asg70 wrote: But since so many people are so attached to the idea of collapse they can't abide any good news.
Those attached to "collapse", doomers for lack of a better term really, can't SEE good news. Peak oil caused glut and low prices, rejoice! "Nah...we're all gonna die." New technologies and power for your transport means that even if peak oil happens, you won't have to give up drag racing away from street lights, cruising the burger joints of commuting to work! Rejoice! "Nah...as soon as it costs more than $40 to fillup my Suburban that I really need to get potting soil at Lowes to build my food forest in my backyard..we're all gonna die." Peak demand is right around the corner, we aren't even going to be using as much oil in the near future, so it can peak and it won't bother anybody. Rejoice! "Nah..if we solve peak oil than <climate change, comet collisions, Carrington events, gamma bursts, alien overlords> will fill in for it, and we're all gonna die."
I think the reason for the fascination is that they are facing their own mortality, and they project it into the world around them rather than accept reality. It isn't the world or humans that are going to die, but each of us, individually, at some point in time. And that is hard to think about, so it manifests itself in collapse belief. Which is why no facts are required, history doesn't matter, critical thinking must be abandoned in favor of ....belief.