[Falconoffury]

I live in the United States, and I don't know how most of the world is faring, but I am seeing a serious lack of effort being put into simple thinking. People just aren't using their brains at all. They just aren't even trying.

I just was wondering why people aren't even trying to think anymore. It is sad to see so much wasted potential for thinking. I have almost no friends because nobody wants to listen to me. I'm a big thinker, and I say things that beg those listening to think, but very few are interested at all. I am not sure what is happening, but I feel like the world around me is getting dumber.

Does anyone here agree with me? Has anyone noticed that almost everyone around them is a brick wall blocking information from passing? I have the best discussions by far on these message boards compared to real life.

[RonMN]

I couldn't agree more! I see the same thing. One of my firends who "thinks" he's a big thinker has been asking the same questions for the last 25 years...how much "thinking" could that involve?

It's sad...but i agree, i have no better discussions with anybody than right here on these posts.

[XOVERX]

No, I must disagree.

Obviously, you are not including yourself in the "non-thinking" group. And I like to think that I "think" (even though some of my ex-wives would vehemently argue the point).

Take a look around this blog -- lots of folks thinking, it seems to me.

What I believe you are talking about is the "herd," as Neitszche calls them. The vast majority of humanity are followers. They are the herd.

The herd does not think. It follows. The herd is incapable of thinking for many reasons, be they hereditary or environmental.

The herd only responds to pain and pleasure.

Tutoring individual members of the herd might be beneficial to that particular person, but the vast majority of the herd have no desire to think. To analyze. They just want to watch "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" And they are quite content doing that.

It has always been this way with hominoids. And it is this way in all hominoid groups today. Some "think," most "follow."

As for the overwhelming minority of folks who actually do some "thinking," many times they can only comprehend the here and now. Many cannot project trends into the future. They are not prescient.

Others can project, but many times their projections are simply incorrect. Perhaps because of incorrect information. Perhaps because of flawed analysis. Perhaps because of creeping irrationality. Other reasons.

Nothing to get frustrated about. It's simply the nature of man. In a Hobbesian / Freudian sense.

[Keymaster]

I feel the same way.

First, a little about myself. I'm a 22 year old journalist who works at CNN. This is my first post on the PO message boards, although I've been lurking around for six months. My thoughts on peak oil were born three years ago, when, conducting interviews with University of Georgia biofuel researchers, I had my first conversation about hydrocarbon depletion.

I was a student reporting for the Red & Black, the UGA student newspaper, on a south-campus science beat. I poured six months into research for the story and spent days editing it. The result: a 3,000 word enterprise piece on the prospect of alternative fuels in the advent of oil depletion. And then, one sunny afternoon, I was marched into the editorial advisor's office and told, quite rudely, that the story was overblown and would never hit the press. "It was fantasy. It wasn't important (his words)."

Soon thereafter, I came to the conclusion that America's dependence on cheap oil, coupled with widespread, willful ignorance and denial of geological facts, would have devestating consequences. Matt Savinar's overview on lifeaftertheoilcrash further clarified my beliefs; in a broader sense, the jigsaw puzzle fit. The connectivity and extent of the worldwide problem we face became my daily reality.

My article, meanwhile - at the whim of an ignorant, disgruntled office employee mired in a middling career (my words) - gathered dust. Not that the students "between the hedges" would've paid heed anyway. After all, at UGA, where spoiled conservatives flock from the affluent suburbs of Atlanta on mommy and daddy's salary, my words would doubtlessly have been dismissed as so much "lefty doomsday" or just ignored altogether. After all, most UGA students picked up a copy of the paper for two reasons: football articles and the crossword puzzle.

In response to the aimless attitude I've been confronted by on so many occassions, I've learned to largely mind my own affairs. For the past six months, these forums, in particular, have helped me pass the time at work, eight hours of grueling boredom permeated by spats of doomsday.

About work at CNN:

I live in metro Atlanta, having graduated with a publication's management degree from the UGA last May. CNN, supposedly the world's most comprehensive news network, hired me in August. In reality, of course, the world's most comprehensive news network is the internet. Call it the final frontier, if you will. I call it the only frontier.

I work a technical job that requires zero attention and effort, so I spend my days browsing the internet and learning as much as I can. My doldrums are so pervasive, in fact, that I've read the Hirsch Report in its entirety twice.

I used to chat with people around the office about peak oil, in the hopes that fellow journalists might be more worldly, but frighteningly enough, everyone I've spoken with at CNN is as clueless as the average joe on the street.

As already evidenced by network television's selection of the news, the denial runs deep among newscasters and newbies alike. I've seen it firsthand on the set, in the sound booth, and up and down the halls of America's "most balanced" news network.

As for relationships, I have a few close friends. However, friends who share my ideals are hard to come by, and I recoil from the politically unaware, "American Idol" obsessed generation I am sadly a part of. So, in direct response to your post, I empathize with your frustration about relating to others.

The one silver lining in this whole mess? I pitched the idea of peak oil to Amy Jordan, a CNN Present's producer, soon after getting hired last fall. I never heard back from her myself, but I was floored when CNN Presents aired "We Were Warned" a little while back. A little bit is better than nothing, I suppose...

