[SeaGypsy]

I reckon it's funny how the anti doomers can't help projecting misery onto doomers- as if we must have a really crappy existence consequential to our dire understandings. How many plain unhappy people are there on this board & where are they on the doom scales?

As I said yesterday on C8's anti doomer thread, doom has become my ally, my understanding a personal asset, which undoes the burdensomeness of the inevitability of doom, by granting me an amazing life of freedom & prosperity in comparison to most people I know.

I can't imagine a hell worse than signing on for a half million mortgage in expectation of 25 years+ of BAU. That's just me. I prefer to invest in skills & connections, tools & travel, flexibility.

[Grifter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GHung', '
')
... and, keeping a sense of humour here; a video shared by Nony some time back is one of my favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWC6W1ctkMY

.

[Grifter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'I') reckon it's funny how the anti doomers can't help projecting misery onto doomers- as if we must have a really crappy existence consequential to our dire understandings. How many plain unhappy people are there on this board & where are they on the doom scales?

As I said yesterday on C8's anti doomer thread, doom has become my ally, my understanding a personal asset, which undoes the burdensomeness of the inevitability of doom, by granting me an amazing life of freedom & prosperity in comparison to most people I know.

I can't imagine a hell worse than signing on for a half million mortgage in expectation of 25 years+ of BAU. That's just me. I prefer to invest in skills & connections, tools & travel, flexibility.

[Grifter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', '
')There are always going to be specific areas of contention, but broadly speaking, the OP's answer is that it is about an emotional maturity, more than an intellectual understanding. We are discussing the eventual inevitable collapse of the world as we know it. Timelines, causes, mitigations, specifics, all up for discussion, under the primary subtext. To be comfortable here requires being comfortable discussing the scariest thoughts in our sphere as human beings. Not really any surprise this rocks some people's boats.

[SeaGypsy]

It well could last a lot longer or a lot less. I simply don't want to be invested either way. I staked my bets since around when I joined up here & split my career between acute health & JIT transport. Both key sectors, both 24/7/365. Both high demand already, both easier to get better jobs & conditions already.

Before becoming a doomer I was an artist/ arts industry generalist, stuck in 1-2 year contracts, restricted hours, very limited job opportunities & fierce competition. Nowdays I can stick a pin in a map & go find a job there. A few months later I can split the job, share it & clear out half the time.

By being influenced by doomers, I have gained- job security, emotional & intellectual resilience, flexibility in application, broad view of scenarios alien to most people around me, a deep sense of gratitude for every day.


Doomerism has all the traits of a religion. But it is very scientific.

[Grifter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', '
')

Doomerism has all the traits of a religion. But it is very scientific.

[SeaGypsy]

Yep I have lived in rural Philippines on 10 bucks a day for months at a time without suffering. I have lived on baseline ss also & not had a really hard time.

Why I get cranky with drongos hauling out their 99% lines, on social security alone we citizens of western democracies are in the top 3% in terms of real exchange income. If we have any job at all we are approaching 2% +. In my way of working I can earn as a member of the same 1% occupied by couch potatoes like 6, & invest like a local in places where 200 bucks a day seems ludicrous, presidential.

Sent from my HUAWEI Y520-U33 using Tapatalk

[PrestonSturges]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PeterEV', 'W')e've been told so many things in our lives that are not true...Now, I'm told that I need to head way north if I want to survive while 40 years ago I was told I need to head south cause the next ice age was beginning. And you wonder why a lot of us have a hard time believing anything especially if it makes us uncomfortable.

[GHung]

Regarding the 'Post Oil Man' video, it was "created by James W. Johnson, 2006" (all you had to do was watch the whole thing).

As for what I call 'progressive doomerism', I was lucky enough (or unlucky?) to have travelled extensively in my earlier years, and it didn't take long to determine that our planet wasn't going to tolerate much more of our abuse without performing a re-balancing act that was unlikely to be beneficial to our species. Exponential population growth, exponential consumption growth, exponential waste-stream growth; all quite evident to those paying attention, and initiating an exponentially quicker response from planetary systems relative to geologic time. In short, humans were juicing the biosphere with everything it needed to change quickly and dramatically, especially in those areas most conducive to human settlement and success. I knew then that it couldn't turn out well for a species so deep into overshoot, or for the cornucopia of species unfortunate enough to get in the way or to be exploitable. Coming to the conclusion that humans were soiling their planetary nest at an increasing rate was unavoidable. That was about 30 years ago, my world has become much smaller, and I've realised that my conclusions were conservative at best. Humans' ability to deplete the resources and environment necessary for the health of their species is remarkable.

Doomer? Me? Nah... Just along for the ride.

[Grifter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GHung', '
')
Doomer? Me? Nah... Just along for the ride.

[PrestonSturges]

I was looking at some homesteading site the other day, and the blogger was saying how many people he's in contact aren't so much homesteaders as paranoid hoarders that have pretty effectively trashed their lives prepping. Of coarse, the preppers we see on tv are a select bunch that excludes the crazies.

[Apneaman]

What ever happened to C8's, doomers is stupid forum? lol

[Apneaman]

I feel that the reasons why many folks fear the doomers are multifaceted.

IMO the following provides a big piece of the puzzle.



