Donate Bitcoin

Donate Paypal


PeakOil is You

PeakOil is You

If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

What's on your mind?
General interest discussions, not necessarily related to depletion.

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby Byron100 » Tue 18 Dec 2007, 11:37:56

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MrBill', 'O')kay, just to pi$$ Byron100 off, I have decided to go back 1000 years ago, and found a brand new world religion based on fiscal conservatism, social liberalism, libertarian principles and sound economics.

In the context of its time it will have no competition, so it will be the most successful religion of all time, and then man can finally live sustainably in his natural environment adjusting his demands to available supply, while observing responsible reproduction strategies. I'll call it the Church of MrBill.


Nah, you didn't piss me off...I got a good laugh instead :lol:

I just hope your new religion has the capability of stamping out greed and the the innate desire to have more, more, more...otherwise, we'd have reached full industrialization by the year 1500, tech age by 1750 and Peak Oil soon after. By 2007, we'd be well into the post fossil-fuel era...hehe.

Mmmm, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea after all...we'd learned the Big Lesson sooner, rather than later.... 8)
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide...
...and the meek shall inherit the Earth!
User avatar
Byron100
Tar Sands
Tar Sands
 
Posts: 973
Joined: Thu 08 Sep 2005, 03:00:00
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby Revi » Tue 18 Dec 2007, 11:47:50

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kpeavey', '1')800 in the area of Washington County Maine.
Energy was wood and horses.
Transportation was limited to sea travel as there were no roads connecting the settlement to the rest of the world.
Localized economy, but money was not needed, it was neighbor helping neighbor.
Good soil, ample game.
Politically stable.
Healthy, independent people.

Except for asphalt roads and electricity, the place has not really changed that much.


I'll be in Hancock County like all my relatives for retirement. It may not be that different from the 1800's by the time we retire there. Are you in Washington County yet? Did you buy some land KPeavey? You might need to invest in a peavey.
Deep in the mud and slime of things, even there, something sings.
User avatar
Revi
Light Sweet Crude
Light Sweet Crude
 
Posts: 7417
Joined: Mon 25 Apr 2005, 03:00:00
Location: Maine

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby Heineken » Tue 18 Dec 2007, 11:48:24

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', '"')Staying in the present is not an option in this game."


What consitutes 'staying in the present'? Can you go back to when you were 13 ? That could be interesting... How about going back to this past weekend ?

I'm not trying to be difficult.


Good question, Dino. I will further refine the rules to state that you can go to any time you choose, other than the present moment. Thus, if you want to go back 1 day, or forward 1 hour, that is allowed. However, IMO that would be a waste of your opportunity, if it's real escape or adventure ye seek.

Also, you can go only by yourself. You cannot take others with you. However, you could rejoin them as the reconstituted you in any period spanned by your significant others' lives. Thus, let's say you've been married 25 years and you decide to go back 20 years. You'd walk into your living room, where your wife was sitting. From her perspective, you'd be 20 years older; from yours, she'd be 20 years younger. She'd shriek; you'd probably feel horny.
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---I & my bro.
User avatar
Heineken
Expert
Expert
 
Posts: 7051
Joined: Tue 14 Sep 2004, 03:00:00
Location: Rural Virginia

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby Byron100 » Tue 18 Dec 2007, 11:50:50

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'T')he only, thin chance for utopia would be 250,000 years in the future. After all memories of the stink of humanity have dissipated.


Heineken, there's a book I have that you'd probably be very interested in. It's called "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman, and it really is a great read. It's about what would happen to Earth if humans were to vanish in an instant (but just the humans only, everything else staying behind). The cities turning green in the space of mere years, creatures spreading far and wide once more, even the death of billions of cockroaches due to the lack of heated homes...LOL.