Thanks to everyone here for contributing so many valuable opinions that have shaped my view of the world. And a personal shout out to Matt Savinar, who molded a block of peak oil clay into the Statue of David for so many readers.

Talk to you later,
Keymaster

[Keymaster]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('XOVERX', 'N')o, I must disagree.

Obviously, you are not including yourself in the "non-thinking" group. And I like to think that I "think" (even though some of my ex-wives would vehemently argue the point).

Take a look around this blog -- lots of folks thinking, it seems to me.

[Jack]

Welcome to the forum, Keymaster. I look forward to seeing more of your posts!

Regards,

Jack

PS: It's true enough that people aren't thinking. More disturbing is the evidence that many cannot do so. Perhaps the necessary mental development is not encouraged, or, perhaps it is too easy to go through life without needing to think. The functional illiteracy rate where I live is 40%; the high school dropout rate is roughly the same. Thus we see a combination of a lack of education along with a dearth of tools needed to remedy the problem.

I suspect that part of the upcoming adjustment will be a need to develop long-neglected skills, thinking among them. Will the majority have the time and ability to adapt? I think they will not.

[Vexed]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Falconoffury', 'I') live in the United States, and I don't know how most of the world is faring, but I am seeing a serious lack of effort being put into simple thinking. People just aren't using their brains at all. They just aren't even trying.

I just was wondering why people aren't even trying to think anymore. It is sad to see so much wasted potential for thinking. I have almost no friends because nobody wants to listen to me. I'm a big thinker, and I say things that beg those listening to think, but very few are interested at all. I am not sure what is happening, but I feel like the world around me is getting dumber.

Does anyone here agree with me?

[jackal42]

"Thinking is not allowed. Besides, thinking is someone elses job, right?"

p.s. Buy more s**t!
[smilie=evil6.gif]

[Falconoffury]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') mean who wouldn't agree they are higher thinkers than everyone else?

[Nike62]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Falconoffury', '
')People just aren't using their brains at all.

[Vexed]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Falconoffury', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') mean who wouldn't agree they are higher thinkers than everyone else?

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

What I find most annoying is people who express ignorant oppinions about things they don't know anything about and are proud of being ignorant and not knowing. They don't know and don't care to know and will actually tell you they are glad they don't know anything.

my usual response is "fine, then just shut the hell up about it and go away". but they don't.... hmmm.

[turmoil]

The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know.

[Lighthouse]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '.')..

The rich and powerful do not want you to think, otherwise you would figure out that what is theirs should be yours--by any measure of justice, economy, religion, ethics, or morality. They have the power and they control the curriculum.

...

[RonMN]

One thing i haven't seen mentioned yet (so i'm going to mention it) is, what do you think about the resistance to thinking?

At it's most basic form...PO can be summed up by saying "oil is a finite resource". Most people can understand that but yet they are resistant to the concept of peak oil production.

They see high gas, food, metal, etc., prices...but then turn & go back to sleep...this is one facit i completely fail to understand...it befuddles & baffles me completely.

It's like telling somebody to get off the tracks because there's a train comming & they just don't want to hear it.

[rushdy]

I think its a coping strategy. They're too mentally feeble to cope with the world as it is, so they choose to ignore it.

[shakespear1]

Hi Keymaster

Thanks for that confirmatory insight into CNN. I used to think that it was a good source of info as I also thought with regard to New York Times. That changed many years ago and definitely after entry into Iraq.

[SeasonOfPain]

This is a fascinating discussion. I agree that most people would rather not expend mental energy, preferring to react rather than act. However, I've been wondering how much of this general reluctance can be applied when it comes to PO, or global warming, or any other potentially large-scale negative future event that the person has no direct control over.

I've tried to discuss this with a number of people that in my experience are NOT reluctant to think, who in fact depend upon thinking in their daily lives: teachers, programmers, etc. Often times, the response isn't that they haven't avoided thinking about it; rather, their reaction is one of helplessness. They cannot individually do anything to alter what's coming. Furthermore, they perceive that their chosen lifestyle will not be possible post-peak. I don't mean a lifestyle of sitting watching a plasma TV, but having a job or career that they've spent their entire lives working towards that will simply not be viable post-peak.

These people have already been confronted with and accepted the coming situation, and have determined that they would not survive long in an environment where their lifestyle is not possible. Thus they have made a conscious decision to "enjoy things while they can," and exit stage left when they can't any longer. Whether they actually will commit suicide doesn't matter; the point is that they currently think they will.

To summarize, I wonder how many people are actually aware of the coming changes but (perhaps understandably) don't wish to discuss a situation that they perceive will lead to their demise?

[12amps]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Falconoffury', 'I') live in the United States, and I don't know how most of the world is faring, but I am seeing a serious lack of effort being put into simple thinking. People just aren't using their brains at all. They just aren't even trying.

I just was wondering why people aren't even trying to think anymore. It is sad to see so much wasted potential for thinking. I have almost no friends because nobody wants to listen to me. I'm a big thinker, and I say things that beg those listening to think, but very few are interested at all. I am not sure what is happening, but I feel like the world around me is getting dumber.

Does anyone here agree with me? Has anyone noticed that almost everyone around them is a brick wall blocking information from passing? I have the best discussions by far on these message boards compared to real life.