Joined: Sep 03, 2007 Posts: 620 Location: Sunny Virginia, USA
Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 9:54 am Post subject: Re: Culture Change
AWPrime wrote:
My question to the Americans here:
How will American culture change because of Peak Oils and a reduced hegemony?
First, you have two questions here. I'll give you you my opinion on each separately.
How will American culture change because of Peak Oil?
Will the "free to go anywhere at anytime" aspect of our culture change? I doubt it. Freedom to move about is one of the defining characteristics of the US. If technology steps up to the plate, eventually we'll have alternatives for movement and while adjustments will be made, they'll be minor.
Under a medium crash, there will be some die-out but likely more do to illness, environment or violence than starvation. As long as the crash is not too hard we'll maintain a society much like we had in the 50's (but hopefully without the racial and "Leave it to Beaver " naivete issues of that time). This will not change the freedom of movement as much as limit the distance traveled. In that case, we'll become a more localized society and begin to come together socially and those remaining will connect with others like never before.
If the grid goes down, that means communications pretty much goes down with it. We'll revert back to the rugged individualism that was the hallmark of American society. Gone will be the mamby-pamby cradle to grave coddling. Gone will be the ever watchful and increasingly invasive federal government.
In all but the soft landing, I see the state governments becoming more powerful and the federal government becoming smaller and more focused on "defending from all enemies foreign and domestic". We'll still have an air force, there will still be Nukes and missiles to deliver them, and we'll still have an army overseas meddling in other people's business. Only the hardest of crashes would change that (a la Deep Impact, Mad Max, Damnation Alley, The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day, or 28 Days Later... your choice).
In all but the softest of landings, I see the population growing self sufficient and community based. There will always be a danger of an "outsiders are unwelcome" attitude, but time will fix that.
Now, regarding the issue of hegemony. The closer we get to the hard crash, the more we'll probably revert to regional stereotypes. Will we revert back to racial and religious intolerance? In some areas it will come to pass since the spectre of Black Suburbans will fade the closer we come to a hard crash. Given a small enough group, they will sink to the lowest common denominator in their attitudes of race, gender and religion. Larger, more diverse groups will have a better chance to avoid intolerance.
In summary, the farther we go down the per capita energy scale, the more localized and independant each of us will become. If we lose the lessons of our history, it will not be difficult to map out what the future will be like. Without energy and the fear of the black suburban, people will find that freedom is defined as the choice between working and starving. As cruel as that lesson may be, it is none the less a truism in an energy starved world. _________________ When somebody makes a statement you don't understand, don't tell him he's crazy. Ask him what he means. -- Otto Harkaman, Space Viking
Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 3:17 am Post subject: Re: Culture Change
jlw61 wrote:
Will the "free to go anywhere at anytime" aspect of our culture change? I doubt it. Freedom to move about is one of the defining characteristics of the US. If technology steps up to the plate, eventually we'll have alternatives for movement and while adjustments will be made, they'll be minor.
Actually that is already changing. I am with a group of demo players who often do Cons and I have noticed that many American members will now only go to one con a year. And this is just the beginning. _________________ Fighting technobabble and Woo Woos.
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