Humanity has struggled to survive through the millennia in terms of Nature’s tendency to balance population size with food supply. The same is true now, but population numbers have been soaring for over a century. Oil, the limiting factor, is close to or beyond its peak extraction. Without ample, free-flowing oil, it will not be possible to support a population of several billion for long. Without fossil fuels for fertilizer and pesticides, as well as for cultivating and harvesting, crop yields drop by more than two-thirds (Pimentel, 1984; Pimentel & Hall, 1984; Pimentel & Pimentel, 2007).

Over the next few decades, there will be famine on a scale many times larger than ever before in human history. It is possible, of course, that warfare and plague, for example, will take their toll to a large extent before famine claims its victims. The distinctions, in any case, can never be absolute: often “war + drought = famine” (Devereux, 2000, p. 15), especially in sub-Saharan Africa, but there are several other combinations of factors.

Although, when discussing theories of famine, economists generally use the term “neo-malthusian” in a derogatory manner, the coming famine will be very much a case of an imbalance between population and resources. The ultimate cause will be fossil-fuel depletion, not government policy (as in the days of Stalin or Mao), warfare, ethnic discrimination, bad weather, poor methods of distribution, inadequate transportation, livestock diseases, or any of the other variables that have often turned mere hunger into genuine starvation.

The increase in the world’s population has followed a simple curve: from about 1.7 billion in 1900 to over 7 billion today. A quick glance at a chart of world population growth, on a broader time scale, shows a line that runs almost horizontally for thousands of years, and then makes an almost vertical ascent as it approaches the present. That is not just an amusing curiosity. It is a shocking fact that should have awakened humanity to the realization that something is dreadfully wrong.

Mankind is always prey to its own “exuberance,” to use Catton’s term. That has certainly been true of population growth. In many cultures, “Do you have any children?” or, “How many children do you have?” is a form of greeting or civility almost equivalent to “How do you do?” or, “Nice to meet you.” World population growth, nevertheless, has always been ecologically hazardous. With every increase in human numbers we are only barely able to keep up with the demand: providing all those people with food and water has not been easy. We are always pushing ourselves to the limits of Earth’s ability to hold us (Catton, 1982).

Even that is an understatement. No matter how much we depleted our resources, there was always the sense that we could somehow “get by.” But in the late twentieth century we stopped getting by. It is important to differentiate between production in an “absolute” sense and production “per capita.” Although oil production, in “absolute” numbers, kept climbing — only to decline in the early twenty-first century — what was ignored was that although that “absolute” production was climbing, the production “per capita” reached its peak in 1979 (BP, annual).

The unequal distribution of resources plays a part. The average inhabitant of the US consumes far more than the average inhabitant of India or China. Nevertheless, if all the world’s resources were evenly distributed, the result would only be universal poverty. It is the totals and the averages of resources that we must deal with in order to determine the totals and averages of results. For example, if all of the world’s arable land were distributed evenly, in the absence of mechanized agriculture each person on the planet would still have an inadequate amount of farmland for survival: distribution would have accomplished very little.

We were always scraping the edges of the earth, but we are now entering a far more dangerous era. The main point to keep in mind is that, throughout the twentieth century, while population was going up, so was oil production. Future excess mortality can therefore be determined — at least in a rough-and-ready manner — by the fact that in modern industrial society it is largely the oil supply that determines how many people can be fed.

There is no precise causal relation, of course, between oil production and famine. To suggest such a thing would conflict with other ways of estimating future population. Another figure, closely related, might be the ratio of population to arable land. Even then, the history of famine does not suggest an exact correlation between population and arable land; certainly in the 1950s there were major famines although the world population was only a third of that today. Ó Gráda claims that the worst famines in recent times were actually in countries which rate relatively well in terms of the ratio of population to arable: Angola, Ethiopia, Somalia, Mozambique, Afghanistan, and Sudan. In fact famine, at least up to the present time, seems to have been more related to politics than to arable land or other resources.

Famine will also cause a lowering of the birth rate (Devereux, 2000; Ó Gráda, 2007, March). This will sometimes happen voluntarily, as people realize they lack the resources to raise children, or it will happen involuntarily when famine and general ill health result in infertility. In most famines the number of deaths from starvation or from starvation-induced disease is very roughly the same as the number of lost or averted births. In Ireland’s nineteenth-century famine, the number of famine deaths was 1.3 million, whereas the number of lost births was 0.4 million. The number of famine deaths during China’s Great Leap Forward (1958-1961), however, was perhaps 30 million, and the number of lost births was perhaps 33 million.

The “normal,” non-famine-related, birth and death rates are not a factor in determining the future population figures, since for most of pre-industrial human history the sum of the birth and death rates — in other words, the growth rate — has been nearly zero: 2,000 years ago the global population was about 300 million, and it took 1,600 years for the population to double. If not for the problem of resource-depletion, in other words, the future birth rate and death rate would be nearly identical, as they were in pre-industrial times. (And there is no question that the future will mean a return to the “pre-industrial.”)

