days.” – KT-Boundary Extinction (my quote & link above)
Snuff said.
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James said:
I’ve spent a lot of time on the internet trying to disprove my thesis and it has only been bolstered over time. I suppose the greatest reason we can’t implement controls on growth is that we’re just marginally cooperative, unlike cellular clones. We’ll never cooperate enough to stop growth, it will stop on its own with devastating results. Imagine any metazoan animal composed of cells whose individual intentions are to maximize profit and growth. Every last cell is basically cancerous, but the whole thing holds together for a while based upon a few laws and some weak cooperation and the mandate of growth (pursuit of happiness). A highly refined and disciplined structure that can reproduce itself sustainably is impossible to achieve. The mechanisms for controlling “economic”growth in human societies does not exist.
Metazoan immune systems are continuously on the prowl for “broken” cells, ones whose DNA has been damaged. On the other hand all humans and their respective cells are equivalently cancerous at the outset. Law enforcement doesn’t root-out cancerous growth in human society to protect the integrity of the body, it protects the right to grow uncontrollably. If internal controls are impossible and we must evolve more cooperative, limitation accepting, less competitive humans by means of natural selection by technological forces then we might as well kiss the whole thing goodbye because the technological forces of natural selection are civilization destroying.
It’s really not anyone’s fault as to how we have evolved. Organisms have been born into their situations for billions of years, sink or swim. Even the lowly Goldman Sachs cancer promoters haven’t a clue. Sure is going to hurt though when this brief evolutionary tangent reaches its terminus.
Hey Apneaman, you gonna let Ray talk to you like that? Maybe you two should just kiss and make up, after all, in the end love is all there is. They keep saying that all species end-up extinct, but we humans are part of a continuous line of cells going back billions of years without a single extinction. I guess we’re supposed to accept our fate more peacefully if we know most others have gone extinct before us. Oh well, even the master technological tinkerers can’t even begin to think about it, let alone the regular citizenry. We’re doomed.
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Apneaman said:
So what did-in the dinosaurs? A murder mystery…
Posted on 12 March 2015 by howardlee
Scientists have assembled a slew of new forensic evidence – from high-resolution dates to microscopic fossils – to prosecute the dino-killer. Their indictment has worrying implications for us.
https://www.skepticalscience.com/So-what-did-in-the-dinosaurs.html
The cause of the greatest mass-extinctions of all? Pollution (Part 1)
Posted on 19 March 2015 by John Mason
Part One: Large Igneous Provinces and their global effects
Introduction
http://www.skepticalscience.com/pollution-part-1.html
The cause of the greatest mass-extinctions of all? Pollution (Part 2)
Posted on 19 March 2015 by John Mason
Part Two: the Siberian Traps and the end Permian mass extinction
Introduction
http://www.skepticalscience.com/pollution-part-2.html
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david higham said:
The cancer is industrial civilisation,which when combined with capitalism has become more virulent and whose misunderstandings of the biophysical limits of the planet has set us on a now unstoppable course which ends with a devastated planet.
There are many examples of hunter-gatherer tribes which did live within the limits of their ecosystem and who limited their populations and did not deforest their habitat’
Most of those have now been exterminated or transformed into shells of their former selves by the overwhelming power of a rapacious culture that has lost any intimate understanding of the natural world.
Their are enormous differences between the underlying structures of hunter-gatherer bands and industrial civilisation. Industrial civilisation has systemic flaws which did not exist under a hunter-gatherer system. Those flaws ,when combined,mean that industrial civilisation will inevitably collapse.
If anyone wants a brief summary of those flaws,with references to books which explain the points in greater detail,I have listed them under the ‘Bloodwatch’ thread that Mike posted a few months ago.
Will any of those tribes remain when industrial civilisation collapses and the disastrous effects of climate disruption become manifest?
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James said:
Hunting-gathering was a transitional state. It couldn’t stop there. The hunter-gatherers had everything necessary to become agriculturalists. Once all of the components for cancerous growth are assembled in one organism it’s off to the races and just a matter of time before the disease progresses in scope and complexity. Hunter-gatherers were already on the road to perdition. Hunter-gatherers should be considered small precancerous lesions. If they had been excised way back when, we wouldn’t have a problem right now. How do you tell a bunch of egotistical apes that they’re a cancer, an escapee from the ecosystem, an agent of destruction, a tiny malignancy that became the Big C?
Even though they didn’t have cellular enclosures, an ape capable of making sharp spears, nooses, digging pits in the ground and so on were one step away from systematic growth and destruction of the ecosystem. An ax, spear, spade, sharpened stick are technology even though the other components of the complex adaptive system had not yet evolved. And now all the parts are in place and we evolved very rapidly to eat everything within reach, without restraint of any kind. All resource gradients, ranging from fresh water to soil to fossil fuel were attacked and consumed relentlessly. Our civilization is not the well-formed fetus of a healthy ecosystem, but rather a horrific ramifying, metastatic, evolving agent of death.
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david higham said:
The hunter gatherers may have had everything necessary to become agriculturists,except many tribes did everything possible to avoid becoming agriculturists or wage slaves for the dominant invading culture until they had no options left because of the deforestation of their former habitat and/ or removal from the land they once inhabited. This then led to the breakdown of their culture and becoming marginalised inhabitants of the invading culture.
‘Hunter gatherers should be considered small pre-cancerous lesions. If they had
been excised way back when,we wouldn’t have a problem right now.’
I think this is too harsh. Of the various cultures on the planet, those that went down the path of agriculture developed a more rapacious regard for their environment,and developed an approach which regarded their world as one of resources to be exploited ;rather than one to be lived in and intimately connected with.
Certainly the Aboriginal people of Australia have a completely different regard for the land than the culture that has invaded and largely removed them from their former land.
‘Even though they didn’t have cellular enclosures,an ape capable of making sharp
spears,noose, digging pits in the ground and so on were one step away from systematic growth and destruction of the ecosystem’
You are placing hypothetical conjecture above evidence .
We have the evidence that Australian Aborigines inhabited Australia for over
50,000 years and all reports from early European explorers are unanimous that the environment was in excellent condition,brimming with abundant life,and the people themselves had excellent health. I have given this example,but if you read some of the hunter-gatherer literature, ‘The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers’ for example, there are many other examples of Hunter-Gatherer tribes that also lived without destroying the ecosystem they inhabited.
Industrial civilisation will last around 300 years ,and will leave behind a devastated environment contaminated with toxic materials. Quite a contrast.
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Apneaman said:
I think this is where Jared Diamonds, Guns, Germs and Steel helps explain some of the variations in cultures. I think maybe the Australian aboriginals did not end up living anything like Eurasians is because they couldn’t. Are there any native plants in Australia that could be domesticated into crops and produced in enough quantity to grow the population to the degree to create even more specialized occupations and trigger the whole process of the domination of everything? Any useful animals to domesticate down under for food and labour? Just wanting abundance is not enough; the conditions must be there first. Seems like the aboriginals started eating quite well (too well) the moment they hit the shore and their minimalist philosophies only came after the giant fauna smorgasbord went out of business. I think Eurasians and Mezzo Americans only turned/stumbled into agriculture and domestication because they slaughtered all their big easy game to extinction too. If those things were not available to them their population would have been reduced to sustainable levels and all the worlds naked apes would be aboriginals today. Europeans came from a place that made abundance and power possible so they created a culture and philosophy around that. People like the Australian aboriginals lived in an environment of scarcity so they created a culture and philosophy around that. In both cases, in fact in all cases I would argue, the philosophy is a product greatly informed by circumstance and possibilities.
