[Graeme]

Is Peak Oil a secular end-of-the-world scenario?

Why the fascination with the end of the world

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hether you refer to it as eschatology (religious theory of the end of the world), milleniarianism, end time belief, apocalypticism, or disaster scenario, it is one of humanity's most powerful ideas, and it goes way back.

"It is a very ancient pattern in human thought. It is rooted in ancient, even pre-biblical Middle Eastern myths of ultimate chaos and ultimate struggle between the forces of order and chaos," says cultural historian Paul S Boyer, author of When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture.

"It is deeply appealing at a psychological level because the idea of meaninglessness is deeply threatening. Human societies have always tried to create some kind of framework of meaning to give history and our own personal lives some kind of significance."

And although end of the world thinking crops up in many religions, those in the West are probably most aware of Christian eschatology. In the early days of the church it was taken as a given by many believers that the Second Coming and the end of the world were imminent.

And for all it is easy to mock those who have tried and failed, thinking about the ways the world might end, or the timing, may be fulfilling a basic human need.

"It comes down to an issue of power," says Michael Molcher, editor of the magazine The End is Nigh. "What you get during times of particular discontent or war or famine or during general bad times is a rise in apocalyptic preaching and ideas.

"It is a way for people to control the way their world works.

[Bas]

I just came across this article on the BBC site, pretty interesting musings, and indeed a question we may ask ourselves here; why the fascination with the end of the world?

[Cloud9]

The great uncertainty for all of us is the end. We want to manage that end by mapping it out.

[Bas]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cloud9', 'T')he great uncertainty for all of us is the end. We want to manage that end by maping it out.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Graeme', 'I')s Peak Oil a secular end-of-the-world scenario? Why the fascination with the end of the world
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hether you refer to it as eschatology (religious theory of the end of the world), milleniarianism, end time belief, apocalypticism, or disaster scenario, it is one of humanity's most powerful ideas, and it goes way back.
"It is a very ancient pattern in human thought. It is rooted in ancient, even pre-biblical Middle Eastern myths of ultimate chaos and ultimate struggle between the forces of order and chaos," says cultural historian Paul S Boyer, author of When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture.
"It is deeply appealing at a psychological level because the idea of meaninglessness is deeply threatening. Human societies have always tried to create some kind of framework of meaning to give history and our own personal lives some kind of significance."
And although end of the world thinking crops up in many religions, those in the West are probably most aware of Christian eschatology. In the early days of the church it was taken as a given by many believers that the Second Coming and the end of the world were imminent.
And for all it is easy to mock those who have tried and failed, thinking about the ways the world might end, or the timing, may be fulfilling a basic human need.
"It comes down to an issue of power," says Michael Molcher, editor of the magazine The End is Nigh. "What you get during times of particular discontent or war or famine or during general bad times is a rise in apocalyptic preaching and ideas.
"It is a way for people to control the way their world works.

[kevinr]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'G')oogle pole shift......

[Ludi]

Not to me. I don't see peak oil as the end of the world, not by a long shot.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kevinr', 'I')s there really one piece of credible evidence that this is going to happen? Sure there are tons of poleshit2012.com and endin2012.com sites that are full of junk science, but I have not seen a single credible scientific report that states that pole shifting causes the earth to stop and start rotating the other direction like these wacko sites claim.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kevinr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'G')oogle pole shift......

[vision-master]

The Prophecies
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')runvalo Melchizedek is Editor in Chief of Spirit of Ma'at, a website dedicated to providing a central clearinghouse of undistorted information in the areas of spirituality, human potential, and new science. Drunvalo feels that this service is important because the Internet is forming a global brain — birthing a new way of planetary communication — and yet there is so much factual distortion and fear-based reporting that it is akin to mental imbalance: not knowing what is real and what is not.

In this interview in Sedona in May of 2008, we talk with Drunvalo about what he sees is coming in the near future and how most of the Hopi and Mayan prophecies concerning 2012, have not come from the Hopis and Mayans themselves.

[Newfie]

It does seem that there is a lot of "end times" discussion going on here. And it also defines how you define it. The further out we are talking then the less interest I have. At a couple of hundred years (at the very most) and you are just way too speculative to be meaningful.

My pragmatic approach is that I read this board for assistance with what will happen:
1. Short term - within a year to two
2. My remaining life span - 20 to 30 years
3. My kids and grand kids life span

Lets face it "the end of world" has multiple meanings, the most proximate being when I die, which will surely be TEOTWAKI!

[ohanian]

I'm fascinated with the end of the world
that's why I reading this book called

Introduction to Modern Cosmology


Wow! Everything dies in a slow heat death!!!


No matter how big your ego is (and my ego is very big indeed)

You are nothing but a speck on a speck on a speck.



You are just a human being on the solar system on the milky way galaxy.

Even the milky way galaxy is nothing but a speck.

Galaxies? Ha! They are a dime a dozen.



There are probably more than 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe - Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observable_universe

[NeoPeasant]

"People are always saying the world will end and it never does. Maybe it won't this time, either. But, frankly, it's not looking good. "- Norman Church

[Snowstorm]

A big distinction should be made between THE END OF THE WORLD and THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT. I don't believe peak oil is the end of the world. An immense change, yes, but other cultures have made it through collapse before, the culture itself and many people within it might not have survived intact, but there were some people left to pick up the pieces, it's just global this time. Sure I know you can come up with scenarios that might possibly mean the end of the world at least for humanity, but it really doesn't help anything to portray that as inevitable, it isn't, there are many paths the future could take and although I'm cynical sometimes too I can only imagine bad results if all knowledgeable people give in to defeatism.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '
')The World has ended many times before.

[Bas]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Snowstorm', 'A') big distinction should be made between THE END OF THE WORLD and THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT. I don't believe peak oil is the end of the world. An immense change, yes, but other cultures have made it through collapse before, the culture itself and many people within it might not have survived intact, but there were some people left to pick up the pieces, it's just global this time. Sure I know you can come up with scenarios that might possibly mean the end of the world at least for humanity, but it really doesn't help anything to portray that as inevitable, it isn't, there are many paths the future could take and although I'm cynical sometimes too I can only imagine bad results if all knowledgeable people give in to defeatism.

[mos6507]

I think people are comforted in dealing with their mortality to think that the rest of the world is going to go down with them. I think that's why a lot of the apocalyptic types tend to be seniors.

On the flip side, I think even in ancient times there may have been some innate knowledge that nothing in creation is permanent, i.e. the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

In order to have measurable time, the cumulative state of the universe has to continually change, however subtle and slow it may be. In order for things to change, you need energy. As energy is spent, some is lost to waste heat. Therefore we're all living off a big battery, i.e. the big bang, a big clock spring that will wind down in the end.

[Bas]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', 'I') think people are comforted in dealing with their mortality to think that the rest of the world is going to go down with them.

[TheDude]

This properly belongs in Out of This World, since the BBC article deals with metaphysical agencies for world-ending scenarios.

Is Peak Oil nothing more than a Cult? dealt more directly with the PO psyche.

[emersonbiggins]

Such melodrama.

end of the world != return to 1880