Why are we different?

by **Evltre** » Tue 03 May 2005, 21:55:09

Hubby has read the profile of both INTJ and INFJ - reckons I changed from a "t" to an "f" overnight when our son was born - I think he's right - I never used to care so much about other people as I do now. And two years ago you wouldn't have caught me dead sobbing at the end of a movie.

by **rogerhb** » Tue 03 May 2005, 22:04:22

BTW, NZ has pop of >4,000,000 with an additional large number of Kiwis overseas.

They can't say they haven't been told:

(a) John Cambell did a 30min slot on the oil crisis including the energy minister Trevor Mallard.

(b) Jeanete FitzSimons has asked a number of questions in "the house"

(c) Even Tariana Turia, Co-leader of Maori Party has issued a press statement on peak oil.

(d) Just walked down Lambton Quay in Wellington today and a newspaper shop had a big placard for "Kiss your life style goodbye - Weekly Guardian".

(e) Many TV and newspaper adverts saying how the local gas fields have a short lifespan.

Of course they also get to play the game of "how much did it cost to fill up this week".

by **SupplyConcerns** » Tue 03 May 2005, 22:11:19

(I'm an INFJ, to add to the informal tally).

I feel I've been gradually prepared for this for years by becoming disillusioned with mass culture, consumerism and the government. Reading Adbusters magazine ("A journal of the mental enviornment"), listening to the likes of Radiohead... it's given me the ability to see modern life through a dystopian lens. Anyways, this has allowed me to more easily deal with the fact that travelling sports teams, entertainment as life and politians successfully sheilding us from painful truths will soon be a thing of the past. I'm a songwriter, and I know the people who I love in life and would like to spend time with in the future. Neither of these require industrial society to be sources of my happiness. Right now I'm just trying to make sure I'm able to provide a little bit of food to people by working on an organic farm this summer.

-Grant

by **Evltre** » Tue 03 May 2005, 22:34:10

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', 'B')TW, NZ has pop of >4,000,000 with an additional large number of Kiwis overseas.

They can't say they haven't been told:

(a) John Cambell did a 30min slot on the oil crisis including the energy minister Trevor Mallard.

(b) Jeanete FitzSimons has asked a number of questions in "the house"

(c) Even Tariana Turia, Co-leader of Maori Party has issued a press statement on peak oil.

(d) Just walked down Lambton Quay in Wellington today and a newspaper shop had a big placard for "Kiss your life style goodbye - Weekly Guardian".

(e) Many TV and newspaper adverts saying how the local gas fields have a short lifespan.

Of course they also get to play the game of "how much did it cost to fill up this week".

by **MicroHydro** » Tue 03 May 2005, 23:36:10

Are we all nuts? Yes and no.

There is no doubt at all that oil and gas are finite resources. Whether they are 1/2 exhausted or only 1/4 exhausted doesn't even matter much. Oil and gas production are certain to seriously decline within the lifetime of almost everyone on this board.

On the other hand, the timing and severity of the changes that will occur as a result of declining oil and gas production is far from clear. There are some peak oil folks who have the same psychological quirks as religious end timers.

IMO, the extreme peak oil views (back to the stone age, or even humans go completely extinct) are nuts. Those scenarios are as crazy as the cornucopian ideas that technology and free markets will solve all problems.

There will troubles. But, remember that the industrial revolution began not with fossil fuels but with hydro powered mills. And all those abandoned cars are better than any iron ore.

by **seldom_seen** » Wed 04 May 2005, 00:00:35

Tested INTP and damn proud of it. hehe...

As I was pretty well studied up on ecology and environemental issues before I found out about peakoil. My response wasn't so much "is this really true?"...but more like "wow this is it."

I'm really not sure though that foreknowledge of PO is a guarantee of anything. As David Ehrenfeld points out "knowledge of what is happening will help but will not be a guarantee of safety in the midst of chaos."

It will most likely play out with all sorts of twists and turns that no one expected or predicted. Think about when a country goes to war, they make all these meticulous plans and strategies and then map out all likely outcomes. Then when the war comes the plan is usually thrown out immediately based on some unforseen circumstances.

It's entirely possible that the most cornucopian techno-optimist will for one reason or another do just as well if not better than some people who have been aware of and planning for peakoil well in advance.

Maybe the inherent optimism and denial found in such a large part of the population is a vestige of some sort survival trait that is part of their biological makeup that will prove valuable in the times ahead? Or maybe not?

by **Rhinestones** » Wed 04 May 2005, 00:16:34

Thanks for the great topic Evitre. I'm right there with you. The doubt started 2 days ago for me. Questioning, again, the validity of the conclusions i've drawn re peak oil, civilization and the rest of my (our) lives. I'm actually questioning the usefulness of believing in anything, except perhaps love. Do you have to 'believe' in that?