Big Kill, Not Big Chill, Finished Off Giant Kangaroos
Scientists have debated whether climate change or human activity wiped out the world’s megafauna. In Australia new evidence points to hunting–and only hunting
“Around 40,000 years ago, the giant kangaroo disappeared from Australia. So did Diprotodon (rhinoceros-size wombats) and Palorchestes (tapirlike marsupials) as well as supersize birds, reptiles and some 50 other so-called megafauna—big animals. And now a record of fungal spores pulled from the swamp at Lynch’s Crater in the northeastern corner of the continent reveals humans as the culprit.”
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hunters-killed-off-big-animals-australia/
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david higham said:
And another thing.You state that hunter-gathering was a transitional state. What sort of fucking superior value judgement is that? The existing hunter-gatherers live a quite happy and fulfilled life.You are a condescending elitist.
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James said:
I am a condescending elitist but have nothing in particular against hunter-gatherers. I’m just saying that once humans started down the path of using tools and information beyond their own DNA, the path towards further development was open. Further development only requires the access to large untapped resource deposits and someone sitting in their cave trying to make a better spear or perhaps Bill Gates sitting in his garage trying to make a better operating system or Dr. Strangelove sitting in his lab trying to make a better atomic bomb. They never stopped to think about what they were doing, they just evolved to do it because the dividends were so great.
If hunter-gatherers can reestablish themselves after this orgy is over – great. All of the energy and mineral deposits will be gone for the most part and perhaps at some much lower level of population, the death rate will once again equal the birth rate. Most technology will be gone along with the massive resource deposits that supported its development and manufacture.
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Lidia17 said:
david higham, I didn’t read anything into James’ use of “transitional”. You yourself may still be carrying the common baggage of memes and themes that assume our trajectory is ever-upward, ever-improving.
A transition could also be from a positive state to a more negative one, or a sideways move into something that’s just different.
Gatherers gathered. Hunter-gatherers added hunting technologies to their repetoire. As hunting technology removed a lot of prey animals, agricultural technologies took over as a main strategy for capturing calories, and we remain with that to this day. Those are the “transitions”, as I see them. No value judgement or elitism necessary.
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david higham said:
Lidia,
I don’t assume that our trajectory is ever upward,ever-improving.
I am sure that James meant that hunter -gatherers were in a transitional state from hunter-gathering to agriculture.(correct me I have misunderstood,James)
Your last paragraph shows that you think that as well.
There is no doubt that the agricultural societies developed from hunter-gatherer tribes..
The important point is that not all hunter- gatherer tribes were in transition from hunter-gathering to agriculture.While there are many examples,,let’s look at the
Australian Aboriginal tribes.We have no reason to believe that they would have transitioned from hunter-gathering to agriculture. We know that they practised population control measures,and that the ecosystem they inhabited was in excellent condition after over 50,000 years and that they did not practice agriculture.
Obviously we will never know now,but I can’t see any reason why that system could not have continued while the climate remained habitable and cataclysmic events such
as asteroid impact or European invasion did not occur.
The few pockets of largely traditional Aboriginal tribes remaining live rewarding,fulfilling lives.
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Lidia17 said:
ok david, I see your point. It is true, though, that ag. did develop simultaneously the world over (pretty much). I guess I tend to think in terms of trends, tendencies and dispositions rather than about exceptions to the ‘rules’..
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Pickles said:
Interesting article and comments:
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/07/climate_scientists_despair_most_devastating_parts_of_esquire_s_jason_box.html
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Jerry McManus said:
I’m starting to like “Ray”, no really, although I think the moniker is misleading. I know this will sound sexist, but in all honesty the only people I have ever met who are filled with that much hate and bitterness have been women. I wonder if the white liberal super-mom from New Jersey has gone off the deep end?
Anyway, keep up the good job of throwing all our futile posturing in our face, we’ll try not to notice all the self-loathing dripping from it. Sure hope it makes you feel better about yourself… or better about something at least.
No, really.
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david higham said:
That sounds sexist and is baseless speculation.
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david higham said:
Apneaman,
I will reply here to avoid being squeezed into a narrow column.
The evidence indicates that the most likely reason for the extermination of the Australian megafauna was the arrival of humans here over 50,000 years ago.
I believe that was also the reason for the extermination of the megafauna in America too.
The Australian aborgines also altered ecosystems by ‘managing’ the ecosystem with patchwork burning to encourage sequential grass growth which caused some animal species,mainly different species of kangaroos ,to thrive,and the aborigines along with them. They also built quite elaborate fish traps . They did not cultivate or irrigate the soil. This is a very important point,as soil erosion and structural deterioration,as well as salinisation under certain conditions,has been a major contributor to the collapse of some agricultural civilisations. The burning of the grass left the root systems in place,which in turn meant that the soil structure was maintained,and the rate of soil erosion was not greater than the rate of soil formation.
The nutrient cycles also remain intact,another important point.
So there is no doubt that Australia changed after humans first arrived.The important point is that they learnt to live within that changed ecosystem,which still had abundant life and vibrant health 50.000 years later. It is interesting to read the reports of the first European explorers who often wax lyrical about the beauty and abundant life of the areas they explore.
It is also relevant to compare the rate of species extinction under that hunter-gatherer system with the rate under industrial civilisation,which is several orders of magnitude greater.
Since we are in the business of quoting Jared Diamond, he also said that agriculture was the biggest mistake that humanity ever made.
Re domesticated animals, the dingo was the only one,which they brought with them.
I could comment on some of the other points you raise ,but it would only be speculation on my part,
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Apneaman said:
Everywhere major crop cultivation and animal domestication was possible it happened. First Americans did not need Europeans to teach them how to cultivate potatoes, change a grass into corn or domesticate Alpacas, they figured it out for themselves. Of course from an evolutionary perspective we need to ask which ones are the domesticated? Who is really driving the bus? Cui bono.
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xraymike79 said:
The big story this week:
My post here appears to becoming reality.
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Apneaman said:
Good call Nostradoomus
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Apneaman said:
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lidiaseventeen said:
I love that clip!
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Robert Callaghan said:
The Pope and Naomi Klein are like two cross dressing dykes trying to go straight
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2944198/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
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Apneaman said:
Mysterious giant hole in Siberia gradually filling up with water, expanding (PHOTOS)
http://rt.com/news/273019-gian-hole-crater-siberia/
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James said:
Humans are saddled with brains built by cells to meet the body’s needs. That many of the structures were laid down and honed in a social environment gives us many of our self-destructive traits. The behavioral mechanisms for the establishment of a social hierarchy are especially dangerous in a technological society. The human brain is preoccupied with those functions that have in the past contributed to success. Two of these functions include obtaining a high position in the dominance hierarchy and mastery of information sets allowing manipulation of technological evolution. Unfortunately it seems that social skills, the ability to artfully promote oneself within a group, have taken precedence over technological capability and broad-based knowledge. Most of those that reach the top of mega-corporations are not the technologically skilled but rather the most politically skilled and this results in nations and corporations being run by people that have little else in their heads except how they will ingratiate themselves to their constituencies. A nice smile, perfect hair and the ability to tell your constituency what they want to hear are the most important traits. These types can push for endless growth without ever considering the dire implications since popularity and maintaining their above average compensation is foremost and perhaps the only thing in their minds.
