[Doly]

Strange, I realise now that I've lived all my life assuming that the future is very uncertain when everybody else around me assumed the opposite. Maybe that's why it took me such a short time to accept the peak oil theory.

I left a "rock solid" job as a teacher five years ago and everybody told me I was mad. I thought they were mad for thinking that one could expect to have a guaranteed lifetime. I had no specific reason, I just had read enough of my grandfather's diaries and general history to have a feeling that guaranteed lifetime jobs are an illusion, and that tough times during one's lifetime are almost a certainty, unless you are very lucky or live a short time.

[Aaron]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Y')ou were thinking that you'll never hear another piece of original music again. That you'll never read a book that hasn't already been written or see a film that hasn't already been shot.

[spear]

Theres going to be three kinds of people pretty soon.
Hungry people.
Dead people
Survivors.
That may be a grim forecast,but its the best I can come up with.
Find the motivation and find a way.
Of course nothing is guaranteed and set in stone.
We are just grains of sand.

[0mar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ayoob_Reloaded', 'I') mean, we're basically right on the verge, right? Whether it's right now or three years or five years or even ten, you know, that doesn't really make much of a difference.

We're actually going to be the ones in the front seat of the rollercoaster on its way down. We are going to watch it happen all around us and have to figure out how we need to behave in order to have what we think of as a favorable outcome.

We are going to be some of the ones who decide how this is going to happen.

Do we decide to have mobs of millions of starving people looting and ransacking everything in sight from inside our concrete bunkers?

Do we decide to give in to an Orwellian big-brother authoritarian state that will decide everything for you in advance, and your chocolate ration will increase to 25 grams per week?

Do we let the old and the sick die off so we don't have to support them anymore?

What's this going to look like after the fact? Will we pull an Easter Island and erect SUV statues in people's front yards?

At the moment, it's looking more and more like 1984 to me than any of the other choices, except the lower classes will be tracked just as thoroughly and completely as the middle class. What middle class, really.

Wow.

I'm just totally floored by this again. It hits me every once in a while, you know? Right now, I really am just right in the middle of realizing what's coming and how it's going to affect me and my family and all my friends, and everybody I've ever worked with and all the people who live in my neighborhood right now.

[Palkerss]

Hi. I came across this forum 'by chance' but this topic is quite alarming.
I'm 20, I live in Poland - as a post-communist country we're at the point where american economy was in its early 50's. As a country we have a total 500km (290mi) of highways (sic!) and the goverment is planning (since late 90's with no success) to create additional 2,000 km by 2015.
Political situation (especially recent) is very unstable, with russian agents "planting" political 'bombs' (files of ex-KGB agents among politicians suddenly emerge from nowhere). We've just joined the most socialist creation ever - European Union - which's slowly rottening and likely to collapse in notime.
Here I am, a young 'bloke' with little knowledge of the surrounding world, 'eager' to become a computer specialist - I'm a Computer Science student. Well I would be but I've failed most of the end-term exams, who knows, maybe for the sake of my future.
Here's my problem - I don't really know what direction should I take - continue these studies at all costs or rather choose a different, more practical, but financially less attractive occupancy?
I know, this post is a bit childish, but please treat it and respond to it seriously. Yours sincerely, Lukas.

[JoeW]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TrueKaiser', '
')the strange thing is Hollywood has a decent(but only slightly above the statistical 50/50) rating at predicting the future. take for example the original start trek series. it predicted, mobile phones, personal computers, diskettes and cd's, and voice recognition.

[bobbyald]

Palkerss

I'm not sure anyone can give you the advice you’re looking for. I've not exactly made the greatest decisions in my life but I'm surviving. Whatever you do just make sure you enjoy life to the full.


Stu

Can't believe your going out drinking while at University

I know what you mean though. You look around and wonder if your privileged or cursed to know and understand what 99%+ of your fellow humans don't.

[Kaminyu]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TrueKaiser', 't')he strange thing is Hollywood has a decent(but only slightly above the statistical 50/50) rating at predicting the future. take for example the original start trek series. it predicted, mobile phones, personal computers, diskettes and cd's, and voice recognition.

[seahorse2]

Palkerss,

Whatever you are doing now is the right thing to do. I'm impressed, bc you have such a command of the english language, which is obviously a second language for you being from Poland. So, you are very bright to have mastered another language so well. That just tells me you don't have a lot to worry about, no matter what choice you make. There are no right or wrong decisions, all you can do is make the best decision at the time based on the information you have. Learning, is always good, if nothing else, it opens your mind and allows you to problem solve. I think that problem solving is a very important skill, PO or not. Keep the learning up, keep good friends, stay alert and aware, and you will be ahead of the bunch. I liken PO to a joke about two campers. A hungry bear walks into camp. One camper starts putting on his shoes. The other camper says, why are you putting on your shoes, you can't outrun that bear. The other camper says, I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you. PO is like the bear. You don't have to outrun the bear, just all the other people that aren't mentally prepared or ready. Its the law of averages, some people survive anything, including the German concentration camps. You just have to outlast the others. And you will.

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ayoob_Reloaded', 'W')e're actually going to be the ones in the front seat of the rollercoaster on its way down. We are going to watch it happen all around us and have to figure out how we need to behave in order to have what we think of as a favorable outcome.