Seriously, though, this is a really good book. Highly recommended.
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide...
...and the meek shall inherit the Earth!
User avatar
Byron100
Tar Sands
Tar Sands
 
Posts: 973
Joined: Thu 08 Sep 2005, 03:00:00
Location: Atlanta, GA
Top

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby MrBill » Tue 18 Dec 2007, 12:01:09

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Byron100', '
')Nah, you didn't piss me off...I got a good laugh instead :lol:

I just hope your new religion has the capability of stamping out greed and the the innate desire to have more, more, more...otherwise, we'd have reached full industrialization by the year 1500, tech age by 1750 and Peak Oil soon after. By 2007, we'd be well into the post fossil-fuel era...hehe.

Mmmm, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea after all...we'd learned the Big Lesson sooner, rather than later.... 8)


'Sustainable economic development within the confines of the natural carrying capacity of the earth' would be one of my Ten Commandments, but as always rather than rely on man's altruism markets would price goods and services accordingly, so that externialities are reflected in the price and, yes, in the supply.

Take a forest. If the age of a mature tree is 70 years old then they can only be successively logged 1/70th at a time. Harvest a tree. Plant a tree. No exceptions or you go to Hell!

Plus I would put economic exclusion zones and buffers along rivers, lakes and steep hills to preserve the water quality and curb erosion. No letting your heavy hoofed cattle degrade the shoreline. No dumping untreated sewage into the water supply. You have to love thy God and love thy neighbor, so to prove this you have to respect your neighbor's right to clean drinking water. Not respecting that right would be a mortal sin!

I wouldn't bother moralizing about personal behavior. All the commandments and economic verses would be written in plain to understand language with no hidden messages or allegories to confuse people. Just stuff like

Thou shall not run budget deficits!
Thou shall not create off-balance sheet special purpose vehicles.
Thou shall recognize liabilities as soon as they are created.
Thou shall not book profits until they are realized.
Thou shall not create excess money supply.
Thou shall adopt a neutral interest rate policy.

Believe me the people will love the economic stability and prosperity that this will finally bring them.

Once I throw in a few gems like 'cleanliness is next to godliness' (hint, hint, wash your hands after you play with the livestock) then I can throw in a few verses about rats and how they are not very good to live amoung. Avoid all that black plague stuff hopefully! ; - )
The organized state is a wonderful invention whereby everyone can live at someone else's expense.
User avatar
MrBill
Expert
Expert
 
Posts: 5630
Joined: Thu 15 Sep 2005, 03:00:00
Location: Eurasia
Top

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby Heineken » Tue 18 Dec 2007, 12:13:31

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Byron100', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', 'T')he only, thin chance for utopia would be 250,000 years in the future. After all memories of the stink of humanity have dissipated.


Heineken, there's a book I have that you'd probably be very interested in. It's called "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman, and it really is a great read. It's about what would happen to Earth if humans were to vanish in an instant (but just the humans only, everything else staying behind). The cities turning green in the space of mere years, creatures spreading far and wide once more, even the death of billions of cockroaches due to the lack of heated homes...LOL.

Seriously, though, this is a really good book. Highly recommended.


I just ordered it on Amazon, friend Byron. How's that for responsiveness?

Thanks!
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---I & my bro.
User avatar
Heineken
Expert
Expert
 
Posts: 7051
Joined: Tue 14 Sep 2004, 03:00:00
Location: Rural Virginia
Top

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby Byron100 » Tue 18 Dec 2007, 12:20:24

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')I just ordered it on Amazon, friend Byron. How's that for responsiveness?

Thanks!


Wow! :shock: 8O

I can tell that you're really, *really* gonna like this book. :lol:
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide...
...and the meek shall inherit the Earth!
User avatar
Byron100
Tar Sands
Tar Sands
 
Posts: 973
Joined: Thu 08 Sep 2005, 03:00:00
Location: Atlanta, GA
Top

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby spear » Wed 19 Dec 2007, 03:23:31

I would choose to be a student of Michelangelo,
or a craftman of fine swords in feudal japan,
or on a team of discoverers of continents,
or a comrade of Alexander or Leonidas,or Odysseus.
a student of Aristotle,or Confucius.

or a playtoy for the priestesses of Delphi.
ΜΟΛΩΝ-ΛΑΒΕ
User avatar
spear
Tar Sands
Tar Sands
 
Posts: 801
Joined: Wed 17 Nov 2004, 04:00:00
Location: EL-LAS

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby mos6507 » Wed 19 Dec 2007, 16:00:53

The problem with the past is the poor state of medicine and sanitation which leads to short life expectancies. That plus much more frequent wars.