Nevertheless, it will often be hard to separate “famine deaths” from a rather broad category of “other excess deaths.” War, disease, and other factors will have unforeseeable effects of their own. Considering the unusual duration of the coming famine, and with Leningrad (Salisbury, 2003) as one of many precursors, cannibalism may be significant; to what extent should this be included in the calculation of “famine deaths”? In any case, it is probably safe to say that an unusually large decline in the population of a country will be the most significant indicator that this predicted famine has in fact arrived.

We must ignore most previous estimates of future population growth. Instead of a steady rise over the course of this century, as generally predicted, there will be a clash of the two giant forces of overpopulation and oil depletion, followed by a precipitous ride into an unknown future.

We are ill-prepared for the next few years. The problem of oil depletion turns out to be something other than a bit of macabre speculation for people of the distant future to deal with, but rather a sudden catastrophe that will only be studied dispassionately long after the event itself has occurred. Doomsday will be upon us before we have time to look at it carefully.

The world has certainly known some terrible famines in the past. In recent centuries, one of the worst was that of North China in 1876-79, when between 9 and 13 million died, but India had a famine at the same time, with perhaps 5 million deaths. The Soviet Union had famine deaths of about 5 million in 1932-34, purely because of misguided political policies. The worst famine in history was that of China’s Great Leap Forward, 1958-61, when perhaps 30 million died, as mentioned above.

A closer analogy to the coming “petroleum famine” may be Ireland’s potato famine of the 1840s, since — like petroleum — it was a single commodity that caused such devastation (Woodham-Smith, 1962). The response of the British government at the time can be summarized as a jumble of incompetence, frustration, and indecision, if not outright genocide, and the same may be true of any future responses by government.

As previously mentioned, population is not tied with mathematical precision to oil production; the latter provides only a rough indication of the former. To some extent, people will learn to live with less. Certainly most westerners can cut their living standards considerably and still live healthy lives — perhaps even healthier, since they would be eating less and walking more. People will also switch to other sources of energy: in particular, firewood can replace fossil fuels for heating, though the amount of wood will not be sufficient for billions of people. All these adjustments will alleviate matters for a while, although the basic problem will remain: that fossil fuels will decline at a much faster rate than any voluntary reduction in births.

The above predictions can be nothing more than approximate, but even the most elaborate mathematics will not entirely help us to deal with the great number of interacting factors. We need to swing toward a more pessimistic figure for humanity’s future if we include the effects of war, disease, and so on. One of the most serious negative factors will be largely sociological: To what extent can the oil industry maintain the advanced technology required for drilling ever-deeper wells in ever-more-remote places, when that industry will be struggling to survive in a milieu of social chaos? Intricate division of labor, large-scale government, and high-level education will no longer exist.

On the other hand, there are elements of optimism that may need to be plugged in. We must not forget the sheer tenacity of the human species: we are intelligent social creatures living at the top of the food chain, in the manner of wolves, yet we outnumber wolves worldwide by about a million to one; we are as populous as rats or mice. We can outrace a horse over long distances. Even with Stone-Age technology, we can inhabit almost every environment on Earth, even if most of the required survival skills have been forgotten.

Specifically, we must consider the fact that neither geography nor population is homogeneous. All over the world, there are forgotten pockets of habitable land, much of it abandoned in the modern transition to urbanization, for the ironic reason that city dwellers regarded rural life as too difficult, as they traded their peasant smocks for factory overalls. There are still areas of the planet’s surface that are sparsely occupied although they are habitable or could be made so, to the extent that many rural areas have had a decline in population that is absolute, i.e. not merely relative to another place or time. By careful calculation, therefore, there will be survivors. Over the next few years, human ingenuity must be devoted to an understanding of these geographic and demographic matters, so that at least a few can escape the tribulation. Neither the present nor future generations should have to say, “We were never warned.”

77 Comments on "The Great Global Famine – The Aftermath of Peak Oil"

onlooker on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 1:25 pm 



Two things which also factor into food supply is available water that has been dropping in levels from aquifers all over the world. Another is soil health or lack thereof. Some soils a barely there, others are dead from overuse of pesticides. Contamination of water supplies is also a factor. A less giving ocean is also a factor. So all in all it appears the die-off will be immense.

