[Ibon]

The demarcation from this world to the next may not be a singular event that will ever be defined. It may very well be imperceptable on a daily basis and only recognized looking back through decades in the future as external events forced us stubbornly against our will toward a transition.

For this reason you may be creating a false dichotomy between this pre peak oil world and the next post peak oil world. Institutions will reinvent themselves and morph slowly as apposed to collapsing and building themselves up from scratch.

An analogy from biological evolution....An eye was built on imperceptably slow modifications of already existing features and not from a design reinvention. Culture is free from the constraints of genes but not from memes which replicate and mutate also based on pre existing paradigms.

Too many people project collapse based on their personal disdain and hatred of the existing paradigm instead of rational analysis. Remember, these changes for the masses are not driven from idealogical roots but from reality and geology that will put huge strains on existing idealogies of consumption. Changing this will be a slow imperceptable grinding affair the speed of which is somewhat dependent on the rates of decline of fossil fuels but not solely. Changes in lifestyle hold the biggest scalable reserves on energy along with the incrementally slow rise and build out of renewable energy. Disease and global warming throw in unpredicatable variables.

These are all good reasons to pursue your engineering career!

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Uninspired123', 'T')Hanks for the replies everyone it's all good stuff. I think part of the issue is a lot of us forget we still have to live in this world before we can transition to the next and i'm getting all caught up into planning for the next world while i forget about the short time i'll still spend in this one.

[BigTex]

And if the PO game ever gets too slow for you, or if you ever want a little variety in your doomerism, go check out some of the bird flu forums; those people are ready for die off on a VERY fast track.

I find spending time with the bird flu doomers to be a little like throwing a couple of doughnuts on the bat in the on-deck circle of the PO game. When I come back to oil depletion it seems like easy work.

Other awfuls to consider:

Climate change (not as exciting as PO)

Terrorism (too mainstream to really freak out about)

Thermonuclear war (so 5 minutes ago)

Meteor striking the earth (dramatic, but too remote to get excited about)

Economic meltdown (exciting, but it's happened before)

Biblical apocalypse with 4 Horsemen and Jesus returning to rule the earth after victoriously battling evil (not really an awful ultimately, but I'd really like to be around to see all the mayhem)

Major U.S. city flooded and turns into "Escape From New York" kind of environment (already happened--New Orleans)

Huge pacific rim coastline hit by killer tsunami and hundreds of thousands killed (already happened as well)

***

Please check out the whole universe of doom, though--a little variety in your nightmare future scenarios actually provides perspective, which is comforting in a strange way.

PO is not the only game in town.

[Rogozhin]

Drink whiskey!

Rogo

[What_Went_Wrong]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', 'P')lease check out the whole universe of doom, though--a little variety in your nightmare future scenarios actually provides perspective, which is comforting in a strange way.

PO is not the only game in town.

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('zensui', 'I') was apathetic, but not now. Just remembering the miracle of being alive keeps me happy... and I'm not saying that in a religious way, it's more of a contemplation of nature and life.

[Curator]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Uninspired123', 'C')an use advice from 20 somethings like me and old fogies.

I'm worried that i've gotten myself into this 'i give up' mindstate already. The whole thing seems so overwhelming that for some reason, someone who has fought a lot academically his whole life (me) is already giving up. This scares me but I can't shake the feeling.

I do research at baylor college of medicine currently but realize just the massive amount of energy all of the things we do in the lab. I just don't get how we can even obtain all the things we need in lab to continue meaningful research unless somehow it is severely subsidized by the government.

The wait is agonizing too. Any responses are appreciated.