In the daily routine of most people, thinking does not enter the picture. Worrying about how to pay the bills does not count as thinking. Most people, via their inherited brain structures, are most interested in gossiping, Facebooking, competing within their own respective groups, wondering what accouterments will enhance their competitiveness and getting a few hits of dopamine. Building a meta-model of the world is not in their repertoire and, at least from their perspective, could never compensate them enough for the time spent doing so. People are always looking for a return on investment and a new bottle of perfume or a gift for the boss may pay greater dividends than any difficult modeling of their surroundings. Even most attending colleges are not interested in thinking but rather in going through the motions to obtain a degree that will be the ticket to a well-paying job. Technical types will try to improve the mousetrap which only makes our journey down the technological rat hole that much faster. So what chance of survival do we have when everyone wants to get rich and climb the social hierarchy? What hope do we have when everyone aspires to be the lionized Donald Trump, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and other owners of oversized amounts of this cancerous infrastructure? They should be hidden from sight, but their egos won’t allow it. Who wants to be poor like Jesus or the Buddha? Any hands? No, I didn’t think so. Just go to church and pray for more stuff, or that your competitor bites the dust, that’s the ticket, and vote, please vote for those with pretty hair and those that promise more jobs and growth. Never mind the inundated cities, raging fires, collapsing economies, droughts and superstorms raging in the background. If one of them impacts you, you can be the first on Facebook to relate the experience to your other clueless friends.
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xraymike79 said:
One of the moderators on Reddit was trying to tell me that the extinction of wild bumblebees wouldn’t affect agriculture in any significant way because captive bumblebees are what is predominantly used for crop pollination, but after digging a little bit I discovered this to be completely false:
“Currently, 72% of pollination provided by wild bumblebees even when commercial bumblebees used” ~ Dave Goulson, world-renowned bumblebee expert
http://www.soci.org/~/media/Files/Conference%20Downloads/2012/Insect%20Decline%202012/Speaker%20Presentations/Dave_Goulson.ashx
Here is a fascinating interview with Dave Goulson who says, “Humans are fantastically arrogant creatures in many ways…” Without insects, humans would not be able to survive.
Well worth 40 minutes of your time:
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lidiaseventeen said:
I just went on a garden tour. Spent hours walking around massive gardens paid for by rich people to decorate their homes or winter or summer “cottages”. Acres and acres of flower and herb gardens. I think I saw ten bumblebees the entire day, at seven different sites. Didn’t see any honeybees. Saw some milkweed but no monarchs. Did see one (1) other black and orange butterfly.
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Ray said:
FARTS WITH HAIR ON THEM:
What a disappointment. Some people on this site worked really hard to extricate themselves from the holographic propoganda only to lapse into dogma.
A recent fad has people placing wind-up foam keys on the roofs of their cars. Maybe they think it’s cute. I think it’d be cuter if they affixed them on their backs.
My favorite sport is boxing. I enjoy watching humans beat the shit out of each other.
I touched a nerve in Apneaman, but it wasn’t a neuron.
“I like to drink.” Why do we automatically assume that means alcohol? There are thousands of beverages to choose from. “Yeah, I like to drink … water. Fuck you, you presumptuous asshole.”
The only time the word ‘slain’ is used is in reference to a dead cop. Somehow, the word colors the incident as more heinous. A slain black guy would upset the status quo. Some words are reserved. Privilege is a word reserved for rich white men.
Crime against humanity. That these crimes are perpetuated by humanity is never mentioned.
Industrial society suffers from FOO – forced optimistic outlook syndrome. If you’re not having a good day, if you aren’t positive enough, and if you aren’t looking on the bright side of things AT ALL TIMES AND AT ANY COST, something’s wrong with you. That’s what all those self-help and motivational books are about – imposing what amounts to an induced hyperactive narcosis – IHN – or ‘stupid’ for short. Optimism and pessimism are future outlooks. On a macro level, optimism serves the system. People won’t invest if they think there will be a negative return. So, there’s a practical reason for stupidity. Unsurprisingly, a lot of stupid people will continue to lose their money and their shirts. There’s also a practical effect.
Interestingly, positive can also mean certainty, as in a positive drug result.
Is a single repetition in worldly affairs enough to prove that time is not sequential?
The modern novel story form is an exercise in extreme indulgence. If it were communicated in the oral tradition, the listeners would shoot the storyteller out of sheer exasperation. It’s laborous. Get to the fuckin’ point already. No wonder no one reads anymore. That I continue to do so speaks volumes about my masochistic tendencies.
Athlete’s foot sucks. I’ve gotten it and I’m not even an athlete.
Athletes are also morons. This has been pointed out before, but I’m sick and tired of athlete’s thanking God for their on-field performance. This is just another case of human self-absorption. God does not care about the outcome a fuckin’ football game. Wasted infantile males with small dicks do. Now, if human lives were on the line, that might be a different story. Death under organized rules is called conventional warfare. I think the main reason people have such a problem with terrorists is because they don’t play ‘fair’ or by the rules. Until both sides sit down and write them, I don’t expect terrorists to become ‘willing participants.’
And why is it that only brown skinned people of the muslim persuasion are considered terrorists? There are a lot of white people terrorizing the shit out of the populace. Just ask black people (who aren’t really black, by the way). It should be obvious by now that white people, who do the labelling, have a perceptory problem.
If capitalism is cyclical, how to explain the structural problems that are fucktural?
The shirt ‘off your back’ – thanks for clearing that up. I was using my shirt as an anal plug.
Now that the north sea reservoir has passed the point of diminishing returns, the happy glut fuck party is over. Scots think secession will bring a new era of prosperity. They’re wrong. But they will eventually get to prove it.
Society frowns on retarded people, but they’re the only ones who are genuinely happy. What does it say about a society that promotes an obsessed pursuit of optimism? Enforced retardation. Having a stupid population makes it easier to manufacture consent and engineer democratic institutions. If it’s fat, as a recent census revealed 75% of the male North American population to be, it makes it harder for the people to move around and ‘agitate.’ Political unrest? Fuck that. Move your fat ass and get me another beer, honey.
I talked to my son the other day because he was upset. I said, “It won’t change your life if you can’t tough the gas dial on the stove.” He didn’t understand, so I put it another way. “Think of it like this. In two minutes you won’t remember any of this.” Ah, kids.
Kids have everything adults worry about. Alzheimer’s, erectile dysfuntion, parkinson’s. And people wish they could be kids again.
It’s a curious coincidence that the people who use the ‘poor are lazy argument’ to justify their disproportionate share of the spoils usually own a lazyboy.
Where does the sea begin and the ocean end?
Why do people with a baby on board sticker on their car expect other drivers to behave any differently? You’re fucked no matter who dies.
The media uses the adjective ‘shocking’ much too often. Shock diminishes with repeated exposure as habituation kicks in. How many times can we be shocked over a priest fondling an altar boy’s balls or a corrupt politician using his office for personal advantage? It’s high time people realize humans are capable of anything, especially heinous anythings.