Apneaman on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 1:42 pm 



Another one who is conveniently leaving out a few major details, like the fact that once temps increase another 3 degrees (4 degrees above 1880 baseline) plant proteins start to denature, so no crops. We will be going way higher than that. Of course no mention of how exactly peak oil will takeout industrial civilization while leaving the worlds 450 nuclear power plants from going into meltdown. Like the wizard greer and other post peak writers this tard has no job if he includes ALL the bad shit that will happen once industrial civilization is no more. I like my post collapse fantasy stories too, but I’m aware that fantasies is all that they are. The Walking Dead I watch and it takes place in Georgia where they have 2 nuclear power plants (4 units); magically they have not gone into meltdown yet otherwise the show would be over.

tahoe1780 on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 1:55 pm 



Lest we forget: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/silence-of-the-bees-impact-of-ccd-on-us-agriculture/37/

pennsyguy on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 1:56 pm 



Some believe that patriarchal sky gods show mercy. Nature does not: she is a harsh mistress who owns the stadium and bats last.

Apneaman on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 1:59 pm 



“No future, no future,
No future for you
No future, no future,
No future for me

No future, no future,
No future for you
No future, no future
For you”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02D2T3wGCYg

penury on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 4:04 pm 



“If I only had a brain” the refrain heard from the soon to be departed. Apneman has it right. No future.

peakyeast on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 4:19 pm 



About 1 billion is sustained from the ocean fisheries.

When jellyfish and slug burger becomes mainstream food anywhere on the planet we know that we are at the very end of the fishing line. Right now they are one of a very few species that are proliferating in the oceans since we eat the shrimps.

Apneaman on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 4:39 pm 



Opinion: Sadly, Malthus was right. Now what?

http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-sadly-malthus-was-right-now-what

onlooker on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 4:55 pm 



We have been able to postpone the final reckoning but no more. Our impact upon the planet is becoming fatal and will be leaving billions destitute in every sense of the world. The ultimate hubris has been to believe we could wantonly continue to degrade,use up and abuse Earth even while continuing to grow our population. Well we are bound now to recognize and experience the folly of our ways.

peakyeast on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 5:16 pm 



@Ape: From the comment section of your link:

http://www.capsweb.org/blog/aaas-wields-censors-hammer-us-population-issues

“. The AAAS staff and board of directors seem to have decided, surreptitiously, to exclude substantive discussion of U.S. population issues from all AAAS venues.”

If talking about making an AAAS of yourself – then AAAS is a fine example.

“The AAAS staff” is perhaps not a sexually deviant description, but the associations seems to fit reality perfectly.

tahoe1780 on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 5:18 pm 



http://news.discovery.com/animals/starfish-wasting-disease-may-be-tied-to-warming-waters-150922.htm – warming seas, dying fauna

J-Gav on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 5:22 pm 



Onlooker and Apnea,

Can’t disagree with your overall view of our parlous situation as a species, however concerning any “final reckoning” looming in the immediate future I would be circumspect. A major reckoning of sorts there will be, I believe within a couple or three years, but from that to “final” sounds a little too extreme to me.

onlooker on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 5:46 pm 



Well J, this final reckoning will not happen right away but the process has begun. How else can one categorize the depletion of our indispensable fuel source as well as the climate feedbacks now underway which make whatever we do or not irrelevant. You could say that allowing our population to reach 7 plus billion really begun the countdown you could say. As per our long departed friend Malthus.

Apneaman on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 6:31 pm 



J-Gav, maybe you are not familiar with the evidence that clearly shows that extinction is the rule on this planet, not the exception? A mass extinction “event” already well under way again and at a pace that is unprecedented. Never has it happened this quickly before. Not even close. There is mounds of evidence on the previous extinction periods (14) and there is no fossil evidence of any vertebrates over 99lbs surviving any of the 5 mass extinction events. There were no nuclear power plants and weapons stocks to deal with in those ones either.

Humans could be among the victims of sixth ‘mass extinction’, scientists warn

“And the study, which was published in the journal Science Advances on Friday and described by its authors as “conservative”, said humans were likely to be among the species lost.

“If it is allowed to continue, life would take many millions of years to recover and our species itself would likely disappear early on,” lead author Gerardo Ceballos of the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico said.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-20/sixth-mass-extinction-impact-humans-study-says/6560700

Thinking it sounds extreme is par for the course for 99.999% of humans. We evolved to NOT think about such things.

Your brain won’t allow you to believe the apocalypse could actually happen

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5848857/your-brain-wont-allow-you-to-believe-the-apocalypse-could-actually-happen

In the end, it’s not a moral argument – just physics/thermodynamics, chemistry and biology.

Human domination of the biosphere: Rapid
discharge of the earth-space battery foretells
the future of humankind

https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/pnas-2015-schramski-1508353112.pdf

Almost every single scientist and scientific paper has the mandatory cavet at the end “unless we stop” or “unless we change” or some version of it. Meaningless, because that cannot happen since we cannot bypass our core biological programming. Nothing can. If we could have don’t you think we would have done it by now? Done it before we pushed the arctic into irreversible meltdown that is going to continue to speed up the already well underway positive self reinforcing feed backs? The pin on the ape extinction grenade has been pulled and thrown away. Nothing can change that now. Less than a century left IMO.

