by the48thronin » Wed 16 Dec 2009, 14:52:21
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', '
')You are not saying anything new. It's all the same stuff.
This is what I feel we've learned about collapse in the last 5 years:
1) Global warming is a lot worse than anyone's worst nightmares, and denial runs thicker than ever.
2) We now have seen demand destruction in action. The steady upward pressure on consumption will not be the straight line we originally thought.
3) Similar to 2), the oil market is influenced by commodity speculators and the health of the greater economy. The Oil Drum's simplistic supply/demand graphs just doesn't reflect this complexity. Simplistic doomsaying predictions (cough --- Matt Simmons) should be taken with a grain of salt.
4) Don't underestimate the surprising resilience of BAU. We have a long way to go still before zombie hordes, jackboot thugs and FEMA coffins, pandemic die-offs, etc... This may be Great Depression 2.0, but we still have our XBOX 360s, iPhones, Big Macs, and flat screen TVs. There may be a breaking point somewhere, but it's probably not going to be as quick and dramatic as people think, and if it is, it will be primarily due to dollar collapse, not peak oil, overshoot, global warming, etc...
5) We can have mainstream coverage of collapse issues (Collapse, Earth 2100, Incredible Journey of Crude, etc...) and still never hit critical mass on public awareness or governmental interest.
6) Don't completely rule out unexpected boons in the energy sector that could push back the day of reckoning a bit (shale gas, EESTOR, etc...)
You left out and coincidentally display in your post the most important thing we DID NOT learn..
When viewing reality through the lens of preconceived outcome, all facts irrelevant to that preconceived outcome are false indicators or unimportant... Self justification of our agendas still rules our impressions and responses...