The awesome excitement of total collapse

Heineken

Freakoil, I do not subscribe to the belief that money can insulate one from the changes that are coming.

During the years of the Black Death, rich and poor both died like flies.

In the future, money will just be so much paper. It's already on the way there.
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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

Shannymara · Master Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 5136 Location: Oklahoma

Ludi

I'm so not close to being a neo-leaver! But thanks, Pops. Smile

I am very much dependent on civilization, I have to admit. My steps in walking away have been and will remain, very tiny.
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"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow..." - jboogy

RdSnt

I'm glad you read that you are being at least a bit careful with your excitement. Indeed, it is exciting to be out in a storm, but only because you have the option of stepping back inside.
I don't find those who are bit buzzed about impending disaster to be at all mysterious or surprising. Without it sounding like a put-down, for the first world populations it is a sign of a lack of maturity. It's like teenagers romanticising about the Wild West, or fantasizing about being war heroes. All fun to think about it, and some even play some of it out.
But here's the rub, like the survivor tv shows, there is the option and indeed the plan to return to the comfort of the couch.

Walking off into the woods to make like a pioneer with your solar arrays and biodiesel generators sounds great. But then, when there is no comfort left to return to, then melting snow for drinking water and trying to dry wood to get it to burn, cause you couldn't be bothered getting your supply in on time, doesn't seem so quaint anymore.

For those very few who participate in these discussions, who actually, truly believe things are going to get worse, I would highly recommend you start practicing now. That means right there where you are, start conducting your lives like you've been talking.

RdSnt

There are two seeming contradictory groups of people who get excited, the naive and the experienced. Everyone else is just cannon fodder.

FreakOil, what happens when there are no jobs? What do you do then? There is an easy answer to that, you become a victim and a slave.
Those that will survive will first and foremost have skills that are of use and of value. Being good at World of Warcraft won't be one of those skills Very Happy

What can you fix? What can you make?

FreakOil

FreakOil

mos6507 · Fusion Joined: Aug 03, 2007 Posts: 3100

FreakOil

virgincrude · Heavy Crude Joined: Mar 09, 2006 Posts: 428

Having just read Roger Williams Wescott's "Predicting The Past" I'm almost persuaded the idea of general catastrophe is some kind of universal human experience, inexplicably remembered long after the original cataclysm struck earth/mankind.

The theory is that mankind suffered a planetary upheaval caused by inter-planetary movement, causing- literally- the sky to fall; tremendous deluge, geological upheaval etc., those who survived (us- as descendants) are plagued by the emotional/psychological experience which can persuasively be used to explain practically all human emotional, psychological and social problems. We are perpetually expecting and fearing another cataclysm, be it personal loss (of property, loved ones, etc.,) or more generalised social upheaval, and more recently economic catastrophe.

If you think of humanity as the victim of inexplicable (early humans) terrestrial and cosmological upheaval, it becomes easier to understand our irrationality and violence. The 'thrill' of the coming collapse is of course related to this 'genetic' memory of a collapse which threatened our survival as a species, which in its original form, most likely shared a universal consciousness, rather than our recognised ego-driven individual consciousness which now constantly yearns to bond with another. I believe it is this remnant of our original universal consciousness which forms our basic morality: it is imperative for our survival that more, rather than less, of us survive any catastrophe. Imperative in the purely technical sense (a group of able bodied men AND some fertile females being better for our survival than just one or two of each sex) and in the psychological sense (no matter how tough an individualist may be, he/she can simply die of loneliness in the long term.)

Sensing a coming change can inspire hope for a new, and better life, for the end of suffering (emotional, physical or psychological) and that's how I'd interpret excitement at the prospect, and in a relief from drudgery sense. I believe hope is the single most important human quality (I almost wrote 'emotion', how is it classified?) and the hope for survival is what will drive us through all cataclysmic events beyond our control.

Our human experience has taught us that collapse in all forms is common, difficult, but that we survive it. As survivors of interplanetary cataclysm, we are permanently traumatized, and we know that survivors of a Peak-Oil (substitute AGW, or whatever tickles you) induced collapse shall also be traumatized, so it is preferable to prepare not just personally, but prepare those around you as far as they will allow, and hope a change can be effected GRADUALLY, because sudden and total collapse can mean THE END.

RdSnt

It's good to read you are thinking of these things.
I would suggest though that doing something radical is not a good strategy. Or, to put it a different way, the more radical your shift away from your chosen lifestyle the more lead time you need so that you can step back as you discover that change doesn't fit.
In these precarious times that could be a bad choice, since we can't predict outcomes.
Work from your current strengths and interests, then "organically" expand your skill set. For instance, you mention you are a journalist and writer. Do you know how to make paper? Ink? Can you set type? Do you know what that means in the context of no power? Do you know how to setup and run a small, local newspaper?
Even in a total collapse people need to be informed, and a local paper would be critical to keeping a community together.
These ideas work from you existing skill base and expand your knowledge, not necessarily to hold you in this path but to provide a sensible avenue of exploration. None of these ideas may appeal to you, but you may discover along the way that you are good at finding a rehabilitating hand operated printing presses, or you are really good at making ink, and these would be in demand.

BigTex

We slow down to look at an accident, even though we are not happy that people may be injured. We just like seeing the cars all bent up. I don't know why that is interesting, but it is.

A life with no struggle and no suffering is dull and pointless for many people. The idea of being placed in life and death situations and forced to rely on your wits is refreshing for some who spend their days dealing with incredibly petty office or other work crap (which is the product of everyone else being bored as well).

I feel very bad for anyone who is injured or killed, and yet I find upheavel, chaos, shocks to the system and general disturbances to the herd to be very invigorating. It's like the danger taps into something primal that day to day life just doesn't reach. It's probably this impulse that makes many young people go into the military.
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Smile

Pops