Apneaman on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 6:41 pm 



Peakoil.com – it’s a happy place where happy apes come to chat about their happy futures.

Davy on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 7:34 pm 



Global famine could be as much a product of failing economies as oil depletion. This is why the current economic difficulties are so ominous. Peak oil issues have some time to play out. There is plenty of scenarios ahead over the next decade affecting supply issues for oil. It is the economy that should be the immediate concern. The economics of food is really one of logistics of imputes and the end product. The global economy is the logistics of food today. All locals are delocalized to the global food chain.

Food perishes quickly if not properly managed from distribution, preservation, to storage. The economics of food are more important in the near term than oil depletion. The question is time frame with degree and duration of an approaching economic rebalance. There is no way to gauge this currently. We can say oil issues will be severe in 6-10 years. We can say climate change could be a runaway event in as little as 10 years. How can we say anything about the economy except it could fail at any time and with it our food chain?

The economy will certainly not survive peak oil issues nor runaway climate change. In the meantime the economy chugs along against all odds. If confidence is maintained and we don’t have a global war we may have a few years more before a significant crisis develops. This is also likely to be a regional affair with failure hot spots occurring before a generalized failure. There are plenty of people that can still be disenfranchised. Whole nations could go dark. It is the core nations and within those nations core regions that must be maintained or the whole edifice will collapse.

It appears ever more likely we are at or near a brick wall but like other macro events it will be the review mirror that explains everything. Now is the time to prepare if you can for uncertain times. If you are in an unstable and unsustainable local then prepare and or get out. If that is not an option at least enjoy life to its fullest. It may never be as good as it is now as far as having food, fuel, and shelter.

eugene on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 8:53 pm 



Nice intellectual discussion but as the shit hits the fan at an ever increasing rate, things will get brutal beyond anything we can imagine. The industrial world has been allowing massive starvation/deprivation for a long time. It’s a new thing for us and we are totally unprepared for the social/psychological impact. Killing comes easy for some types of people but many of us will find it hard and die as a consequence. But I shouldn’t say “hard” as we’ve been letting our mercenary military do it for us for a long, long time. We’ll just have trouble doing it ourselves. One consequence is we’ll be way too damn busy surviving to talk on websites.

makati1 on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 9:02 pm 



As the extinction event gains speed, food waste will disappear in Western countries. Then the obese will die off along with the diabetics and those with heart or other diseases requiring meds. Those living in marginal food producing countries like the ME and North Africa will die off or migrate.

As the world warms up, even the grain belts of North America will dry up and wells will go dry. All surface water supplies will be polluted. Drought will be intermixed with floods preventing the cultivation and harvesting of crops. The seasons will get all scrambled up as the jet streams get even more erratic. Warmer oceans mean bigger and more powerful storms hitting the coasts of North America and East Asia. A Cat5 hurricane like that of Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013 would kill millions and cost hundreds of billions of dollars if it hit the US East Coast. And, eventually, one or more will do so.

No? Well, we are already seeing/experiencing all of those and more. As temps climb, there will be no place on earth to run and hide. All will go down in the fastest extinction event in the earth’s ~7 billion year history. Years, not millenia.
There may not be a human left to celebrate the 2100 New Years. We live in very interesting times.

JuanP on Sat, 20th Feb 2016 10:24 pm 



Lock and load, guys! Long pig makes good eating, particularly young little long pigs. Long pig has lots of protein in it! American long pig has lots of fat, too!

If you have half a brain cell working, you will sterilize yourselves and sterilize your children, but I don’t think 99% of you have that half working brain cell needed to make a smart choice, so go out, get laid, and breed some more. I will need meat to feed my dogs when the time comes. Morons! LOL!

dooma on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 12:03 am 



Looking around the shopping centres (malls) in Australia and working with PLENTY of Ameri-guns, I think that many are more like 19 missed meals away from anarchy instead of 9.

Apneaman on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 12:32 am 



dooma, it don’t matter how fat people are because after 3 days without food the biochemical changes in the brain kick in and it’s savage time again. Nice little trick evolution has played on us there eh? I disagree with mak that the obese will die or at least not die first. They will last longer all things being considered since fat is merely stored food energy. It’s the skinny fucks who going bye bye first. See ya later assholes:) Some dumb massive snack cake eating trailer park fat fuck could very well be the last ape standing.

A year without food

“Back in June of 1965, a Scotsman weighing 207 kilograms, described as “grossly obese” and hereafter known only as Mr A B, turned up at the Department of Medicine at the Royal Infirmary in Dundee.

He was sick of being fat and wanted to lose weight by eating nothing and living off his body fat. He told the hospital staff he was going to fast flat out, whatever they said, so they may as well monitor him along the way.