"Collective Delusion" or consensus trance has been foremost in my attention for months. A while back, i had at least a dozen post-its all over the house with "consensus trance" on them. On the fridge, monitor, mirror, doors, car; The awareness of this trap though, seems to slip away without constant vigil. The last couple days I feel like i'm back down in the muddy waters of delusion. My email list of daily rantings probably thinks I've expired, and are relieved to have not heard from me. LOL. In realizing that I can't definitively tell folks where this is going, or share the mind-blowing awareness of mass delusion effectively, I'm thinking there is no real point in pressing the issue further with friends and family. Maybe they are the smart ones and deserve to be left alone?
Am i nuts? Yea, probably.
It's nice to come here and see i'm not alone. :lol:

Ryan
INFJ

by **uNkNowN ElEmEnt** » Wed 04 May 2005, 11:55:05

Evltre said: $this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')And two years ago you wouldn't have caught me dead sobbing at the end of a movie.

by **Pops** » Wed 04 May 2005, 12:23:03

Someone posted the other day how ridiculous the whole ‘end of the world as we know it’ idea was, he called us ‘Neoluddites”.

I’ve described myself as a latter day luddite before but I like the neo part better since I think a majority of folks here – including myself, are involved in technology in some way.

Perhaps familiarity breeds contempt and distrust…
Or maybe it just makes it more likely you’ll find LATOC.

BTW the whole personality test thing has a long thread somewhere, here’s one: http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic3176-0-asc-0.html
Another: http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic930-0-asc-0.html

by **strider3700** » Wed 04 May 2005, 23:31:31

damn I test as INTJ or INTP depending on how much sleep I've had and how nice I'm feeling. Even though we're relatively rare I'm not that surprised that a fair number of others on here test the same way.

It doesn't help with my feelings that I'm correct and things are going to suck unfortunately.

by **vegasmade** » Thu 05 May 2005, 01:07:47

INTP that's me!
In the time I've been aware of PO my doubt factor has risen and fallen. I found out and doubted, learnd more and gain confidence, tried to share and was generally stonewalled-much doubt, found this forum of like minds-confidence solidifed. My old man is a crazy christian and on faith, we'll never agree. He onced justified his stance by saying- "I may be wrong, but at the end I'll at least have lived a good life." The same applies for all of us. He also said "it's not a sin until you know." Apply both and doubt will disappear. We know, so we are acountable. We are only responsible for ourselves, and can choose a low-e lifestyle. I find that my confidence/doubt is directlly related to my choices. If we as peakers chose to happily change our lives, others may follow. Those changes, justified or not, amounts to living the good life. Don't think you have to jump into a 100% green life, starting by cutting waste is acceptable and easy. The rest will follow.
Now go forth in the confidence that the only thing that matters is the condition of your own soul. What's the saying? Follow your heart!

by **smallpoxgirl** » Thu 05 May 2005, 01:35:16

Well...looks like I haven't changed much over the years. Still INFP.

by **rostov** » Thu 05 May 2005, 01:40:24

70 questions! Finally got it done. INTP.

Looks quite true on many accounts, even if I were to browse the rest of the 16 profiles.

by **katkinkate** » Thu 05 May 2005, 02:03:22

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'W')ell...looks like I haven't changed much over the years. Still INFP.

by **Chichis** » Thu 05 May 2005, 10:13:11

INTP
22/62/38/11

by **Doly** » Thu 05 May 2005, 10:32:24

My opinion: the difference between peakoilers and the rest is that they are people who don't look around to decide what they are going to think about a given issue. They make up their own minds without help. Most people automatically think: "If everybody is saying X, then it must be right." Most people follow fashions. Peakoilers, by definition, aren't swayed by arguments like: "If peak oil was true, why isn't anybody doing anything about it?" or "If peak oil was true, it would be all over the news."

Being a thinker type obviously helps to understand the technical issues. Not so sure about the other Myers types, but your typical peakoiler seems to be INTP, from what I see here (I'm one, too!). Few have more than one letter different from this. Any theories relating this type to peak oil beliefs?

by **gnm** » Thu 05 May 2005, 11:36:07

I have always tested INTP...

interesting observation, that most PO types are INTJ or INTP....

we should have a poll with all the types on it to see!

-G

by **smallpoxgirl** » Thu 05 May 2005, 12:12:56

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gnm', 'I') have always tested INTP...

interesting observation, that most PO types are INTJ or INTP....

we should have a poll with all the types on it to see!

-G

by **SupplyConcerns** » Thu 05 May 2005, 12:33:05

It's interesting that everyone has had introversion as a part of their personality profile. I wonder if that's correlated with being peak oil aware, or if it has more to do with our electing to spend time on an online message board.

by **katkinkate** » Thu 05 May 2005, 19:27:40

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SupplyConcerns', 'I')t's interesting that everyone has had introversion as a part of their personality profile. I wonder if that's correlated with being peak oil aware, or if it has more to do with our electing to spend time on an online message board.

Why are we different?

They can't say they haven't been told

Re: They can't say they haven't been told

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