How then, do we move backwards? How does a society, with most of the people having no clue of future events, move from being dependent on a vast and intertwined network of goods and services produced by the indigenous people of whereever, to a local resource and renewable energy based society, and do so in the timeframe available (20-30 years using the most liberal extimates, 10-20 with resonable estimates, 5-10 with worst case scenarios), all the while prices on everything increasing, world politics getting more militaristic, governments continuously reducing civil liberties, shortages of goods on the market and weather patterns resembling bad Hollywood movies?
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:08 am Post subject: Greetings From Idiot America
This is tangentially related to peak oil in that it's about the tendency of Americans to BELIEVE what they want when it comes to important scientific questions.
The Gut is the basis for the Great Premises of Idiot America. We hold these truths to be self-evident:
1) Any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings, or otherwise moves units.
2) Anything can be true if somebody says it on television.
3) Fact is that which enough people believe. Truth is determined by how fervently they believe it.
Anyone who takes peak oil seriously has probably asked him- or herself, "Am I on the irrational side? Am I simply 'believing' in peak oil, or is it the others, those who ignore/dismiss peak oil, who are irrational?'"
I've always placed myself firmly on the side of the skeptics, like author of the above article Charles Pierce, on the side of Dawkins, Shermer, Sam Harris, etc., and hold peak oil in the same esteem as evolution.
So why are these folks so silent on peak oil?
Is it not a simple scientific fact that you can't have infinite growth against a finite resource?
To believe is to grow. _________________ "By the time individuals discover that remaining resources will not be adequate for the next generation, the next generation has already been born. " David Price
Last edited by killJOY on Sun Aug 19, 2007 2:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: Mar 18, 2005 Posts: 2564 Location: Minnesota
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 6:41 pm Post subject: Re: Greetings From Idiot America
Killjoy, I have a friend whome I've allowed to know my PO ideas/theories...
I just talked with him today...He is convinced "this subprime mess" will all be over with in 6 months...I love this dude but i cant convince him otherwise...
What is a man to do?
I pray for him, his wife, & kids! _________________ Quis custodiet ipsos custodes.
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:45 pm Post subject: Re: Greetings From Idiot America
RonMN wrote:
Killjoy, I have a friend whome I've allowed to know my PO ideas/theories...
I just talked with him today...He is convinced "this subprime mess" will all be over with in 6 months...I love this dude but i cant convince him otherwise...
I have a similar friend, when I showed him the other day about how the sub-prime was blowing apart he said "They'll fix it". My response of "yes, with your money" fell on deaf ears.
Save yourselves people, there is no hope for the rest of humanity _________________ Angry yet?
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Facts are meaningless, they can be used to prove anything"