He ended up fasting for one year and 17 days — that’s right, he ate no food at all for over a year. He lived entirely off his copious body fat, in the end losing about 125 kilograms of weight.”

“….going hungry is natural. Humans like us (that’s Homo sapiens) have been around for the last 200,000 years and for most of that time, food was not always at hand. We evolved to survive with not enough food. Some studies actually show that fasting (or at least, calorie restriction) can have health benefits under certain circumstances.”

“In humans, fasting seems to have health benefits for high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma and epilepsy in children.”

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/07/24/3549931.htm

Apneaman on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 12:38 am 



Tropical Cyclone Winston – strongest ever seen in southern hemisphere – hits Fiji

http://mashable.com/2016/02/20/tropical-cyclone-winston-strongest/#6LGgOU0pv5qZ

makati1 on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 1:09 am 



Ap, I doubt the obese of the world will survive the first week of deprivation because most also have diabetes. No meds means death, no matter how fat they are. And most lifesaving meds are reliant on that just-in-time delivery system we still enjoy. Close the local drug stores and it will be game over for at least half of the Us population in the first month.

I can tell you that the skinny will probably last longer because they are less likely to have any life threatening diseases and will not require the calories an obese person would need. Hauling around a 60-70 kilo body requires less calories than hauling around a 150+ kilo hulk. Plus, the slim guy will be able to “outrun the bear” because the fat guy will be the slowest.

We can disagree on the how and the speed it happens, but the end is the same for all. Extinction.

Roaches of the world, unite! LOL

twocats on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 1:12 am 



the skinny/fat discussion is a good one, and there are arguments on both sides. first nations have high rates of diabetes for a reason…

But as far as the population-doom-bomb, can we actually expect a downturn in population prior to this global famine or will it all happen all at once where the most people will be alive, and then within a few short months, a crap-ton will be dead?

It’s hard to get too worried when year after year the planet is able to pump out more people, and that is with potentially the largest refugee crises since WWII.

Apneaman on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 2:22 am 



mak, type 1 diabetes, where one requires insulin or dies, is almost exclusively genetic or can be caused by trauma to the pancreas. Type 2 is almost exclusively lifestyle related. Almost any type 2 diabetic can lose their need for meds by simply giving up eating the massive amounts of refined sugars and carbohydrates that make up the bulk of the average western industrial diet. Same for a great deal of high blood pressure meds. Many meds don’t even work to begin with and cause even more trouble with their side effects. More diseases and disorders stem from the obesity itself than all the other physical factors combined. The other biggie is stress. Stress from living in a society that promotes individualism and material wealth above all else in a species of hominids that is highly social and needs each others support and acceptance for mental health. Obesity and personality pathology correlate almost 100% with societies that eat the most crap and practice the neoliberal capitalist mentality the most. The US being the most obvious example. Normal weight people in the US are now a minority. Somewhere between 30-35% while at the same time the beauty standards keep increasing. This is a recipe for depression, addiction, anxiety and suicide. Same for material wealth as more people are forced into a lower standard of living. The message from the dominate corporate culture is you are a fucking loser and it’s all your fault. This kind of cultural stress is about as cruel a life as one could have. Other than the basic physical necessities of life – adequate nutrition, shelter, security, water – the most important thing for naked apes is feeling like they matter. Accepted by others. This is not possible in a pathological society based solely on material wealth and unobtainable levels of status. Why do you think the US is so sick and getting worse? What else would you expect in such a society that is now experiencing the limits of growth? You don’t hear hardly anything in the MSM about reality – you hear the message that the 1% who own the MSM want you to hear, but there are many millions of Americans who have or are in the process of rejecting their culture. Who can say what will happen for certain, but do not be surprised if a tipping point is reached and a mass rejection happens. Apes are strange creatures and invent new post hoc world views all the time. Hell, they have made up tens of thousands of gods and demons and angels and fairies and witches and leprechauns for fuck sake. Stress the apes out and sooner or later they will conjure up all sorts of strange and imaginative coping strategies. One thing about the future – I expect to see behaviors I never thought of. We that weird, but don’t stress out about it – it will make you miserable or even kill ya.

Stress, Portrait of a Killer – Full Documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYG0ZuTv5rs

dooma on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 2:31 am 



Sorry for the bad pun Ap, thanks for the fascinating information about a human fasting for 382 days! Amazing stuff.

Apneaman on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 3:12 am 



dooma, no need to apologize they are supposed to be bad, that’s what makes them punny….Bahahahahahaha

I took my mom shopping today and since I hate being in crowds, but love watching them, as usual I stood in the parking lot and smoked while observing the apes doing their thing while mom was inside consumer wonderland mass consuming. Over half the Canadian apes appeared overweight or obese and some were waddling. About 80% had either a starbucks drink in their hand or a smartphone – some both. Most had that glassy eyed dopamine seeking look. They’ll be hungover in the morning, but another trip to the mall – the hair of the dog – will temporarily fix that…..and so it will go until it can’t. Folks can’t help it. Their limbic system forces them to seek immediate rewards (dopamine) until death. Shopping is easier than climbing a tree to get honey from a beehive like the ancestors used to do.