How many pockets of history were truly idyllic? Minoan Crete? Maybe some island people in the pacific?
mos6507
 

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby spear » Wed 19 Dec 2007, 16:24:01

Thats alright.Let me be the priestess playtoy and I,ll die a happy man.lol
ΜΟΛΩΝ-ΛΑΒΕ
User avatar
spear
Tar Sands
Tar Sands
 
Posts: 801
Joined: Wed 17 Nov 2004, 04:00:00
Location: EL-LAS

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby kpeavey » Wed 19 Dec 2007, 17:04:24

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'p')laytoy for the priestesses of Delphi


Downeast Maine? What the hell was I thinking?
Can I change my Escape venue?
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--for ever."
-George Orwell, 1984
_____

twenty centuries of stony sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, and what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
-George Yeats
User avatar
kpeavey
Expert
Expert
 
Posts: 1670
Joined: Mon 04 Oct 2004, 03:00:00
Top

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby Heineken » Wed 19 Dec 2007, 23:45:48

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kpeavey', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'p')laytoy for the priestesses of Delphi


Downeast Maine? What the hell was I thinking?
Can I change my Escape venue?


Negative, kpeavey. Once you've passed through the portal, there is no return.
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---I & my bro.
User avatar
Heineken
Expert
Expert
 
Posts: 7051
Joined: Tue 14 Sep 2004, 03:00:00
Location: Rural Virginia
Top

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby Heineken » Wed 19 Dec 2007, 23:54:08

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', 'T')he problem with the past is the poor state of medicine and sanitation which leads to short life expectancies. That plus much more frequent wars.

How many pockets of history were truly idyllic? Minoan Crete? Maybe some island people in the pacific?


I said it twice, I'll say it thrice: "Remaining in the present is not an option in this game."
In any event, the fancy medicine and fabulous sanitation of the present time will prove very short-lived as conditions deteriorate. So you might as well escape into another time. Perhaps you won't survive long there, but you could have an incredible adventure, no?

Use your imagination. Think what it would be like, to see the dinosaurs of 70 million years ago, or the incomprehensible vistas of 250,000 AD? To track down the boy Hitler and squeeze the life out of his dreadful lungs? To walk beside Sophocles, and paddle in the Blue Grotto before it became a cheesy tourist hangout?

I know one thing: I'd sure as hell go for it.
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---I & my bro.
User avatar
Heineken
Expert
Expert
 
Posts: 7051
Joined: Tue 14 Sep 2004, 03:00:00
Location: Rural Virginia
Top

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby kadoomsoon » Thu 20 Dec 2007, 02:36:18

Go back to 1900 and buy the north east oilfields of texas.
Then don't drill them.

We would have to be limited to some degree.
Last edited by kadoomsoon on Thu 20 Dec 2007, 03:26:58, edited 1 time in total.
___________________________
Everything is going to happen more or less simultaneously.
Your relatives,their broken down car, and their credit card debt are coming to live with you in 2008
User avatar
kadoomsoon
Coal
Coal
 
Posts: 422
Joined: Mon 01 Oct 2007, 03:00:00
Location: Rural farm

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby Tyler_JC » Thu 20 Dec 2007, 03:19:24

Scenario A:

1847 in San Francisco, California

Get filthy rich, become the first governor of California, and lobby for the conquest of all of Mexico (and Canada too, why not?)

The map of the USA would extend from the Arctic Circle to the Aztec Pyramids.

Not sure why, just might make for an interesting twist on world history.

