[Heineken]

One way or another, many of us spend huge gobs of our time and energies on the future. Thinking about, talking about, and often actively planning for, Collapse in all its kaleidoscopic potential manifestations.

The future. What is it, really? Can you touch it . . . ever? Can you draw a single breath in it?

Will it ever get here?

Or is it an evil Pied Piper, ever coaxing us away from the chance to live fully now?

[Rogozhin]

I destroy the present for the sake of the future.

Rogo

[dinopello]

psycho-temporal balance --> remember and learn from the past but don't live in it, cherish and enjoy the present but don't be consumed by it, be hopeful and respectful of the future but don't obsessively fret about it.

[Jack]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', '
')Or is it an evil Pied Piper, ever coaxing us away from the chance to live fully now?

[Revi]

If you know a bit about the future, you can plan. I like planning. We have all the oil we need for next winter, and have next year's wood drying. Even if TSHTF, we're good until the winter of 2010. It also allows us to be strategic. I know that the old saying, man plans and god laughs could be true, but I like having reasonable certainty that what I am planning could be a very good move. It's like finding a racing form from the future. Unfortunately, with the peak oil form most of the horses will die long before they get to the finish line, but at least we know which ones to bet on.

For example we installed a back up solar light system. It may come in very handy if Duncan turns out to be right. That was a longshot which can pay off handsomely if we are without power.

[kjmclark]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'T')he future. What is it, really? Can you touch it . . . ever? Can you draw a single breath in it?

[Heineken]

Some primitive societies we are destroying, or have destroyed, such as those of Micronesia, have no word for "future." Temporal concepts aren't part of their vocabulary, or their thinking. In many of these cultures, life was reputed to be idyllic, or at least idyllic compared with ours.

[Rogozhin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')o kids, huh? I look the future full in the face every day. It gives me hugs, it tells me secrets. I hear it laughing, I hold it upside down and hear it laugh more. I watch it grow. I brought the future into the world. I would give my life to protect it.

I see the future at my kids' school. Hundreds of happy shining little faces of the future. I see the future when I plant a tree. A soft, fragile little green sprig of the future.

My job is to protect my little piece of the future from the rest of the future. I read this site everyday to know what I'm up against.

[Heineken]

Although I love children, when I see them I no longer see the future.

[Polemic]

Highly intelligent people are future-oriented and have a longer time-horizon.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he only alternative to hunting for surviving the winter is food storage, which can be shown to be more common in cold climates. Successfully storing food calls for the ability to defer gratification, the ability to imagine winter conditions when times are warm, and simple quantitative skills to manage the accumulation and consumption of stores. Thus, the need for storage should select for intelligence (Miller 1991). Storage also leads to a settled lifestyle which leads to the use of more artifacts.
Source

[fiedag]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')This all probably explains the dearth of Black people on this website, and the preponderance of Whites.

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'O')ne way or another, many of us spend huge gobs of our time and energies on the future. Thinking about, talking about, and often actively planning for, Collapse in all its kaleidoscopic potential manifestations.

The future. What is it, really? Can you touch it . . . ever? Can you draw a single breath in it?

Will it ever get here?

Or is it an evil Pied Piper, ever coaxing us away from the chance to live fully now?

[wisconsin_cur]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Rogozhin', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')o kids, huh? I look the future full in the face every day. It gives me hugs, it tells me secrets. I hear it laughing, I hold it upside down and hear it laugh more. I watch it grow. I brought the future into the world. I would give my life to protect it.

I see the future at my kids' school. Hundreds of happy shining little faces of the future. I see the future when I plant a tree. A soft, fragile little green sprig of the future.

My job is to protect my little piece of the future from the rest of the future. I read this site everyday to know what I'm up against.

[evilgenius]

I was thinking about this very question the other day. I know that I spend way too much time thinking about doom than I ought. I manage to angle it into so many of my private thoughts and public utterances. Aside from the dysfunctional family stuff, which does have a big impact along the lines of not trusting others (no, I wasn't abused) I have to say the Cold War had the biggest impact on me. I was born at the wrong time. I matured in the malaise that came post 'duck and cover' and before the Ronnie Raygun boom. I was deeply impressed by all of the edge of doom rhetoric that flourished when I was a kid.

From the start I believed that the 90's market was doomed to crash and thus missed out on the greatest bull market in history. There wasn't a lot of 'can do' going on either around me or in the culture. As a consequence neither 'busting ass' nor hope are very deeply imbedded in me.

It is funny about hope because deep down I do believe that, inspite of the quite reasonable doom, we will solve this. No, I don't know how. Neither do I believe that the whole world will succeed in getting there. Maybe I am just looking for proof that if you do well and are good you will receive your just reward. Certainly not much about life has proven that to me so far.

[Johnston]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('wisconsin_cur', '
')
Save the planet by not breeding? Sounds like you want a pristine earth with no human inhabitants (if we were all as righteous as you and had no children). That is just the same sort of stupid fundamentalism that leads others to blow up themselves up while taking out as many others as possible. They got their dream of a perfect caliphate, you got a dream of an earth without we ugly primates, both are self righteous both condemn those who disagree.

You can have your self-righteousness, I'll keep my kids and maybe even have a few more to boot.

[Battle_Scarred_Galactico]

For me its' simple, the great unkown.

[Aaron]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Johnston', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('wisconsin_cur', '
')
Save the planet by not breeding? Sounds like you want a pristine earth with no human inhabitants (if we were all as righteous as you and had no children). That is just the same sort of stupid fundamentalism that leads others to blow up themselves up while taking out as many others as possible. They got their dream of a perfect caliphate, you got a dream of an earth without we ugly primates, both are self righteous both condemn those who disagree.

You can have your self-righteousness, I'll keep my kids and maybe even have a few more to boot.

[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tanada', 'F')ocusing on the here and now this instant present, well thats boring isn't it?

[vision-master]

Think like a dog..............

[mmasters]

I think it's just some people are naturally oriented towards the conscious physical realm while others are more naturally oriented towards the unconscious, abstract realm.

I see seeking the truth to be the dominant underlying reason for all the speculation and strategizing here. As dark as it can be sometimes I really love modeling my thinking more and more to better understand people, nature and systems in general - ultimately to adapt my thinking to be more in line with the truth.

Some others here have different primary goals for trying to figure out the future: to protect their children, to maintain their possessions, to help others, to dominate, to profit, etc...