by Nano » Wed 30 Jul 2008, 11:57:14
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ROCKMAN', 'N')ano,
You seem to have contradicted yourself. You don't seem to be worried about PO because you have fully accepted the possibility and have positioned yourself to survive, if not benefit, from the coming crisis.
[...]
But I do worry about the futures of others not as fortunate as you and I. I do focus on the discussions regarding policies, etc that could lessen the blow of PO even though they might be slightly counterproductive to my own interests.
[...]
I do worry quite a lot about the fate of the untold hundreds of millions who never benefitted from capitalism, in fact who probably suffered by it. Who never contributed to global warming due to not consuming anything, yet who are getting that full in the face too, what with skyrocketing food prices.
The thought of the extreme, widespread suffering that has been, is, and will be, still baffles my comprehension, especially since realising the constraints on human development that are a direct result of peak oil.
If anything, peak oil destroyed a great illusion of mine, namely the conviction that - eventually - all of humanity would be lifted-up from extreme poverty, given enough time and effort. After understanding PO I saw that this conviction of mine was baseless and in fact probably no more than a defense mechanism to not feel greedy while enjoying extreme comfort and luxury compared to perhaps 99% of the world population. I mean: how can one enjoy frivolous luxury if one knows that such luxury is a gross misuse of scarce and valuable resources?
After realising PO and it's constraints on human development I couldn't enjoy anything anymore, except for reading and surfing the web, which I still regard as excuseable waste of resources.
Nowadays I am coming around and returning to my old ways, which involve somewhat more resource wastage than the low point of my PO journey a few years ago. Much of this renewed wastage has to do with social activities that are more or less a part of my work as an energy consultant.
You might be surprised to know that clients seem to be more confident of your qualities if you demonstrate that you enjoy luxury and frivolous consumption. I guess it has something to do with the idea that someone who enjoys luxury is willing to go the extra mile in order to be able to keep doing that, i.e. deliver a better product to the customer. Clients appear to be suspicious of people who are modest in their consumption, for those people might very well also be modest in putting effort into delivering a good product, I imagine.