[Chaparral]

I didn't vote because whomever created the poll did a piss-poor job of thinking up the categories. Whomever did it should not quit their day job at McDonalds and become a cultural anthropoligist.


For me, the subtext is one of hedging one's bets. This "peak oil myth" has too much information from too many disparate disciplines converging in its favor. (It should be noted that the creator of the poll didn't even define the PO myth, perhaps because he is a stupid troll?) This idea of PO and resource scarcity in general is simply too explanatorily powerful to ignore when it comes to recent economic and geopolitical history. The "PO myth" is like the theory of evolution and natural selection; it explains too much. Just as Ernst Mayr said that "nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution & nat sel'n" so does little of the senseless wars and destruction of recent times make little sense except in the light of PO and the associated ideas. At the worst, it still makes more sense then the "spreading of democracy" crap that we get fed on Faux News.

My experience is in plant ecology, real estate investing and management and commodity futures and FOREX trading. These disciplines taught me to be a pragmatist, not an ideologue. As such, when presented with a huge amount of information from diverse people in diverse disciplines, I have to stand up and take notice. Thus far, the information available favors this "peak oil myth" thingymabob.

If there exists a personal subtext for myself, then it would have to be one of "hedging my bets". Too many of my eggs were in the leveraged real estate basket. I was studying the mechanisms of bubbles, and collapse when I found Peak Oil courtesy of a Marxist nutjob with an $80,000.00 sports car. I delved into more and more reading Ruppert, Deffeyes, Simmons, Heinberg, Kuntsler, Leeb and others. The information I gleaned from these and other authors as well as the more informed and wise posters on this site has me convinced that something bad is on its way soon and perhaps I'd better look out for me and mine. My subtext is thus far: 1) preservation of capital 2) growth of that capital even in the face of an economic depression, 3) extraction of myself from the dangerous big city where the haves with 80,000.00 Mercedes and Porsches live within blocks of disenfranchised minorities below the poverty line and 4) be able to provide something of real use to a desperate society in a simplified economy. Regarding #4, I don't think that being a commercial landlord, plant ecologist or futures speculator will be highly valued should the world turn to shyte. That's why my new vocation is agriculture. That is my hedge against a future of cornucopia AND a future of doom. That is my subtext.

[TheTurtle]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Chaparral', 'I') didn't vote because whomever created the poll did a piss-poor job of thinking up the categories. Whomever did it should not quit their day job at McDonalds and become a cultural anthropoligist.

[Chaparral]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheTurtle', 'S')ay what you will about him, but Lorenzo is clever in his madness.

[PolestaR]

The problem I see with people like Lorenzo (pstarr, specop, zardoz, etc) is they don't seem to learn from others very well. I mean there is lots of helpful advice for these people all over the forum and in this thread for Lorenzo in particular.... Maybe because they didn't read it in a book at highschool/college they think it's irrelevant.. who knows.

Yet time after time its the same old shit. You can go to the wisdom well only a few times without a drink before you die. Heres to tomorrow.... where these people continue their ways that some of you appreciate.

I actually feel dumber reading half the shit those guys mostly post.

[Atlantean_Relic]

He forgot the fifth choice: People Suck.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lorenzo', '
')Thx, maybe it's useful to say that I am a cultural anthropologist by profession.

[Atlantean_Relic]

Not to be out done, I am Buddha Christ.

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lorenzo', 'B')ut then there is the Peak Oil Myth, dealing with what will happen to society once this peak has arrived.
What is it to you?

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Jacksoncage', 'W')ow, this has been here for a long time. Most posts questioning imminent peak are deleted with seconds of being started.

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', 'D')o not question our actions in public. Auto ban

[MonteQuest]

But to try an answer what the subtext is:

It is the recognition that the exponential infinte growth paradigm we have been on in a finite world is coming to an end. It is the recognition of limits and the need for a paradigm shift in our thinking.

It is not borne of ideology but an acknowledgement of the facts before us.

To be sustainable, we need to change course.

We will fight over this change.

The subtext is reality.

[BlisteredWhippet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', 'T')he subtext is reality.