by Auntie_Cipation » Mon 17 Aug 2009, 10:24:20
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('shortonsense', 'I') expect no plateau at all. The instantaneous slope of Hubberts bell shaped curve reaches 0 at only a single, infinitesimally small period of time, as dictated by the mathematics of any equation used to simulate the shape. 20 minutes might very well be small enough.
You appear to be conflating the instantaneous peak of oil production (which is expected to follow Hubbert's curve, yes -- although as far as I know the data available to the public comes in units no smaller than monthly production, so I doubt we'll ever know "which 20 minutes" was the peak)
with the resultant effects out in society (ie what's available at the pump for what price, not to mention all the indirect effects).
It's the societal effects you mentioned, and that I was responding to, talking about the plateau, not production per se. I believe this is obvious and your pretense otherwise is disingenuous.
As for the revisionist history, there is no point in lumping all peak oil-aware people together and saying "hey, what
you're saying now doesn't match what
he said five years ago!" If you want to know why someone has changed their prediction from five years ago, or whether they acknowledge that things didn't turn out as they predicted, ask
them. Most people on both sides of this issue have changed their expectations over time as they learned more or calmed down from their initial overheated excitement. You cannot, just as with other aspects of the world, hold anyone responsible for X person's claims other than X person themselves.
"... among the ways available in which a man can die, it is a rare and signal distinction to be killed by a leopard."
-- Raymond Dasmann