“I was shocked to hear…” Really? When I’m shocked, I’m rendered incapable of speech.
Japan faces an ‘uncertain future’. Is there any other kind?
There are some security bars protecting the windows of my apartment, which look out onto the public hallway. Sometimes, I put the baby in the stroller, leave him out there, step back into the apartment and call to him from behind the bars. We pretend he’s visiting daddy in prison. We’re just practicing for any eventuality. You just never know.
Dmitry Guthrie killed his girlfriend over the weekend when she made fun of his ‘weenie.’ The same thing was the precipitating incident of one my favorite movies, Unforgiven. Don’t let anyone tell you any differently. Size does matter.
If I say Hitler had a small dick, who’s to disagree with me? Eva Braun is dead.
I’m going to buy direct TV. I’m tired of this indirect TV bullshit. Too much hearsay.
‘Santa Clause’ was a movie about a rancid old man who had children sign a contract guaranteeing they would do whatever he wanted in exchange for toys.
The military is an example of atavism. Why else do troops wear uniforms simulating the jungle?
I’m of two minds. My corpus callosum is fucked.
What does a wife say about her husband who leaves her for a man? “And I thought I was the cocksucker”.
Samuel L. Jackson has gotten so generic his face should be on a warning label.
‘Penetrating’ is an adjective that is often used to describe documentaries and ‘hard-hitting’ news segments. 60 minutes provides a penetrating look inside the world of an abused housewife. See? TV really does rape your mind.
I’d love to see a sign above a door that said, ‘forcible entry required.’ If it appeared above a convent, even better.
You want proof that people are always thinking of sex? One word: ‘spooning.’
It’s an unfortunate fact for deluded people that flags are made of combustible material.
‘She’s on the rag.’ No wonder rape is a common occurrence in western culture.
Note to rednecks: Keeping it ‘in the family’ is not a licence for incest. Having said that, if All In The Family had been faithful to its title, Archie Bunker should have fucked Gloria. Did you take a look at Jean Stapleton? Archie sure didn’t.
When someone answers a greeting with, “keepin’ it real,” I know that they are doing precisely the opposite. In the same way, the US is NOT the land of the free. People have gotten so detached from reality that bad now means good. He’s ‘a bad man’ means I admire him. Sick is now a positive. That was a sick concert! Unsurprisingly, people are now shitting out of their mouths instead of their assholes.
I’m tired of people referring to their baseball team in the first person, plural pronoun ‘we.’ WE didn’t win the fucking game, THEY did. YOU are suffering from an identity crisis and are delusional. Fuck YOU.
Grisly thought of the day: imagining the use of a wirebrush as a weapon. Now, that’s an example of unintended consequences that makes a day in the life of Michael Jackson look like 9 to 5.
My wife harangues me for smoking. I retort, ‘I don’t smoke a lot when I’m sleeping.”
Evidence that there are stupid people out there No. 15603. I was in a department store the other day and the employee who greets people at the escalator (yep, people really have those jobs) held me back for safety. Some workers were transporting some linked shopping carts down to the basement and she thought a hazard that was below me on a descending mobile ramp was dangerous. Apparently, the concept of how gravity works hasn’t reached some people yet. ‘Really?’ I asked in a deadened voice. She paused a moment and finally acquiesced. Moron.
You ever meet those people (usually casual acquaintances who are essentially strangers) who answer your perfunctory greeting with an exhaustive list of their problems? Please note, saying ‘how are you?’ in a bored, wooden voice is not an invitation. Do these people ever stop to think that everyone has problems, that they AREN’T ALONE IN THIS UNIVERSE? Maybe, MAYBE if I were their mother, I’d give a shit. Next time this happens, I’m going to stop them and ask for a consulting fee first. If I have to politely listen to their bullshit complaints, which aren’t really problems, I should at least get paid for it. If that’s too much to ask, hire a fuckin’ psychiatrist. People suffering from dysentry due to a lack of potable water, living next to landmines in third world countries have problems. And they never get to see psychiatrists. Psychiatrists only work with white people, apparently.
My father suggested I put my son in a modelling agency. Actually, I was thinking of selling naked pictures of my son directly to pedophiles. You can make more money that way.
“What’s for dinner, honey?” “Sauteed cow testicles.” I appreciate a woman who knows how to cook.
Some folks are expressing surprise over some guy from Sweden screen named ‘PewieDewie’ or some dinky crap like that making a shitload playing videogames online. How anyone could prefer to watch someone else do something they could do themselves is beyond their understanding. Well, considering that many people watch other people fucking, listen to other people playing music, watch other people acting like idiots and otherwise having a good time (all slapstick comedy movies), to name just a few of the voyeuristic activities industrial society engages in, I guess it’s fair to say these folks are having a real hard time adjusting.
Except for a brief burst of sunshine on Monday, May 21st 1964 at 11:43 am, black experience has been one continual thunderstorm punctuated by hurricanes.
I’d love to see a baseball team facing the bluejays, cardinals or orioles, throw down the emblematic dead bird at homeplate at the start of the game. It would be consistent with wielding a piece of dead tree.
Here are a few other measures that would improve the game:
Winning at all costs is honest and drive-directed; once acknowledged, the opportunities for hypocrisy and dishonesty diminish. For this reason, all teams will be required to have their own substance enhancing facilities complete with shady street dealers and injection booths next to the shower stalls or whirlpool.
Pitchers may sport an accessory belt for convenient retrieval of sandpaper, vaseline, tar or whatever their imagination can come up with.
MLB is pleased to introduce the latest award because there aren’t enough of them already. The team owner, player, or manager with the most bet winnings in the regular season will be honored with the Pete Rose Bettor Extraordinaire Award, to be handed out at the World Series. Pete Rose will be available all season long to offer tips and guidance on how to maximize one’s gains. We thank him for taking the time to teach the ‘younguns’ how it’s done.
Honoring the free market: Teams may rent a player in a trade to be returned to the original club after the conclusion of the World Series. These players must continue to wear their original uniform while playing for their ‘foster’ team.
Honoring the Troops: Umpires will be required to carry US Army issue Beretta 9mm pistols and army fatigues. Arguing balls and strikes are now more entertaining than ever. Players may also use their bats as nature intended. Forthwith, replays will only be deployed on shots fired.
Speeding up the game: Sub-par players will only be afforded 2 strikes. Really shitty players (ref: Sandy Leon) will be designated as automatically out. This decision is borne out by rigorous statistical testing, will not alter the outcome of the game in any fashion whatsoever, and will offer incentive to managers to field the best team possible.
MLB is still considering whether to replace maple bats with nerf foam. In the interim, MLB advises all fans who are concerned about flying bats to bring a bigger baseball glove with them to the ballpark.
Teams may kidnap opposing team players and a) hold them for ransom or b) force them to play for their team for as long as they can hold onto them. Trades of kidnapped players are permissible. Kidnapped players will play at league minimum during their period of capture, which will elicit much sympathy from the fans.
Beheadings/executions: Any death sentences for poor on-field performance should be carried out during pre-game ceremonies. Ground crews need time to erect a gallows, for example. If the method is fast (firing squad), the team may avail themselves of the 7th inning stretch. Finally, players have an incentive to earn their gargantuan salaries.
We trust these measures will meet with the approval of the depraved American public.
Now, more than ever, MLB plays by its OWN rules.