Terror management theory



"TMT is derived from anthropologist Ernest Becker's 1973 Pulitzer Prize-winning work of nonfiction The Denial of Death, in which Becker argues most human action is taken to ignore or avoid the inevitability of death. The terror of absolute annihilation creates such a profound – albeit subconscious – anxiety in people that they spend their lives attempting to make sense of it. On large scales, societies build symbols: laws, religious meaning systems, cultures, and belief systems to explain the significance of life, define what makes certain characteristics, skills, and talents extraordinary, reward others whom they find exemplify certain attributes, and punish or kill others who do not adhere to their cultural worldview. On an individual level, self-esteem provides a buffer against death-related anxiety."


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terror_management_theory



The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker

An explanation of the book and terror management theory


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hi1C4NNnV4



Sheldon Solomon - Ernest Becker & The Denial of Death


"Terror Management Theory (TMT) was proposed in 1986 by social psychologists Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, and Sheldon Solomon. The theory was inspired by the writings of cultural anthropologist, Ernest Becker, and was initiated by two relatively simple questions: Why do people have such a great need to feel good about themselves?; and Why do people have so much trouble getting along with those different from themselves?

The basic gist of the theory is that humans are motivated to quell the potential for terror inherent in the human awareness of vulnerability and mortality by investing in cultural belief systems (or worldviews) that imbue life with meaning, and the individuals who subscribe to them with significance (or self-esteem). Since its inception, the theory has generated empirical research into not just the nature of self-esteem motivation and prejudice, but also a host of other forms of human social behavior. To date, over 300 studies conducted in over a dozen countries have explored such topics as aggression, stereotyping, needs for structure and meaning, depression and psychopathology (e.g., phobias), political preferences, creativity, sexuality and attraction, romantic and interpersonal attachment, self-awareness, unconscious cognition, martyrdom, religion, group identification, disgust, human-nature relations, physical health, risk taking, and legal judgments."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpVkrIdz9-Y

[rdberg1957]

Among the doomers, there are many scientists of various stripes. E.O. Wilson wrote of the sixth great extinction over a decade ago. Many are biologists, ecologists. Peak oil is only one of the challenges mankind faces and it is not likely the most daunting. It is the confluence of the challenges so that the choices of alternatives to oil are constrained by climate change. Population, soil erosion, ocean acidification all push us into overshoot. In addition, the fact is that we are consuming the Earth's supply of stored energy (coal, gas, oil, wood, biomass) at a rate which far outpaces nature's ability to replenish supplies. Much of the energy is converted into heat, some of which is trapped by greenhouse gases. Some of the heat escapes into outer space. This pushes Earth toward equilibrium with outer space. There is no imminent danger posed, but the long term trend forecasts our destruction.

Schramski JR, Gattie DK, Brown JH. Human domination of the biosphere: rapid discharge of the earth-space battery foretells the future of humankind. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, July 2015.

[GregT]

Well, having recently devolved into a desperate doomer state, terminating my career as an upstanding consumerist, I'm about ready now to end my meaningless, negative, hopeless life. I miss the smog, the light pollution, the incessant ringing in my ears, and above all else, I miss the lack of mutual respect, the anonymity, the drive by shootings, and my old 'boss'. It really sucks breathing in fresh air, seeing the milky way at night, and the annoying satisfaction of doing what I want, when I want to.

What was I thinking?

[Hawkcreek]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GregT', 'W')ell, having recently devolved into a desperate doomer state, terminating my career as an upstanding consumerist, I'm about ready now to end my meaningless, negative, hopeless life. I miss the smog, the light pollution, the incessant ringing in my ears, and above all else, I miss the lack of mutual respect, the anonymity, the drive by shootings, and my old 'boss'. It really sucks breathing in fresh air, seeing the milky way at night, and the annoying satisfaction of doing what I want, when I want to.

What was I thinking?

[ralfy]

Most people don't want to hear "doom" because they are working towards middle class conveniences:

"The rise of the global middle class"

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-22956470

The catch is that these conveniences, which the current middle class also wants to see happen (as their income and returns on investment are based on expanding consumer markets) will require more energy and material resources from a limited biosphere that can barely meet even the basic needs of the current global population:

"If everyone lived in an ‘ecovillage’, the Earth would still be in trouble"

https://theconversation.com/if-everyone ... uble-43905

With that, economic growth cannot continue indefinitely as they will be affected by a lack of resources combined with environmental damage:

"Limits to Growth was right. New research shows we're nearing collapse"

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... g-collapse

The only way to disprove this is to present technofixes that will readily increase resource availability, decrease pollution, and keep population steady.

[GregT]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Hawkcreek', '
')I've been retired for a few months now and I am constantly amazed at how dumb I was, to put my real life on hold until I was almost dead.

[SeaGypsy]

That may be it. Not the apparency of reasonable fear or it's psychological manifestations, but the fact that acknowledgement requires complete review- lifestyle, career, place of abode, modes of transport, means & motive & long term projections.

People heavily invested in decadal BAU planning, have a lot to lose if the platform fails. Speaking openly of topics which may well lead to very dire consequences in the short to median terms, seems to affect the fear of doomer crowd totally differently to long term doom. Yet they call the doomer crowd selfish & mentally unstable- for being able to talk about current events in the context of overall doom, which they mostly agree is mostly inevitable- just not on their watch.

[ennui2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GHung', '
')
... and, keeping a sense of humour here; a video shared by Nony some time back is one of my favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWC6W1ctkMY

.