Diesel fuel is the lifeblood of this oh-so high-tech civilization of ours. Without it there is no mining, no transportation, no agriculture. At least not at any meaningful scale. Contrary to all the happy talk of electrification reducing oil demand, there is no replacement for this incredibly energy dense and versatile fuel. The problem is: we seem to be unable to make enough diesel to satisfy demand, and the prospect of running on empty one day starts to look very much real. Are we at the end of the world, witnessing the onset of a “
Thanks for all your writing efforts, appreciated, and glad to read you quoting from Dr Tim - his SEEDS model is invaluable. There is a cadre of like minded de-growth writers I hope this growing collective voice is heard more widely.
Here's some sharing... there's no such thing as de-growth. Things grow... then they shrivel and die. So it follows that a "growing collective" will also shrivel and die... until the next cheap to extract energy source arrives on the scene.
Have you heard of concepts such as 'physics' and 'thermodynamics' and 'mining geology' and that the earth has a finite volume?
Apparently not, thus it is little surprise you rely on such vague nonsense such as: "the next cheap to extract energy source arrives on the scene."
Engineers who will be building machines that rely on such improbable wish full thinking will be asking you: Where? What? How? Until you come up with solid workable answers, please just quietly sit in the corner and learn from others who exhibit more wisdom than you do.
People like me... who quietly, humbly, sit in the corner learning from others about physics, thermodynamics, mining geology and the latest advances in science and technology and geopolitics for the last twenty years have a fairly good idea of what all the existing narratives are and also how much manipulation, gaslighting, and downright deception is happening on a universal scale.
Having read all the doomer energy/collapse blogs for the last ten years and some of the historical background from that camp... it's clear to me that the conclusions are not as grounded in physics or economic reality as that camp (and it's cult-like true believers) would like to think. There is a darkly religious nihilistic energy surrounding the doom and gloom collapse community even though they like to brush that claim off.
Wisdom is knowing that you don't know everything but if you ignore the blatant signals and narrative build up that has been going on for decades now then you're leaving out a huge chunk of the story.
Earth is not a closed system.
The mantra of finite resources on a finite Earth do not apply.
Thermodynamics as applicable to a closed system do not apply.
Radical restructuring of human life plus AI, robotics, materials science does apply and may not be to everyone's taste but presents a way forward. Malthusians need not apply.
Claiming there have been "blatant signals and narrative build up that has been going on for decades" and claiming you have been "quietly, humbly, sit[ting] in the corner learning from others about physics" does not in the slightest justify your chanting that: "Earth is not a closed system" [*] and that "[t]he mantra of finite resources on a finite Earth do not apply" - such a diatribe is mutually contradictory nonsense.
Such confused thinking will be your downfall - that's all for now folks!
[*] apart from whatever electromagnetic radiation spectrum and gravitational effects from the sun and the rest of the universe, and a few meteorites here and there, yes the Earth is a closed system in any reasonable time scale applicable to human beings' short spell on this pale blue dot.
I've written similar and it all sounds very logical at first glance but we should remember that discoveries, change, evolution and adaptation do not necessarily follow human logic. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were some plug and play solutions waiting in the wings, ready to be rolled out when the time was right and accompanied by just the right excuse as cover. What if the fossil fuel game had to be milked as much as possible before the alternatives could take over? What if the doom and gloom story is just that... another story that serves a certain demographic and mindset while others are kept ticking along with hopium until the big reveal? I suspect a "discovery" will materialize just at the right time and even though it takes a while to make adjustments the news of the "new arrival" will keep the cogs turning and the optimism flowing for the required decades during a period of transition.
Well... technology is like magic in the end. Just in case you're unaware of this narrative... this is actually the "official" narrative behind the scenes. It's nothing new and I'm just reiterating it here because it seems that some people choose to ignore the messaging. We are being subjected to a grand puppet show. If that's not clear to people by now... well just wait and see. But the game has always been one of keeping certain cards close to chest until they are required on the grand chessboard. We have been teased with black project tech out of American labs for decades. They are feigning weakness when they are actually preparing to roll out the big guns. The details about population size and control of resources will shift accordingly and a new equilibrium will be established. The neo-malthusians will have to eat dirt and scrape the egg off their faces... again.