Last, Guy McPherson raises valid concerns. Unfortunately, his conclusion is just one of many that can follow from his premises.
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TR said:
All of man’s problems originate with man. I wonder if a couple of billion more could make it any worse?
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Dredd said:
Or even a couple of billion less?
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Dredd said:
Many neo-Darwinists are not going to like this either:
Dredd said:
Big oil (Oil-Qaeda) seems to not care what happens:
(What Next, Mass Depraved-Heart Murder?).
That is dumping poison into the drinking water of people who are down and out because of its worse drought.
Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and ISIL must really envy Oil-Qaeda here at the end of the age of oil.
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Apneaman said:
Been waiting for some expert to say this.
The case for letting forests burn
As climate change is fingered as a culprit behind the early rash of forest fires across northern and western Canada, experts say the most prudent approach at this stage is to, whenever possible, let the fires burn.
It’s a grim situation. But those studying the issue say the human toll of wildfire needs to be balanced against the reality that vulnerable forests are going to burn either way — especially given the mounting pressures presented by climate change.
“The question becomes, if we’ve got areas where fire can burn, the most responsible thing to do ecologically, fiscally and for long-term health is to let those fires burn,” said Toddi Steelman, executive director of the School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Saskatchewan.
“If we don’t let them burn, we have to pay that account down the line … the forest will burn eventually.”
– See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/life/islander/the-case-for-letting-forests-burn-1.1997854#sthash.TiXHcyL2.dpuf
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James said:
Took my mother to a nearby Catholic church this morning for services. Amazingly the priest said that even though we’ve “screwed-up” and the world may be a “nuclear wasteland in a hundred years” that you can still be forgiven for your “screw-up” and look forward to everlasting bliss in heaven. He also mentioned a “terminal illness” but I forgot the context. So that’s how it’s going to end, no guilt, no shame, we screwed-up but we’re sorry, you’re forgiven, now move along and don’t feel guilty about your lifestyle, your eternal reward awaits. If we sin against humans and we’re forgiven and cancer kills us, we can go to heaven. If we sin against the ecosystem and we are the cancer, then we’re forgiven and can go to heaven. Cheers, dopamine for everyone.
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jay said:
LOL! So true James. My Catholic contacts the whole environment thing might as well be Martian! 😦
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david higham said:
‘The banality of ethics in the Anthropocene’ by Clive Hamilton
see theconversation.com
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Apneaman said:
The Wettest Place in North America Is Burning
““We have a lot of fuel to burn because these forests are big and old. Some places haven’t seen fire in in over 150 years,” said Richard Hebda, curator of botany and geology at the Royal British Columbia Museum. He added that the drought-stricken forests of Vancouver Island are extra susceptible to fire due to a lack of controlled burns in recent years which usually help remove extra brush from the forest floor.
In a not-so-surprising turn of events, climate change is likely to blame. As Arctic temperatures continue to rise in the North, the Pacific coast can bank on hotter, longer, and more dangerous dry seasons becoming the new normal.”
“Over the last twenty years scientists have been talking about British Columbia becoming like California, and here we are. We’re California,” Hebda sighed. In the long term, longer, drier summers could mean losing the rainforest, the heart and soul of Pacific ecotourism, forever.
“What we’re experiencing now is the kind of future that will become the norm here within a few decades,” said climate scientist Trevor Murdock at the University of Victoria, adding that we should “still expect extreme years on top of the new normal, and [that] those extremes will be new extremes that we haven’t yet seen in recorded history.”
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-wettest-place-in-north-america-is-burning?utm_source=mbfb
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jay said:
We hide our minds and faces from the terrible fate we have visited on Earth our home but soon it will be in our faces and our delusion of separateness will burn in flames.
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xraymike79 said:
Mystery of Siberia’s 200ft-deep craters solved: Enormous holes were formed by methane eruptions triggered by melting permafrost
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david higham said:
I decided to inform the mainly clueless community at the ‘Conversation’ about reality,by giving a quick sketch of our predicament in a comment on Part two of Clive Hamilton’s ‘essay ‘The banality of ethics in the anthropocene’.
It will be interesting to see what happens. They haven’t deleted it as yet.
The resident deniers will probably relish the opportunity to attack ,or maybe it will be ignored,as too foreign to their comfortable view of the world.
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Apneaman said:
Who would a thunk it?
Wildfire season spreading
http://phys.org/news/2015-07-wildfire-season.html
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Dredd said:
Today is the anniversary of “The Storming of the Bastille.”
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Apneaman said:
What it’s like when your job is to predict the end of humanity
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/07/14/what-its-like-when-your-job-is-to-predict-the-end-of-humanity/
WTF you can actually get paid to do this? Man do I ever feel stupid now.
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TR said:
Click “SHOW MORE” under description for lyrics.
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Apneaman said:
Never heard of the guy. Awesome.
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TR said:
Check out “TROUBLE”
I find that there is more to be said in some song lyrics than most writings.
Sometimes it can be one line and at other times,all the lyrics.
Language can be a hell of a way to express an idea.I think I’ll get back to the voices in my head. Lately they’ve they been making sense.rofl
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Ex Post Facto Mortem said:
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david higham said:
I just had a read of Paul Gilding at Resilience and have stopped being concerned.The future is a rosy one of tesla batteries and electric cars and we won’t be using fossil fuels any more. And all within 15 or 30 years.No worries.
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Apneaman said:
Humanity to keep tweeting positive slogans until point of extinction
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/environment/humanity-to-keep-tweeting-positive-slogans-until-point-of-extinction-2015062299489
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TR said:
I just want to feel good all the time.I’ll close my eyes & all the bad will disappear.
My psychiatrist released me saying he couldn’t help me. rofl
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TR said:
This should have been a YouTube of Mitch Miller- “Happy Days Are Hear Again”
I refuse to responsibility for this FUBAR.
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TR said:
I think you meant “I refuse to “take”responsibility for this FUBAR.”
It doesn’t matter.I refuse to pruff read my comments.
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Apneaman said:
Humans face extinction if plant destruction continues: ‘Laws of thermodynamics have no mercy’
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/humans-face-extinction-if-plant-destruction-continues-laws-thermodynamics-have-no-mercy-1511026?utm_content=buffer99158&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
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HooRAY! said:
Here’s a list of apocalyptic movies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apocalyptic_films
Notice the list gets longer as we move to the present and beyond (up to 2019).
No mention of Transformers: Age of Extinction, which this website should consider linking to in order to boost readership. For all the talk about how the masses are still asleep, they sure are getting their doomer diet’s fill.It can be disheartening to realize this brand of thinking is neither original nor exclusive to an insightful few. It’s a brand McPherson will look into trademarking.
Plenty of people in Hollywood and publishing are profiting off the message, which is dissonant with the belief that the majority are ignorant. It seems 2030 is now the new 2000.
Speaking of 2030, you can add a mini-ice age to the clusterfuck of events supposed to happen – basically a resurrection of an old conjecture. I saw on ricefarmer that some scientists predict a lull in solar output by that time with up to 97% accuracy according to their models. No mention that no model can encompass a system this complex with any accuracy. Also, no mention of it here, I see. That would interfere with the narrative.
Americans spend about 10 hours a day plugged to electronic devices. Wow. Masturbation has never felt so good.
