The Next Dark Age?

In the post Peak Oil and a Brick Wall I discussed briefly how peak oil is upon us. So what does this mean. Peak oil itself is not important, we will feel it when demand exceeds supply. That won’t happen gradually

The slave society of the Roman hegemony was replaced by the manorial society. The slaves became serfs who although they were still bound to the lord of the manor had rights in addition to duties. Unlike the slaves the serfs were full members of their communities who elected their own officials, made and enforced their own laws and made everyday work decisions. In fact the majority were living better lives than many of the citizens of Rome a few decades before. Labor was no longer scorned or cheap so there was technological innovation to improve productivity. Examples of that innovation include wind and water mills, the heavy wheeled plow and a harness that increased the tractive power of draft animals. Increased productivity meant increasing products and a growing economy. This set Europe up for the Industrial Revolution.

As we can see the original Dark Age wasn’t that dark and resulted in a new paradigm that was positive. This Dark Age will be more painful. The world after the fall of the Roman Empire did not depend on a depleted resource (oil) and there were no over population issues. We live in an incredibly complex society with a growing population and a financial system that requires constant economic growth. The problem is