I would respectfully advise you see someone about your mental health: "they" do not have access to a concealed set of the laws of physics, and engineering is not a hidden activity.
Your insults just continue to prove my point... that you have no real arguments.
People that worry about others state of mental health are usually the ones struggling with reality inventing all kinds of mythical predicaments that unsurprisingly and very closely mimic religious obsession with end times prophetic outcomes leading to mass death and destruction.
And nothing will dissuade you from your vision because you're married to it now. It has become inevitable in your mind. An unsolvable predicament.
I'd like to believe They have an Alternative To Diesal Energy waiting in the wings to be implemented when diesal can no longer do the work - but why are they herding us into the Global Digital (Total Surveillance) Prison in which we'll own nothing (no private transport except, maybe, horses), and can no longer fly anywhere ?
It's like, if They have those much believed Directed Energy Weapons (DEW), and mega-devices that can control The Weather, can Cause Earthquakes, why havent They used them on those pesky Ruskies and Chinese, taking out Moscow and Peking ?
It's all theater. Left, right, east west, fossil fuel depletion, renewables salvation all form part of the Grand Punch and Judy show which serves to move certain pieces on the chessboard into new positions. Land grabs in the Eurasian territory preparing for massive exploitation, and Africa too.
It's not just the overt exposition of weapons technology and space based activity, cyber networks and the shifting sands of robotics, AI, materials science (that are still in developmental stages) food production methods and consumption habits, construction and transportation are also shifting to new models.
Again, we have to infer that the US really does possess "knockout, checkmate, game over" level weapons systems and that Russia and China would be brought to their knees if need be. The current narrative dished out to the hoi poloi is that America is weak and imploding due to resource collapse, inflation, enemy infiltration etc. But all of that can be reversed "in the blink of an eye" when the US military takes out the trash in Washington DC.
So... the "herding" and the "beating us over the head with a stick" and all the other heavy handed and deliberately overt activity we are being subjected to form part of this theatrical production. It's a boogeyman. An effective one. That's not to say that the cycles of life are not in effect. Of course they are and the chess players are fully aware of the natural demise that will unfold for much of the world but they have strategically prepared for this and will capitalize on the unfolding events by appearing as the saviors of mankind. What better way to stay on top as the new world unfolds. That's why they have to drive people to the brink and show their dystopian hand. People will gradually "wake up" and reject this dark outcome and accept the better alternative when it is offered up.
Obviously, the narrative of renewables and EVs along with "save the planet from evil CO2" were a stop gap hopium injection that served the purpose of getting the ball rolling and maintaining global economic activity at survival levels until "the great reveal."
Convid served a similar purpose (just the next card thrown on the table) of keeping the pharmaceutical industry ticking and the general economy alive. This may repeat again this winter but it's not clear that it'll go another round. Psyop has lost its novelty effect.
So... war it is then. Some of it for real and the rest following a "wag the dog" pattern with the eventual arrival on the scene of the "big guns" surprise package.
While I accept that there must be a Base Level of existence from which everything emerges, properties such as hoomins and their imagination are emergent too. Many animals developed basic levels of "imagination" to guess what happens next. We have taken it further and while we certainly enjoy our story telling capabilities it is now impacting our ability to reason and see things clearly. Many hoomins are stuck in the bubbles of imaginative storytelling that were fed to them since birth and seem unable to break free. Oh well... we'll just have to work around it.
While the masses outnumber the few at the core of hoomin activity, the few have mastered the arts of manipulation, hypnosis, indoctrination, mental chemical "castration" and so on to the point where they have maintained their control over the masses for thousands of years, more or less.
This appears to be changing though. A new system wants to have a go. Pieces have to be shifted around so that it all appears natural but really the same players will be pulling the strings.
No, insulin makes cell walls permeable, so that glucose can get in and give energy to the cell. I don't know what that would be analogous to.
Now, back to finish the rest of the article. 🙂
Thank you B🙏
Thanks for all your writing efforts, appreciated, and glad to read you quoting from Dr Tim - his SEEDS model is invaluable. There is a cadre of like minded de-growth writers I hope this growing collective voice is heard more widely.