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xraymike79 said:
“…The heating trend since 2003 in the upper 700 meters of oceans is equivalent to nearly 1 Hiroshima atomic bomb detonation per second (plus another 3 per second in the deep oceans). Both the shallow and deep oceans are accumulating a whole lot of heat, with no signs of slowing whatsoever. If anything, the heating of the oceans and the planet as a whole is accelerating….
…A new grand solar minimum would not trigger another LIA; in fact, the maximum 0.3°C cooling would barely make a dent in the human-caused global warming over the next century. While it would be enough to offset about a decade’s worth of human-caused warming, it’s also important to bear in mind that any solar cooling would only be temporary, until the end of the solar minimum.
The science is quite clear that the human influence on climate change has become bigger than the sun’s. At this point, speculation about another mini ice age is pure fantasy.” – A grand solar minimum would barely make a dent in human-caused global warming
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HooRAY! said:
Another sobering analysis. You hear that adjective bandied about a lot in these circles. What does it imply, that humans spend most of their time drunk?
Thank god for climate change. Climate monotony is boring.
Try this question with a denialist. How do you reconcile your celebration of human ingenuity and power to mold and dominate the environent on one hand with your belief that these actions have no negative consequences on the other? If humans are so powerful, surely they have the power to fuck things up.
Climate scientists are living in the following conundrum: predicting more unpredictability. ‘Replicate this,’ reads the caption over a raised middle finger.
A spider expends a lot of energy weaving its web. It does not engage free time. It uses energy for survival. It is rewarded for its efforts. A lot of humans in the privileged sectors spend time weaving elaborate webs in their leisure with no ostensible benefit to themselves or those around them. These webs are neural pathways that end up ensnaring only themselves.
Car alarms are a wonderful invention. Right up there with screeching chalkboards, fog horns, and banshees. European culture created classical music in order to distance itself from the atrocities it unleashed on others and itself. It softened reality with abstract poignancy. Violin music makes a great addition to any chronicle of human horror.
For those who wish to bear witness, I suggest contemplation while on the crapper. You get to make a contribution at the same time.
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Apneaman said:
Wow, you read? (or just saw the title) one article on ricefarmer saying a mini ice age was coming and that was enough for you ray? No need to dig further and find out that the denier press did not read or understand it either because that fucks up your personal narrative of all predictions being equally wrong. Two days later there were at least a dozen articles ripping the press to shit for their “misinterpretation” of that conference paper. Also, no mention of it from you, I see. That would interfere with your narrative. Go cry to your mommy.
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HooRAY! said:
Mea culpa! You got me. I skipped the learning to read bit and went straight to writing. Classic put down. Ever consider you read too much? And how about some original thoughts for a change. Too busy getting your daily dose of doom, spoon-fed by the pantheon of catering bloggers? Have you intenalized the arguments to a sufficient degree that you are now a proficient acolyte qualified to spread the gospel? Go tell it on the mountain.
I don’t have time to cry when I’m having so much fun with you and the funny little groups people form. Not all predictions are equally wrong. C.f.: you are predictably upset.
What do you tell your friend going through a divorce? “Don’t worry, I have faith humans will be extinct in the near term. The bitch that cheated on you will soon be dead?” When? “In a little while.” If pressed, give a date. 2030 is a good round number.
Obviously the denial science is bogus and corrupt. The literature you consider gospel has more substance to it. But you turn it into a cult. With no songs!! You really need to write up some hymns. Don’t worry if they’re abysmal or atrocious; given the subject matter, it’s understandable.
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James said:
All the sheep are being led down the primrose path to the slaughterhouse. Keep working, enjoy your little dopamine treats and follow the herd. Apneaman has stepped off the path to get a look around and what a site it is. Apneaman speaks but, alas, most of the sheep aren’t listening and must continue walking without the time or mental faculties to verify anything. Instead they listen to authority figures with “credentials” that are themselves convinced that the entirety of humanity is headed down the right path. You won’t find the truth from those on the path. Get back in the line Apneaman, everything you saw was just another apocalypse movie, a dream. Get back in line and move along and enjoy some of the fruits along the way to the slaughterhouse before one of the true believers identifies you as an infidel.
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Ray said:
You’ve got the religious lingo down, man! Stand up, be heard, and spread the word! Try the subway station. There’s an entrance platform with your name on it.
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James said:
In a way you’re right, there’s not much sense in trying to educate anyone, they’ll get an education at the end of the path. But I’m a biologist and this is just what I do professionally. Not that I need a profession, I’m a smug elitist after all and have been observing the “path” from the sidelines for nearly five decades. It really is great not to have to work. All of that leisure time gives you lots of time to read and think, sit on the beach, read some more, write, think, unlike those that are always too busy earning a living, like your typical university professor. Get back on the path Ray, you’ll find ball games and TV shows, your favorite ice cream, a tattoo and maybe a Harley or hot rod with racin’ stripes. There is no wrong way on the path Ray, it moves in only one direction. If you ever develop a curiosity step off and take a look around.
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Ray said:
It’s ‘just’ what you do? Oh, you’re so special. No one pat you on the back lately so you’ve got to do it yourself. Surprising, since ‘higher’ education is held in such high esteem these days, particularly with the banks. Please send me your resume listing your accomplishments. In the meantime, I’ll learn to read in preparation for that watershed moment and continue to ‘just’ grow the food that feeds your parasitic ass. If the path moves in one direction, then there is a wrong way. More than one. Here’s a pin in case you ever prick the bubble of self-importance you’re enveloped in.
Why don’t you check in with Catton Jr. and Tainter and see if they espoused NTHE? You’re just a radical offshoot rushing to judgment with no tolerance for outside views. And the mainstream culture you try so hard to distance yourself from is really just a negative polarity. You’re a muppet and don’t even know it.
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James said:
Ray, why don’t you go back to work in the morning like a good little RNA and pound out some work for me. Put a little in your pension fund so I can steal it from you “legally” too. Enjoy your trip down the primrose lane.
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Ray said:
I love the condescension. It’s all in the doomer playbook. Decry the evils of TV as you stare at a computer screen. Tell me to go to sleep like the staunchest victorians to their children and then complain about how the masses are oblivious. Puritanically disavow any enjoyment that industrial society has to offer. Ice cream is an evil? Does that mean you never eat any? Tatoos? Is the world really so black and white?
If humanity is going to die off by 2030, who the hell cares what people do with themselves in the next 15 years? Collecting Kardashian toenail clippings is on par with reading Greer for all the effect it will have.
You’re a hypocrite. Probably still drive a car, too. I bet you go around looking at all the sheeple and secretly congratulating yourself on your higher awareness.
Where’s the controversy if not for your extremism? Industrial civilization is in decline. Deniers are busy denying for a reason. There’s something to deny. That, in itself, is a tacit admission. Because you are so arrogant, you can’t see it. And you call these people blind. LOL.
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xraymike79 said:
Ray says: ” I bet you go around looking at all the sheeple and secretly congratulating yourself on your higher awareness.”
Not at all. It’s quite depressing facing reality while the mainstream news talks about “when the rain comes back” (never mentioning that droughts and floods are the new normal) and reports the latest ratings-grabbing neanderthal rant by Donald Trump (as if any of these political clowns have relevance in such a dysfunctional civilization).