Scenario B:

1955 in San Francisco, California

I was born well after the whole hippie thing ended. Might be fun to see it first hand.
"www.peakoil.com is the Myspace of the Apocalypse."
Tyler_JC
Expert
Expert
 
Posts: 5438
Joined: Sat 25 Sep 2004, 03:00:00
Location: Boston, MA

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby Blacksmith » Thu 20 Dec 2007, 03:41:26

At the anvil there is no future, no past, just now and peace.
Employed senior
Blacksmith
Heavy Crude
Heavy Crude
 
Posts: 1064
Joined: Sun 13 May 2007, 03:00:00
Location: Athabasca, Alberta

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby Bas » Thu 20 Dec 2007, 03:53:11

I find the late 19th and early 20th century fascinating. So I'd like to be born in, say 1865 and in a rich family so that I can spend my life travelling the world and seeing it change
Bas
 

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby Kylon » Thu 20 Dec 2007, 04:07:54

35 million AD-


I would want to be inside a petting zoo for super advanced nuclear powered aliens(or later evolved creatures on this planet).

They could use their advanced technology to keep me alive indefinitely, and provide me with an ultra sexy clone mate they made for me.

Their goal would be to produce more of my kind in captivity and to study me extensively, as well as ask me questions about my primitive civilization.

They would keep me in a holodeck with all the food and water I could possibly want, a Hawaiian type environment, with alien veternarians who would check on my health regularly, and use their technology to regenerate my body as needed.

I'd come out six hours a day to perform tricks for them, for food and sex, and put on live sex shows so that alien parents could say "ooo, look kids, were witnessing the rare mating act of Homo Sapien Sapien", but in an alien language.

I would answer about questions concerning my past, and what I saw during the 21st century.

Now hows that for an idealic situation?
User avatar
Kylon
Expert
Expert
 
Posts: 836
Joined: Fri 12 Aug 2005, 03:00:00

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby MrBill » Thu 20 Dec 2007, 07:23:56

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'S')cenario A:

1847 in San Francisco, California

Get filthy rich, become the first governor of California, and lobby for the conquest of all of Mexico (and Canada too, why not?)

The map of the USA would extend from the Arctic Circle to the Aztec Pyramids.

Not sure why, just might make for an interesting twist on world history.

Scenario B:

1955 in San Francisco, California

I was born well after the whole hippie thing ended. Might be fun to see it first hand.



Either that or divide the Continent East-West the way it should have been split instead of North-South. That would have solved a lot of problems. And while you're at it expell the French from Lower Canada. Thanks! ; - )
The organized state is a wonderful invention whereby everyone can live at someone else's expense.
User avatar
MrBill
Expert
Expert
 
Posts: 5630
Joined: Thu 15 Sep 2005, 03:00:00
Location: Eurasia
Top

Re: If You Could Escape into the Past . . .

Unread postby Heineken » Thu 20 Dec 2007, 10:30:23

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kylon', '3')5 million AD-


I would want to be inside a petting zoo for super advanced nuclear powered aliens(or later evolved creatures on this planet).

They could use their advanced technology to keep me alive indefinitely, and provide me with an ultra sexy clone mate they made for me.

Their goal would be to produce more of my kind in captivity and to study me extensively, as well as ask me questions about my primitive civilization.

They would keep me in a holodeck with all the food and water I could possibly want, a Hawaiian type environment, with alien veternarians who would check on my health regularly, and use their technology to regenerate my body as needed.

I'd come out six hours a day to perform tricks for them, for food and sex, and put on live sex shows so that alien parents could say "ooo, look kids, were witnessing the rare mating act of Homo Sapien Sapien", but in an alien language.

I would answer about questions concerning my past, and what I saw during the 21st century.

Now hows that for an idyllic situation?


That's great except for the part about reproducing more of you. If that's their goal, I'd question how "superadvanced" they were! There's always the chance some of you might escape and establish breeding colonies in the wild.
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog

"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---I & my bro.
User avatar
Heineken
Expert
Expert
 
Posts: 7051
Joined: Tue 14 Sep 2004, 03:00:00
Location: Rural Virginia
Top

PreviousNext

Return to Open Topic Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests

cron