Got Shopping on the Brain? Blame the Dopamine.

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/arts-and-science/2011-05/got-shopping-on-the-brain-blame-the-dopamine/

onlooker on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 3:29 am 



Great analysis AP as usual. yes and check this article out http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/health/death-rates-rising-for-middle-aged-white-americans-study-finds.html— about rise in deaths among middle aged White Americans due to suicide and drug use. Yes they especially are vulnerable as they reach breaking points around middle age and turn to drugs/alcohol and some to suicide. Also, the obesity that is so right about the incredibly overly prescribed country we have become even children now victims and the plethora of Carbs and sugar that abound in the US. I will tell you my salvation has been knowing all this stuff, rejecting this sick culture. They say ignorance is bliss well knowledge is bliss too. I am at peace not despite knowing all this but because I do. This American culture and society will drag anybody down like a rip current if they are not careful.

onlooker on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 3:38 am 



Oh and I will add one thing sex obviously is the pleasure/reward stimulus so no wonder porn has become so ubiquitous and popular on the Net.

theedrich on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 4:27 am 



The article above speaks of the coming “bottleneck” for the human species.  As with most such articles, it offers no solutions, other than crying about how awful things will get.

So what, then, is the (or any) solution?  For contemporary White Westerners, any realistic solution is unthinkable.  Because the first step in dealing with any lethal disease it to recognize and admit it.  In other words, never mind Kübler-Ross’s five (or more) steps of grieving.  The overlords must first confess the truth.

The second step is to abolish the current value system.  This, as any clear-eyed person can see, is based on Judeo-Christianity with its “charter myth” about White Guilt resulting from listening to a talking snake and eating a much-depicted “apple” from a forbidden Tree of Knowledge.

On this single myth, taken not as the metaphorical fable that it is, but literally, for the past two millennia — and inculcated in Europeans East and West since before Christ —, is based the entirety of Christianity and the psychodynamic of guilt which has kept that religion going for so many generations.  So in order to jettison the Western value system, that myth and its derivative religions must be ejected from the mind of the leadership.  This means the multi-billionaires who bribe our politicians;  for these ultra-rich, even if they are utterly atheist, are embued with the Western guilt syndrome and feel they need to “help the Third World” (especially by importing them to the First World), particularly when they can amass more money and power by so doing.

The next step is to recognize what the true thrust of nature really is:  life itself.  It is the collective fantasy of the current scientific world that there is no meaning to existence.  This belief emerged from the mechanistic mentality of the nineteenth century, which imagined everything as just a “machine.”  Thus, the human brain and everything else was interpreted as nothing more than a completely accidental jumble of nuts and bolts.  That mentality was assisted by the religious nonsense of a cute, all-loving Father God and His Son, Christ, who just wanted to save all the poor sheep (i.e., you, Whitey).  Given that intellectuals realized this view was manifestly absurd, and it was the only view to which they had been exposed, they rejected any and all other interpretations of a basis to nature that they could not see and touch.  Hence the current and deadly materialism which pervades the West.

Today we have far more evidence of a vast inframind undergirding the universe.  And it is not some lovey-dovey “Father” or Jew-choosing Yahweh, but something far beyond human ken.  Unusual manifestations of it are seen in what is often called the “paranormal,” but it is really normal, just seen in an extraordinary situation (e.g., poltergeist phenomena associated with disturbed adolescents, especially pubescent girls;  or the so-called “ghosts” — actually memories — regularly witnessed at the scenes of traumatic events such as an the Gettysburg cemetery).  As Ian Stevenson has shown, the odd patterns of people born with birthmarks and birth defects matching the fatal wounds of previously killed persons are another example.  Rupert Sheldrake (who has been viciously attacked by the government-supported tribe desperate to keep its grants coming by claiming to be “scientific”) has proffered powerful arguments and evidence for what he calls morphic resonance, which is a mnemonic recall, by newly forming shapes, including life forms, of previous, similar shapes and functions.  Indeed, the entire history of evolution shows the constant buildup of new life forms based upon earlier ones in a process of “ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny” (Ernst Haeckel).  (And yes, I am aware that certain mental defectives who haunt this website regard these facts to run counter to what they prefer to misdefine as “science.”)

Ultimately, the existence of the cosmos as a whole is evidence of this same process, a process which is the expression of a mysterious but infinite will to be.  Life, even at the lowest levels, is a more concentrated expression of this same dynamic, and intelligence is its hitherto greatest expression, by no means the ultimate one.