Why? What will it achieve?
The first step on any journey is sharing.
Here's some sharing... there's no such thing as de-growth. Things grow... then they shrivel and die. So it follows that a "growing collective" will also shrivel and die... until the next cheap to extract energy source arrives on the scene.
Arguing semantics isn't very persuasive - frankly who give a $hit what the down slope of a population / resources curve is called?
One civilizations downslope is anothers opportunity.
And yet our current situation is more likely to follow the path of transformation revealing even more paths that we never thought possible.
Have you heard of concepts such as 'physics' and 'thermodynamics' and 'mining geology' and that the earth has a finite volume?
Apparently not, thus it is little surprise you rely on such vague nonsense such as: "the next cheap to extract energy source arrives on the scene."
Engineers who will be building machines that rely on such improbable wish full thinking will be asking you: Where? What? How? Until you come up with solid workable answers, please just quietly sit in the corner and learn from others who exhibit more wisdom than you do.
Arrogance and hubris will be your downfall.
People like me... who quietly, humbly, sit in the corner learning from others about physics, thermodynamics, mining geology and the latest advances in science and technology and geopolitics for the last twenty years have a fairly good idea of what all the existing narratives are and also how much manipulation, gaslighting, and downright deception is happening on a universal scale.
Having read all the doomer energy/collapse blogs for the last ten years and some of the historical background from that camp... it's clear to me that the conclusions are not as grounded in physics or economic reality as that camp (and it's cult-like true believers) would like to think. There is a darkly religious nihilistic energy surrounding the doom and gloom collapse community even though they like to brush that claim off.
Wisdom is knowing that you don't know everything but if you ignore the blatant signals and narrative build up that has been going on for decades now then you're leaving out a huge chunk of the story.
Earth is not a closed system.
The mantra of finite resources on a finite Earth do not apply.
Thermodynamics as applicable to a closed system do not apply.
Radical restructuring of human life plus AI, robotics, materials science does apply and may not be to everyone's taste but presents a way forward. Malthusians need not apply.
Claiming there have been "blatant signals and narrative build up that has been going on for decades" and claiming you have been "quietly, humbly, sit[ting] in the corner learning from others about physics" does not in the slightest justify your chanting that: "Earth is not a closed system" [*] and that "[t]he mantra of finite resources on a finite Earth do not apply" - such a diatribe is mutually contradictory nonsense.
Such confused thinking will be your downfall - that's all for now folks!
[*] apart from whatever electromagnetic radiation spectrum and gravitational effects from the sun and the rest of the universe, and a few meteorites here and there, yes the Earth is a closed system in any reasonable time scale applicable to human beings' short spell on this pale blue dot.
I've written similar and it all sounds very logical at first glance but we should remember that discoveries, change, evolution and adaptation do not necessarily follow human logic. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were some plug and play solutions waiting in the wings, ready to be rolled out when the time was right and accompanied by just the right excuse as cover. What if the fossil fuel game had to be milked as much as possible before the alternatives could take over? What if the doom and gloom story is just that... another story that serves a certain demographic and mindset while others are kept ticking along with hopium until the big reveal? I suspect a "discovery" will materialize just at the right time and even though it takes a while to make adjustments the news of the "new arrival" will keep the cogs turning and the optimism flowing for the required decades during a period of transition.
Ah! Magic will save us - "during a period of transition" to, erm.... Magic!
Well... technology is like magic in the end. Just in case you're unaware of this narrative... this is actually the "official" narrative behind the scenes. It's nothing new and I'm just reiterating it here because it seems that some people choose to ignore the messaging. We are being subjected to a grand puppet show. If that's not clear to people by now... well just wait and see. But the game has always been one of keeping certain cards close to chest until they are required on the grand chessboard. We have been teased with black project tech out of American labs for decades. They are feigning weakness when they are actually preparing to roll out the big guns. The details about population size and control of resources will shift accordingly and a new equilibrium will be established. The neo-malthusians will have to eat dirt and scrape the egg off their faces... again.
