The awesome excitement of total collapse

like_the_dinosaurs

It's pretty normal allthough someday's my feelings change as to how it is a good thing or not.

One thing is for sure they will be talking about this time in history for god knows how long. Something which as far as we know, has never happened on this scale before.

I guess it's like having a loved one die, people react in very different ways.

Heineken

The moment disaster becomes personal, the fun ends. The giggling ceases.

I don't feel excitement at the prospect of total collapse so much as anger---anger at the foolishness, stupidity, and greed that have brought us to this brink.

Also, I'm damned scared. I know that there's a very good chance I will be a participant in future nightmares, not merely an entertained spectator.
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"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother

anarky321

kokoda · Heavy Crude Joined: Aug 24, 2006 Posts: 420

Those very same profiteering scumbags that are making a fortune selling oil will be the same profiteering scumbags selling you week old mouldy bread after peakoil.

Nothing will get better after peakoil. There is certainly nothing to get excited about.

Nano

I don't follow you threadbear.

There will be no 'spectacular climax' during this collapse IMO. It will be slow and wrenching. I'm not even confident that Peak Oil is even ever going to be identified as the true fundamental problem. People will continu to talk about trade imbalances, corrupt governance, trade unions, recession, inflation, immigration, war, globalisation/isolationism, etc. as being the cause of any problems, even as the hubbert curve for world production is traced out through the decades to come. Cheap oil's irreplaceability, the nature of sub-surface geology and the limits of science/technology will never be broadly accepted as being the key problem.

Like an AIDS-patient on medication, humanity is going to be slowly receding, wasting and becoming more impotent every year going forward. There will be all sorts of temporary fixes, cures, defibrilations, drips and therapy's, but none will do the job and hopes will rise and be dashed continually. It will be painfull, difficult and tragic and there will be no climaxes and no catharsis.

Zardoz

anarky321

what we have here is an interesting combination of economic events all happening in sync, and while by itself peak oil is perfectly manageable (with about 6 billion less people), peak oil + global warming + peak food + global overpopulation + very strong global recession (guarranteed at this point, and not peak related) together will make it a very miserable century for alot of people

i personally am looking forward to it, and while it wont be an overnight thing, some big changes are coming and they are long overdue imho, so dont count on total world collapse but there will be plenty of partial collapse to go around

pstarr

Narz

I'm curious but not excited. I'm not ready yet so I have to say I hope you doomsterbaters have to wait at least another year & a half.
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threadbear · Expert Joined: Jan 22, 2005 Posts: 7233

Allow me to clarify. The prospect of economic "collapse" gives me that curious feeling of excitement (not environmental collapse or other forms of collapse) This is likely how people felt in East Germany before the iron curtain came down. East Germany, though still a troubled region, is likely vastly better off than it was, pre-Glasnost. Changing political systems was a wrenching miserable experience for many, but they got through it, and it's better. They've gone from totalitarian Communism to Democratic Socialism.

The American system, subject to economic pressure, will change. I don't know how it will change, but almost anything is better than the system they have now, which is neither really Democratic, nor Socialist, and about as far from Libertarian as one could imagine.

Americans are going to be forced to turn to each other and away from the television when things get tough. Ironically, in a series of paradoxes, it's the pursuit of freedom and independence, which will invigorate healthy, voluntary interdependence within communities. Constrained financial situation will force people to quit consuming and curtail their driving, which will be good for the planet and great for them.

The only concern I have is for people who are living in areas occupied by seriously dumb fu**ers, who will select themselves out of the gene pool, by reacting in a predictably retarded way to extreme stress.

Do I feel sorry for these people? Ummm....not really, because many of them are mean, as well as stupid. But I derive no glee from imagining them suffer, though I do think the world will be a better place without them.

A caveat here--I don't actually think that many people meet this criteria. A lot of people are simply dumbed down by popular culture and will be forced to change in an economically constrained environment.

I see poverty and involuntary constraints on spending as the only way out of the mess we're in. It gives me both hope and dread. That's almost dictionary definition of the term, "excitement."

roccman

threadbear · Expert Joined: Jan 22, 2005 Posts: 7233

Heineken

I don't think this is T-bear thinking at its best. The point is too muddy to see. Beyond that . . .

Many among the ignorant who die will also be innocent---babies, children, adolescents. The sick and infirm. Pet dogs and cats. Zoo and farm animals.

I keep thinking of the movie "On the Beach."
_________________
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother

threadbear · Expert Joined: Jan 22, 2005 Posts: 7233