[TheTurtle]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TreebeardsUncle', 'T')here is quite a bit of time yet, as the slide shouldn't occur until at least 2015.

[Stratovarius]

Thanks for all comments.

I live in the Texas hill country.

[Stratovarius]

You know I was watching Spartacus the other day (the old one made in the 70s or something). One of the senators was infuriated at one guy for dealing with one of their enemies in order to crush Spartacus' rebellion. He said, "Did you truly believe 500 years of Rome could so easily be delivered into the clutches of a mob?"

Rome was powerful, and I feel like we're Rome x100 with all our technological prowess. Just the whole infrastructure and organization of society is mind-boggling when I step back and look it as if I've never seen the world before.

It's impossible for me to imagine all this to just stop, and crumble. Absolutely everything I have that I take for granted unless I consciously try to examine could just disappear...and that really blows my mind.

What sucks even more is that I'm an actor now since finding out about PO. Sometimes people talk about the future as if we're going to grow to infinity and fly to Mars and colonize and develop warp drives in order to go where no man has before...I have to just nod my head and not interfere with their bubble.

It's as if all my life I've lived staring at the corner of a wall not knowing there was an outside world and suddenly someone tells me about it and I get excited. But when I set foot on my journey to the outside, I traverse with a blindfold and the paths constantly change lengths and directions. There's no way of knowing how longs the paths are or whether they will even end. There's no way of knowing which direction they will go in; they might even lead back to the beginning. I realize this on my journey to the outside and I get a lot of anxiety and don't know whether I want to reach the outside or not.

With peak oil, pretty much anything could happen and I hate waiting and waiting and the worst part is not knowing exactly how to prepare or whether it will be even possible to prepare for what is to come.

Although I enjoy a lot of the things I have now, they're not necessarily sources of happiness but rather illusions spoon fed by advertisements and various money hungry corporations. I tell myself, in a way, that I love these things I have now, but what I want is something at the base of my desires.

Friends, freedom and a reflective life is all you really need to attain the highest level of happiness. As long as you have what is needed to survive and be healthy, no further gain in money will make you any happier. What money does to 99.99% of the consumerist population is lead them to believe they are supposed to be happier with that money when they're over eating without a digestive system.

I want to reach the outside and I want others to do as well, but unfortunately there's no way of knowing for sure which path is the correct path and how many I'll have to take.

That was fuckin' perfect, I feel more clear headed now.

[NEOPO]

Ecovillage

[Harlequin]

Strato.
I think you've got to keep in mind that it won't all suddenly end.
In my eyes what we're likely to see is more of a grind into darkness rather than a "day the world ends" scenario.
I'd say that even ten years after the peak it is liekly that some people will still have access to cars, plastic and modern medicine, provided things don't get too insane, just the amount of people will fall steeply.
Eventually it will become virtually impossible for anyone to live a lifestyle like we do today, but I think that day is probably a few decades away.
For the average shmoe like us? I would say we've got a few years till everything becomes desperate, after that...Well look on the bright side, we're young and fit (hopefully) and still have potential to do stuff.
I'd worry if I was either very young or past my prime and had been a cityboy all my life, no offense.
But yes, sometimes things can become clearer just talking to other people.

[Ayame]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Harlequin', 'S')trato.
I think you've got to keep in mind that it won't all suddenly end.
In my eyes what we're likely to see is more of a grind into darkness rather than a "day the world ends" scenario.

[gg3]

Yo Strat-

Sounds like you went through a brief bit of depression and then pulled yourself out of it. Note the sequence: lack of physical activity and too much video-gaming: depression. Get a bunch of exercise and read a book: back up to normal mood. This is very very common, and it has a physical basis in body & brain. But the important part is, you managed to pull yourself out of it, and you can consider that you have just learned a new skill.

So, sell the video game stuff. Video games are one of the things the corporate state uses to hook people and drain their time and energy. One learns nothing, accomplishes nothing, and spends hours doing it. It's mental masturbation, but unlike the real thing, it's expensive and not as much fun:-).

DO NOT move to Saudi with your father. Saudi is a repressive tyrannical theocracy of the worst kind. If you think America is an uptight place, go look up the Wahhabi sect of Islam which is the rulling paradigm over there. Also, westerners are high-value kidnapping targets, particularly after the hanging of Saddam. Last but not least the place could end up turning into a war zone in short order.

Stick to your plans about getting a Mech Eng degree. Even if the university vanishes into thin air halfway through, you'll have learned skills that will be absolutely vital in the expected future.

Things are not going to go overnight from life in the suburbs to life in the caves or jungles. It will probably take a good fifty years for the worst of it to unfold. When I was young, it was Reagan vs. the Soviets and the very real threat that the rhetoric would escalate into a full-scale nuclear war. Fortunately that is no longer a reasonable probability; instead we're facing a slow decline & fall. Think of a video clip of actual shit hitting an actual fan, and then run it in slow motion, think about calculating the ballistic trajectories of the flying pieces of poo, and have a good laugh.

I'll always be advocating for ecovillages, and I'll be building one, almost certainly starting this year (2007). There are plenty of others, and there will be more; you can apply to join any of them or start your own with assistance from existing ones at the time.

As for the question, what if you're wrong?, look at it both ways. What if you prepare and nothing happens?, vs. what if you don't prepare and the shit hits the fan? What if you get your Mech Eng degree, move into an ecovillage, and the shit does not hit the fan? What if you get your degree, move into a suburb, get a mortage and a car loan, and the shit does hit the fan? The risks and downside of the latter are much greater, and the rewards are vacuous.

As far as I'm concerned, ecovillage life isn't just a necessity, it's also a lot more satisfying than being a commuter drone in a zombie suburb full of idiots and morons. This is particularly true for people such as ourselves who are hella' smart and nonconformist. The key here is building a way of living and working that's intrinsically satisfying whether or not things go crash, and is intrinsically resilient if they do, and gives us the chance to use our brains doing something worthwhile. Best of both worlds.

BTW, I am 100% with you about this: "Friends, freedom, and a reflective life are all you need to attain the highest level of happiness." You are right on target with that.

[JPL]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gg3', 'Y')o Strat-

Sounds like you went through a brief bit of depression and then pulled yourself out of it. Note the sequence: lack of physical activity and too much video-gaming: depression. Get a bunch of exercise and read a book: back up to normal mood. This is very very common, and it has a physical basis in body & brain. But the important part is, you managed to pull yourself out of it, and you can consider that you have just learned a new skill.
.

[max_power29]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JPL', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('davep', 'I')'d like to chime in and agree with Ludi.

You're not fucked. You'll wake up tomorrow morning and still be healthy.

I lost my job (like Ludi) a month ago. Only I did it through choice. My wife went ape. However, she's still here and the sky hasn't fallen in on our heads.

I'm now in a better state of mind to make choices for my future than I would have been working 40 hours a week and being stressed out. You don't have the commitments and the family, so this won't even be an issue for you.

You're aware and able. Just choose the best route you can. But remember that you don't need to do it all now. Preparation and long-term planning are the key (IMO).