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Ray said:
That was directed at Mr. Biology. Not all doomers are supercilious self-promoters. It’s still fun to see a biologist put his foot in his mouth. As an added bonus, he already knows the fine art of self-penetration.
Trump could be the lead actor in the political theater. He could make a few environmentalists happy if he’d only grant woodland creatures access to his hair.
A lot of doomers must be secretly disappointed idealists. Shit, no wonder you’re down. I’m skeptical of any claims to truth or an absolute reality, however. Doomers keep talking about limits, but many don’t seem to exercise any when it comes to epistemology.
Have a good one. Hey, maybe when Apneaman comes down from the mountain, he’ll have the doomer’s 10 commandments with him. Diminishing returns will be on there, I’m sure. Plus the laws of thermodynamics.
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Ray said:
People using illiteracy as a substitute for telling someone they’re stupid is just another example of smug elitism. Illiteracy is mostly due to lack of opportunity or dyslexia. It’s also hackneyed
My mother died going the wrong way in one way traffic. She saw the sign but couldn’t read it.
Doomerism – a reactionary movement to Denialism.
Doomer: You don’t think anything’s wrong? Well, we’re all going to die – real soon, too! How about that, fuckers!!
Denialist: I deny that assertion. But if you’re right, you won’t be around to tell me ‘I told you so.’ Thank god for small mercies.
I suggest doomers hone their argument by confronting denialists head on. Visiting sport website chatrooms is a great venue for practicing polarizing views. Conferring in like-minded think tanks is another.
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xraymike79 said:
Norman Pagett is working on another post about Greece; I’m still in the process of moving to the SW desert. In the meantime, here are a few notable recent links off the beaten path of dopamine infotainment:
Another sign of catastrophic overshoot: Massive new Chinese supercity rises around Beijing. The new megalopolis, Jing-Jin-Ji, is to cover ground the size of Kansas and have a population six times larger than the New York metropolitan
Drought is just the beginning of our frightening water emergency. There is now a Third World in the First World. Growing poverty in rich countries has created an underclass that cannot pay rising water rates.
Experts: No end in sight for Washington’s historic drought. State officials say fruit and vegetable crops are smaller and are getting scorched by the sun.
A Collapsing Ecosystem Revealed in Owl Vomit
The stunning statistic that puts this year’s Alaskan wildfires in perspective: Alaska is 80% underlain by permafrost, and Canada is 50% underlain by it.
Me talking:
It’s projected that most of the permafrost in Alaska will disappear within this century, with or without fires. The worst thing the fires will do won’t be to literally melt the permafrost, but to remove the protective layer of organic matter from the permafrost surface which then allows for the elements and the sun’s rays to do their work.
Global warming, wildfires, albedo, & melting snow and ice, are all tied together in a reinforcing feedback loop
Weakened Solar Activity Could Speed Greenland Ice Melt
The troubling reason why Greenland may melt faster than expected
Global warming is causing rain to melt the Greenland ice sheet: Higher temperatures are melting Greenland ice directly, but also indirectly via increased rainfall
“That’s what worries scientists – the prospect of shocks, of sudden changes. And not just geological ones.”
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xraymike79 said:
One of the most insidious modern memes holds that war is innate, an adaptation bred into our ancestors by natural selection: New Study of Foragers Undermines Claim That War Has Deep Evolutionary Roots
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James said:
Ray is in denial, maybe because he’s underwater on his mortgage. Thanks Ray for all of those front-loaded interest payments, they’ll come in handy when my kids are traveling between Tahiti and New Zealand while yours are preparing to go to a barbecue. Ray is having a visceral reaction towards doom and judging from his almost clueless, incoherent ranting he’s not here to obtain a better understanding, but just wants to “kill the messenger.” He doesn’t believe in science or doom, because it ruins his enjoyment of life, the one with a happy ending. How can you enjoy your trip down the primrose path when you know that eventually you and your children will meet an untimely end?
“I’m skeptical of any claims to truth or an absolute reality, however.” That’s good Ray, it should give you enough wiggle room to look on the bright side while you’re traveling down the path. You can panic later or perhaps you’ll be delusional right up until the end. And then there’s heaven, all is good.
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Ray said:
I can be forgiven. Due to my RNA, I’m a lower life form. All your posturing aside, you’re still a firm believer in moral evolutionary progress.
I’m delusional because I’m not certain we’re all going to die in 15 years? I thought I didn’t have debt, but I guess I’m in yours. Thanks for deigning to clear that up.
I’m well read on the literature, dude. I have no problem with it. But I can’t help having fun at the conclusions people come up with. Look, it’s possible NTHE can happen. I wouldn’t say it’s likely in 15 years. Your belief amounts to faith. No wonder the hostile reactions I’m getting. My ‘rantings’ are heretical.
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xraymike79 said:
Ray, none of us commenting here strictly subscribe to McPherson’s 2030 extinction timeline. In fact, we think it will come much later, giving surviving humans the dubious privilege of seeing their species crash in a bottleneck event and modern civilization disintegrate into a dystopian future of high tech toxicity and low tech barbarism.
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Ray said:
Fair enough.
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James said:
You are an RNA Ray, that little pivotal molecule that works between information and tools. Just like in cells Ray, just scale it up a bit. What are you producing Ray? Students? Machine parts? Plastic straws? You go to your cell every morning in this cancer and do your job like a good little RNA and the boss says you need to grow, increase market share. There’s so much not in the literature Ray. So much you don’t know about yourself and this civilization. If you’re interested in NTHE go over to McPherson’s site, he’s got quite a gaggle of geese honking continuously about doom and extinction. I’m more interested in near term human survival, and that will require quite a few evasive maneuvers.
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Ray said:
Oh yeah, you’re the cancer ranting guy! You’re all riled up, aren’t you? That’s awesome. I’ve had more fun with you than anyone else. You made it easy. Thank you!
Survival – that’s a whole other topic. I’ve done all I can to prepare. Root cellars, stills, fermentation, off the grid, cash liquidity, manual water pumps, permaculture, you name it, but there’s still no guarantee. I had fun doing it. I stopped worrying long ago. Might as well relax. Even if you’ve done nothing, might as well still relax. Have some fun. White people are so stuck up.
As for the internet – it’s really just an interactive form of traditional TV. It’s all entertainment. Time well wasted.
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xraymike79 said:
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Apneaman said:
Yes biology and thermodynamics really are more than just a clever doomer meme.
Humans face extinction if plant destruction continues: ‘Laws of thermodynamics have no mercy’
“Humans will either go extinct or be forced to return to hunter-gatherer lifestyles if we continue to destroy Earth’s plant life, a study has found.
John Schramski, from the University of Georgia, has said our planet will become less and less hospitable as a result of plant loss, and if we do not go extinct, our lifestyles will revert to those of our ancestors 12,000 years ago.”
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/humans-face-extinction-if-plant-destruction-continues-laws-thermodynamics-have-no-mercy-1511026
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Ray said:
Of course ecological and physical principles are more than just memes. You’re using them, however, to support your belief that we’re all going to die by 2030. That conclusion does not follow.
And of course we’re all going to go extinct some day. No one knows when, though some of us think they do. But I like all the blustering and flustering about it. It’s like articulate flatulence.
By the way, I will toss your salad, but I insist on using sharp tongs and cheyenne pepper.
I like this channel. I don’t get the Doomer Channel on TV.