Thus, the entire value system of Judeo-Christianity must be replaced with a valoric structure which accords with these transcendent facts of nature.  Without such a transvaluation of all values, intelligence will be finished on this planet.  No matter its great contributions to the growth of the West, Christianity has now outlived its usefulness.

peakyeast on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 5:09 am 



@ape: But if the obese guy went without food for 3 days then the hospital had to handle a frothing zombie hunting for food for 379 days?

rockman on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 6:16 am 



Again this fixation that there will some huge shift in dynamics on the day the world reaches PO. Many tens of millions have died of starvation over the decades when PO wasn’t even being discussed. We know all the various factors that have led to those deaths and the oil production rate was not one of them. For primarily subsistence societies oil was never an issue. But for more developed system it was. But not the volume being produced but the price. Ag systems that are very dependent upon fossil fuels suffered when prices increased. When oil was $100+/bbl food costs increased. How many died or suffered as a result? Don’t know the number but obviously they were out there.

We might be at GPO today…we’ll be able to confirm in a couple of decades. But it’s not a bad bet we’re there or very close to it IMHO. And today the ff costs for ag are lower than they’ve been for many years. EXCLUDING OTHER FACTORS food costs should be falling and fewer suffering from malnutrition. Or maybe GPO is another 5 + years off and oil might be back to $100+/bbl. So ag prices will be higher but not because of GPO: prices obviously did not go to $145/bbl in ’08 because we were at GPO: the global oil production rate today is significantly higher than 8 years ago. The future price of oil will not be determined by the date of GPO…the POD will determine the price. What has transpired over the last 20 years should make that clear.

But some day the world will be past GPO and a sometime oil prices will be relatively high. At that time a lack of supply and pricing will have a huge impact on the lives of millions. But long before then countless millions will suffer from lack of food which had nothing to do with PO.

shortonoil on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 6:40 am 



“So long as oil is used as a source of energy, when
the energy cost of recovering a barrel of oil becomes
greater than the energy content of the oil, production
will cease no matter what the monetary price may
be.” (M. King Hubbert)

100 million, 500 million, 1 billion will die, and most of them will not have the slightest idea as to why.

http://www.thehillsgroup.org/

Apneaman on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 8:07 am 



peakyeast, obviously that man was determined to lose weight (live?) and thus manage his brain chemistry effectively. I bet knowing you can eat anytime you want makes it easier than being in a food shortage situation. It’s a rare case, but demonstrates our evolutionary adaptability. What is startling to me is the stats on permanent weight loss – about 2%. The diet industry grows every year and so do the medical interventions, yet only 2% manage to lose it and keep it off permanently. Me thinks the industry is so popular because they are selling hope. Hope sells, but evolution rules and it wants you fat. If we carried on this way for tens of thousands of years we might adapt to the industrial franken food diet, but I don’t think that will happen. Great, now I’m hungry and want a bacon cheese burger, a massive plate of poutine and some carbonated high fructose corn syrup to wash it down.

peakyeast on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 8:25 am 



@Ape: I was just kidding you a little, but I forgot a 😉 at the end and the edit function is not really well implemented.

Actually what suprises me is that it took so long without food to lose that weight.

I suppose the energy content of 300grammes of fat is enough to support a bedridden monster.

Btw.: At least you can eat that stuff – I am genetically protected against getting fat, but its a frigging nightmare: I am allergic to just about anything. – So no fast foods, no bread, no cheese, no pizza, no kfc, no milk, no candy because of taste enhancers, no kiwi, no peanus and on and on and on….

My diet is something most people would want commit suicide if forced to eat every day.

peakyeast on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 8:27 am 



@Ape: I was just kidding you a little, but I forgot a 😉 at the end and the edit function is not really well implemented.

Actually what suprises me is that it took so long without food to lose that weight.

I suppose the energy content of 300grammes of fat is enough to support a bedridden monster.

Btw.: At least you can eat that stuff – I am genetically protected against getting fat, but its a frigging nightmare: I am allergic to just about anything. – So no fast foods, no bread, no cheese, no pizza, no kfc, no milk, no candy because of taste enhancers, no kiwi, no peanus, no excesses of fat and on and on and on….

My diet is something most people would want commit suicide if forced to eat every day.

peakyeast on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 8:28 am 



ooops: The site said it was offline when I submitted.. But it obviously accepted the comment anyway. Sorry for the double post.

Apneaman on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 8:58 am 



peakyeast, maybe that is a good thing? I feel sick and lethargic if I eat very much of that food so I try and eat clean. I have a couple friends that have been eating all that shit since forever and are still bean poles – bastards. There is some genetics involved there. Me, I can look at a box of doughnuts and gain 3/4 of a lb. When I was a younger man I lifted weights on and off for many years and would pack on the muscle like crazy while other gym rats I knew would do more and take all sorts of supplements and they definitely got stronger and more cut but could never get big like they wanted to. Genetics.