I would respectfully advise you see someone about your mental health: "they" do not have access to a concealed set of the laws of physics, and engineering is not a hidden activity.
Your insults just continue to prove my point... that you have no real arguments.
People that worry about others state of mental health are usually the ones struggling with reality inventing all kinds of mythical predicaments that unsurprisingly and very closely mimic religious obsession with end times prophetic outcomes leading to mass death and destruction.
And nothing will dissuade you from your vision because you're married to it now. It has become inevitable in your mind. An unsolvable predicament.
Which of course is absolute horseshit.
I'd like to believe They have an Alternative To Diesal Energy waiting in the wings to be implemented when diesal can no longer do the work - but why are they herding us into the Global Digital (Total Surveillance) Prison in which we'll own nothing (no private transport except, maybe, horses), and can no longer fly anywhere ?
It's like, if They have those much believed Directed Energy Weapons (DEW), and mega-devices that can control The Weather, can Cause Earthquakes, why havent They used them on those pesky Ruskies and Chinese, taking out Moscow and Peking ?
The only 'discovery that will materialise at the right time' is the next 'covid' variant...
It's all theater. Left, right, east west, fossil fuel depletion, renewables salvation all form part of the Grand Punch and Judy show which serves to move certain pieces on the chessboard into new positions. Land grabs in the Eurasian territory preparing for massive exploitation, and Africa too.
It's not just the overt exposition of weapons technology and space based activity, cyber networks and the shifting sands of robotics, AI, materials science (that are still in developmental stages) food production methods and consumption habits, construction and transportation are also shifting to new models.
Again, we have to infer that the US really does possess "knockout, checkmate, game over" level weapons systems and that Russia and China would be brought to their knees if need be. The current narrative dished out to the hoi poloi is that America is weak and imploding due to resource collapse, inflation, enemy infiltration etc. But all of that can be reversed "in the blink of an eye" when the US military takes out the trash in Washington DC.
So... the "herding" and the "beating us over the head with a stick" and all the other heavy handed and deliberately overt activity we are being subjected to form part of this theatrical production. It's a boogeyman. An effective one. That's not to say that the cycles of life are not in effect. Of course they are and the chess players are fully aware of the natural demise that will unfold for much of the world but they have strategically prepared for this and will capitalize on the unfolding events by appearing as the saviors of mankind. What better way to stay on top as the new world unfolds. That's why they have to drive people to the brink and show their dystopian hand. People will gradually "wake up" and reject this dark outcome and accept the better alternative when it is offered up.
Obviously, the narrative of renewables and EVs along with "save the planet from evil CO2" were a stop gap hopium injection that served the purpose of getting the ball rolling and maintaining global economic activity at survival levels until "the great reveal."
Convid served a similar purpose (just the next card thrown on the table) of keeping the pharmaceutical industry ticking and the general economy alive. This may repeat again this winter but it's not clear that it'll go another round. Psyop has lost its novelty effect.
So... war it is then. Some of it for real and the rest following a "wag the dog" pattern with the eventual arrival on the scene of the "big guns" surprise package.
But it does seem like the more impotent we feel that we are the more power we project onto Them...
Is it likely God gave hoomins imaginations - knowing hoomin's imaginations would be a most effective way to keep hoomins in their place ?
While I accept that there must be a Base Level of existence from which everything emerges, properties such as hoomins and their imagination are emergent too. Many animals developed basic levels of "imagination" to guess what happens next. We have taken it further and while we certainly enjoy our story telling capabilities it is now impacting our ability to reason and see things clearly. Many hoomins are stuck in the bubbles of imaginative storytelling that were fed to them since birth and seem unable to break free. Oh well... we'll just have to work around it.
While the masses outnumber the few at the core of hoomin activity, the few have mastered the arts of manipulation, hypnosis, indoctrination, mental chemical "castration" and so on to the point where they have maintained their control over the masses for thousands of years, more or less.
This appears to be changing though. A new system wants to have a go. Pieces have to be shifted around so that it all appears natural but really the same players will be pulling the strings.
An honest assessment that’s important for people to understand.
An excellent article B. Many thanks