[DesuMaiden]

Yes or no? And please explain why you like me or not? How can I improve as a member of this site?

[MD]

You are fine.

To improve your experience:

-Do more research.
-Try not to repeat your point multiple times in the same post with the same words.
-Slow down and think it through.

[DesuMaiden]

You are fine.

To improve your experience:

-Do more research.
-Try not to repeat your point multiple times in the same post with the same words.
-Slow down and think it through.

Thanks for the advice man

[Pops]

You are asking the very same questions I and any number of others asked when the idea dawned on us.

You ask very basic, open ended questions so you usually get well reasoned responses, much better than most who make a flat assertion so invite nothing but argument. We have grown a little calcified over the years and many of the posts and posters have long since become completely predictable, riding the same old hobby horses down the same old streams of consciousness. Your questions get good answers - except maybe from the folks with saddle sores, LOL

So I'll give you an A+ for adding to the discussion without poking anyone in the eye.

[JuanP]

Desu, You are welcome here, as far as I am concerned. The questions you ask are pertinent and relevant. I asked myself the same questions when I started learning about this things. I always look forward to reading your comments. I like that you are so young, most of us here are older and more rusty. We need more women, minorities, and young people on this forum.
I am particularly curious about how people your age and younger regard these issues. You can provide us with a younger perspective, and I definitely appreciate that. One thing for you to elaborate more on your comments, IMO, could be the youth's perspective on the ongoing crises.

[Ibon]

Desu, I have shared your videos with my daughters and her friends. As JuanP mentioned we need inputs from young people. Your videos for example probably reach other young people far better than Oil Drum cerebral analysis ever could !

[ROCKMAN]

By far we need more young farts here. As has been said the old farts here keep repeating themselves. With new youthful members we can claim that as the reason instead of a result of the onset of dementia. Right, pops? LOL.

[sparky]

.
If you are after approval , it is a slippery slope , go with the consensus
If you want respect bring cogent thoughts , doesn't matter if they don't quite hold water ,
sincerity is noted and appreciated

[radon1]

When people first learn about peak oil or some other "resource limits" stuff they may get very worried or sometimes even shocked. They may think that all of a sudden they face "doom". But in fact, they do not face doom. Doom is just *a* narrative (narrative being a description of phenomena, not propaganda). What they really face is not doom, it is uncertainty. They suddenly discover that nothing is certain that the world as they know it, and that this world is in no way guaranteed to go on into the future in the way they know it. This may put them under lots of stress.

Uncertainty has been one of the greatest horrors and challenges that the humans and other living organisms have had to cope with from the very beginning. Because it has always been associated with danger. Think about the dark of night full of hungry predators, or natural disasters and other terrible things that could suddenly and inexplicably descend on them, seemingly out of the blue.

In order to deal with uncertainty, living beings developed a number of protection mechanisms, such as anxiety, mimicking etc. Some of these mechanisms are extremely old and deeply entrenched. We might be unaware how strongly we may be driven by them, and how difficult to resist them because of their role in evolution. An important example of such a mechanism is herd behavior. Herds are far more potent in addressing uncertainty than individual beings. Hence individual beings tend to seek to join a herd, or a group, thinking about shelter but in fact looking for *certainty*.

Humans' main distinction from animals is sentience. That distinction may interact with those protection mechanisms in a number of ways. One important way - is that these mechanisms can be exploited, consciously or unconsciously. Someone may seek to plant an idea in your head in order to achieve their goals, just as they did in the movie "Inception", but obviously by other means. This is an act commonly known as "manipulation". An example of a mass-planted idea can be the consumerist fever in the society (though this one is not directly related to the issue at hand).

Or, seeking to flee from uncertainty, you yourself may unconsciously plant an idea in your own head, an act known as "rationalization". You pick up or construct *a* narrative that provides you with *certainty* as far as you position in present and future is concerned. It does not matter which specific narrative you pick up, what is important is that you have now seemingly beaten the uncertainty, and are back within your comfort zone of *certainty*. This victory is an illusion, of course, but for the most it is fine.

Doom, as any narrative, may prove to be just this kind of a stimulant of avoidance behavior. It does not have to, but it may. All of a sudden, you are no longer responsible for your actions, because the future is clear, and it is *doom* (or *cornucopia* depending on your choice). You now have a luxurious illusion of certainty, and do not have to think about your actions as they are now pre-determined. Just follow whatever herd that you have decided to join. Stress is gone.

So, what's important, is to understand yourself first, before digging deeper into the depths of doom or reaching the heights of cornucopia. How you react to ideas, how others do, and why this is the case. Is this you dealing with uncertainty, or uncertainty dealing with you.

There is no way we can distinguish "narratives" from objective reality, but some basic tests may help. People tend to react similarly to the things objective, like pain or hunger, and very differently to narratives. Some got deeply involved with *doom" once they learn about it, while others dismiss it out of hand and forget about it.

[SeaGypsy]

Probably a majority of the core posters here had a flurry of topic posts and made similar errors in the sense described by MD and Pops, at least at some points. Also it's not very important to be liked. Your energy and enthusiasm for the topics is great, fresh. You may become canon fodder as many have, or you may become one of the rusted on relics like yours truly (not to offend the dinosaurs been round way longer lol)

[MonteQuest]

Desu, Know your audience. Many of us have been on here for years as evidenced by our join date and posts. Read as much of us "ol'farts" as you can. Get a perspective on our views. You'll avoid "preaching to Noahs about the flood."

Second, do your homework, both here and with google.

You start a lot of threads with little time between postings. You may find it difficult to keep up with them.

Otherwise, you ask pertinent questions and seem very personable.

PS...get thick-skinned.