BBC Horizon 2009 Why Are Thin People Not Fat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQRfOkpQtCg

danny on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 10:43 am 



“will need meat to feed my dogs when the time comes” you will need to get rid of the dogs at the first site of collapse dogs are a waste in declining civilization…look at the civil war south they had to kill the dogs…domesticated dogs will give you away and get you killed….

tahoe1780 on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 11:49 am 



“It has often been said that, if the human species fails to make a go of it here on the Earth, some other species will take over the running. In the sense of developing intelligence this is not correct. We have or soon will have, exhausted the necessary physical prerequisites so far as this planet is concerned. With coal gone, oil gone, high-grade metallic ores gone, no species however competent can make the long climb from primitive conditions to high-level technology. This is a one-shot affair. If we fail, this planetary system fails so far as intelligence is concerned. The same will be true of other planetary systems. On each of them there will be one chance, and one chance only.” – Sir Fred Hoyle

shortonoil on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 11:58 am 



“will need meat to feed my dogs when the time comes” you will need to get rid of the dogs at the first site of collapse dogs are a waste in declining civilization…”

If you have to get rid of your dog you have the wrong kind of dog to start with. With a good dog your hunting efficiency goes up about 1000%. He will also let you know that something, or someone is around a long time before you will know it. A good dog is a survivalist necessity; that is why humans have had a close association with them for the last 10,000 years.

Of course, if you are in Manhattan a pet velociraptor might be preferable!

Davy on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 12:03 pm 



I have two Anatolian shepherds. They are livestock guard dogs. They stand tall and weigh close to 150lbs. They will be important to me if security deteriorates.

I suspect many house dogs in unfortunate locations will go into stew pots as will anything else that moves and has meat on it.

bonnielass on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 12:12 pm 



OMG why is everyone so pessimistic, someone above commented that one billion people are going to die hahahahaha!! Really?

Davy on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 12:32 pm 



Anyone who does not acknowledge the fact we are far into overshoot territory and hitting limits of a broad spectrum of vital supporting resources and networks is lost in the deceptions of modern life. The death of 1Bil people over a couple of year period is possible from multiple scenarios not just global NUK war. We are at that point just not in crisis.

peakyeast on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 12:33 pm 



@ape: Well – it certainly keeps me from being fat, but the cost is that I get very sick very often from trace amounts of all sorts of things and has a future of intestinal cancer.

BTW: About genes and size

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/01/14/eating-poop-pills-could-make-you-thin-seriously/

YUP – You want to be skinny – then eat skinny people shit.

Even intelligence and mood seems to be influences:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140221-can-gut-bugs-make-you-smarter

Being intestinal challenged like me one observes how much it influences both energy level, how many errors you make, the influence on mood. And it is significant.

twocats on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 1:21 pm 



OMG why is everyone so pessimistic, someone above commented that one billion people are going to die hahahahaha!! Really? [bonnielass]

how long have you been reading these comment threads? the death of a billion plus is casually mentioned every fifteenth comment most days. That’s pretty much why I’m here – because it doesn’t do so well to say these things in one’s day-to-day interaction in the real world – it’s mildly taboo.

shortonoil on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 1:23 pm 



“hahahahaha!! Really?”

Yea; that’s hilariously funny. That’s a real good sense of humor you have there!

peakyeast on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 1:50 pm 



@bonnie: Not many here is pessimistic. Most are realistic.

Today 21.000 dies a day of starvation alone. And we have an abundance of food and resources.

How do you think that plays out when there is an actual lack of food?

Perhaps you should go and cuddle some children while they die of starvation and see if you still find it hilarious.

shortonoil on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 1:58 pm 



“YUP – You want to be skinny – then eat skinny people shit.”

When I was a kid (a long, long time ago) in 3rd or 4th grade there was one, maybe two fat kids in my class of about 50. Go to any grade school today – and they are all fat little blimps. It’s life style, and diet. We were never inside for any longer than it took to get out of the door; today kids sit in front of the TV, or computer and pig out on Hot Pockets, and a thousand other assorted forms of junk. Diabetes, and asthma were relatively rare a few decades ago. Now in every school across the country they line up in front of the nurse’s office for their insulin shots, and go around with pockets full of inhalers. We are literally killing ourselves, there can be no question about that, and not many could survive a major crash. Over medicated, horrible diets, and zero exercise have left us with one big problem; where are they going to stack all the bodies?

peakyeast on Sun, 21st Feb 2016 2:09 pm 



I agree with you shorty. There was not even 1 fat child in my class back when I was there. None in high school – and One slightly fat in my classes at university.

But there is probably a couple in that class you mention that are skinny despite eating like hogs and hibernating in front of the computer all day. Those are likely to have that high inefficient gut bacteria – that would have made them losers before agriculture.