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Apneaman said:
You’re confusing me with Guy McPherson and solely focusing on what he says when there are plenty of researchers providing just as damming evidence. I have never said anything about 2030 or agreed with that date or that it is a certainty – just the most likely scenario since we were incapable of changing and extinction is the rule on this planet. I have no problem predicting civilization is doomed before mid century. Maybe some small band of apes will survive on some suitable island and evolve to hobbit like homo floresiensis creatures. Eventually, after millions of years, when the biosphere has recovered enough they can start their own cancerous voyage of discovery and mass consumption/destruction.
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Ray said:
You gave the opposite impression. But, hey, whatever. This post sounds reasonable except for the part that NTHE is the most likely scenario. Still seems a stretch, but why quibble over something no one knows?
Back to your regularly scheduled programming.
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Apneaman said:
Desperation breeds Magical thinking
Amid epic drought, California farmers turn to water witches
Rejected by scientists, dowsing is an ancient tradition that’s dying hard in the Central Valley’s parched fields
http://news.yahoo.com/water-witch-dowsing-california-drought-145325572.html
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Ray said:
The best books on civilization?
J.M. Roberts – a little too generalized, eurocentric.
Toynbee – exhaustive survey
Quigley – I thought his theory was more cogent than Toynbee’s. He’s rarely mentioned.
Spengler – society as an organism
Weber for bureaucracy. Also see the writings of Kafka and Murukami.
Wallerstein – World System Theory -excellent
Hornborg – probably the best of all. Wonderful synthesis of various research fields; also provides a cohesive presentation of Marxist economic/environmental criticism.
He doesn’t get the attention he deserves.
Diamond – some powerful arguments, but see Hornborg for criticisms.
Tainter was great.
Morris Berman
Mumford – not harsh enough.
Karl Polyani – great work on exposing modern forms of wage slavery.
Hedges on war is good.
Catton Jr. still wrote the best arguments for environmental decay. Everything in the peak/doomer blogosphere is largely derivative.
Ralston Saul
Ronald Wright.
So many others; can’t think of any more off the top of my head. Lots of people sounding the alarms. Don’t worry. People fuckin’ know.
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xraymike79 said:
Full study:
Human domination of the biosphere: Rapid discharge of the earth-space battery foretells the future of humankind
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James said:
200
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xraymike79 said:
Nate Hagens just discovered yesterday that America is run to a large degree by the military industrial complex:
My response:
People have been railing against the military industrial complex for decades. It’s become a cliché in pop culture. I’m flabbergasted Nate has only now discovered this seedy side of American capitalism.
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xraymike79 said:
There was a U.S. general that spelled out the problem long before Eisenhower.
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End_of_More (@End_of_More) said:
a very telling vid
thanks for sharing
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Dredd said:
Yes indeed xraymike79.
A president, congress member, cabinet member, and author of the Bill of Rights commented on it even before that:
(The Greatest Source Of Power Toxins?).
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xraymike79 said:
In an age of drought and resource depletion, America wastes 730 Football Stadiums of food every year.
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Apneaman said:
Jerry Brown’s climate warning: ‘We are talking about extinction’
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article27998554.html
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James said:
Imagine two very large conference rooms. In one room there’s a wild party happening 24 hours a day with people drinking, dancing, eating, having a great time. In the conference room across the hall is the Doom Writers Convention where fifteen people sit at tables with small piles of books beside them. The room is empty and quiet. They can hear the booming music from across the hall. Suddenly, someone enters the room and all of the doomers perk-up. “Yo, wrong door, sorry man. Hey you know where the bathroom is?” The doomers go back to listening to the raucous party across the hall.
Doomer 1: “This won’t last much longer.”
Doomer 2: “You’ve got that right. The man looks down at his watch and says, “There, just about now.”
Screaming can be heard from across the hall and someone bursts in. “Hey, man, no more booze. What the hell.” He leaves and slams the door. Next a gunshot is heard and a melee erupts, the dopamine orgy has turned into a testosterone bloodbath.
Doomer 1: “You nailed that one.”
Doomer 2: “Thank you, you want to buy a book?”
Doomer 1: “Nah, I think I’m just gonna go home.”
Doomer 2: “ Yea, before this shit gets real. Hope to see ya around.” He points to the rear exit that leads to a safe exit on the street.
The moral of the story, humans always move to the sunny side and avoid standing beneath the dark cloud for as long as possible, even though they should have read the book and exited the party early.
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xraymike79 said:
Telling Video in which Clinton gets heckled by climate change activist. She basically says why we cannot take immediate action: we need fossil fuels for the economy.
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Apneaman said:
Here’s the same clip again, but from a different camera angle.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
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xraymike79 said:
To the slaughter. Nearly all went without a protest.
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James said:
After much procrastination I’ve created a blog http://www.megacancer.com to inveigh against industrial civilization and the mindless citizenry that make it’s wheels turn. I use “Chateau” theme, hope you don’t mind xraymike, I’ve grown to like it. I only have a short experimental post up at this time, but have a much longer one I’ll put up in a few days. I thought about using the title “humanoma” but that just doesn’t have the same punch as MEGACANCER. I don’t know if I want to edify people or just vengefully make them squirm. When they begin to see the world as I do, I think they’ll squirm. I would link to your site but haven’t figured out how to do that just yet.
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Apneaman said:
I like it already, James. Edifying people only works if they want it and in this culture wanting it has become rare. Besides, vengefully making them squirm is so much more fun and lifting the veil on the illusion is a form of enlightenment in itself albeit the kind most don’t want to hear.
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david higham said:
Best of luck with your new site,James. I like the main Earth image there too..All that ancient sunlight released into space again. We just do SO well at not wasting energy.
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James said:
That’s just the afterglow of a dopamine high.
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Ann said:
I like your new site, too, James, but about that picture at the top: it’s just the northern hemisphere. You need a picture that includes the southern hemisphere, as well.
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James said:
I had to crop it and most of the cancer is in the northern hemisphere.
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Apneaman said:
Here is an interesting site I just found via Reddit. I luvs my drips.
The Dopamine Projecet
http://dopamineproject.org/
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James said:
The addicted brain, how else could it be? We’re meant to repeat rewarding behavior again and again, until the lights go out and if there’s nothing but a punishing and depressing desert in your future, take some drugs or get on an anti-depressant. I suppose you could pump up the dopamine by following somebody like Trump, hope and change, a new American century and so on, but really you could do better by flying to Vegas and imagining all of the money you’re going to win. Heaven as a reward is wonderful in that you can work your entire life to obtain it and final delivery is made in the ether. Pick your final bliss. I think for some Muslims its 23 virgins. Strangely enough for some people these beliefs may release more dopamine and cover-up more death fear than any real rewards they can set their sights on. Institutions really have learned how to milk us now for future rewards.
Politicians, clergy, employers, casino operators and many more, all sell you an imaginary future reward, just work a little harder, give a little more, just one more bet, vote for me and contribute to my campaign. At least Apple Inc. gives you a little dopamine receiver that plays music and porn and lets you compete with others to be the best gossip in your group. Is the world f’ed up?You bet it is.
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Apneaman said:
The mad food scientists and marketers at Heinz’s knew exactly what made ape dopamine drip. They even told us as they sold us.
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Apneaman said:
Louis C K nails the dopamine addiction without even mentioning dopamine.
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