[PenultimateManStanding]

One more thing I wouldn't rely on a Google dictionary. The best bet is where do these words come from? That is of course, if one give's a rat's ass about language.

[bart]

PenultimateManStanding, I'm an ex-English teacher... I feel your pain!

I'm afraid I became hardened to the use of "paradigm" after years of hearing "paradigm shift" in corporate meetings. In my mind, "paradigm shift" means something forced down the throats of unhappy employees, which sounds good at first but turns out to be more work / less money / less efficient.

Coming after that, Ailrickson's use of the word is as fresh and welcome as a spring breeze.

Since you're concerned about language, have you read the parts of George Orwell's 1984 devoted to the new language of Doublespeak? Or his essay "Politics and the English Language" ( http://www.resort.com/~prime8/Orwell/patee.html ) ? You probably would enjoy them.

Orwell advises:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')list]1 Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2 Never us a long word where a short one will do.
3 If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4 Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5 Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6 Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

[PenultimateManStanding]

Ailrickson's use of the word was as fresh as a fart.

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ailrickson', ' ')
What do you believe should constitute the paradigm shift in order to either avert the peak, survive the peak, or re-establish a sustainable order post-peak? What are the factors? Should it be simplicity? Should it be denial of any technology (a return to the old idea of Chiristiniaty that all technology is evil? )? I am talking about that state of mind, and not technical solutions. The new set of beliefs and style of living that will enable humanity to guide it within a sustainable community within the environment.

For certain, peak oil (along with peak coal, gas and others) will force a new lifestyle. What is at the core of this change of idealogy? What? 1 000 years from now, what will humanity say of peak oil, and the changes it has forced in the human attitude?

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'P')aradigm is a trendy pseudo scientific word which really just means a model. It doesn't seem mean anything the way you are using it, Ric. Bart, how are we going to to go back to 1805? What do any of us know about life in those times? The people of 1805 had their reality handed down to them from previous generations. What we have had handed to us from previous generations won't help us much to get through what lies ahead and we can't go back to the old ways which we know nothing about.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bart', '
')
The web definitions of the word (via Google) are in line with with Ailrickson is getting at. For example: $this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
') a general agreement of belief of how the world works; what could be called ``common sense''.

A set of beliefs that defines the ways in which we think and act. Paradigms categorize information as a way of compressing it; however, information which does not fit the paradigm is usually ignored.

[PenultimateManStanding]

Strunk and Wanger didn't look right so I went back to the mindless giddy teenager thread to get it from Jack: its Strunk and White. I had that text in one of my College classes. Its good but Orwell is even better on language.

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bart', '
')
The web definitions of the word (via Google) are in line with with Ailrickson is getting at. For example: $this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
') a general agreement of belief of how the world works; what could be called ``common sense''.

A set of beliefs that defines the ways in which we think and act. Paradigms categorize information as a way of compressing it; however, information which does not fit the paradigm is usually ignored.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', '
')Though we are largely unaware of it, much of the way we think, act, and feel can be traced back to the fragments woven together into the historical paradigms of our not too distant past.

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', '
')Though we are largely unaware of it, much of the way we think, act, and feel can be traced back to the fragments woven together into the historical paradigms of our not too distant past.

[MonteQuest]

The Laws of Therrmodynamics will rule every single activity we do from here on out. We have not the energy base to go around them anymore and hold entropy at bay. This is irrefutable, short of some zeropoint or fusion energy which will just accelerate our demise, given our current world view.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', ' ')given our current world view.

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', ' ')given our current world view.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', '
')Well, that "quaint notion" is still being largely ignored, even by most people on this site. I find that few have a grasp of it's implications and its imperative for us. I agree about who should be indicted. I muckraked them soundly in my recent book.

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', '
')Well, that "quaint notion" is still being largely ignored, even by most people on this site. I find that few have a grasp of it's implications and its imperative for us. I agree about who should be indicted. I muckraked them soundly in my recent book.

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', ' ')I agree about who should be indicted. I muckraked them soundly in my recent book.

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', ' ')I agree about who should be indicted. I muckraked them soundly in my recent book.

[PenultimateManStanding]

MQ, don't like the condescending tone of "quaint notion"? Well, somebody had to do it. Might as well be me.

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'M')Q, don't like the condescending tone of "quaint notion"? Well, somebody had to do it. Might as well be me.

[mindfarkk]

MQ you have a pm.

btw... i think you meant "flat"