[rdberg1957]

Let's look at the social psychology of peak oil. One theory of social psychology, cognitive dissonance, has been around for fifty years. When someone holds two beliefs that are in opposition to each other, he or she is motivated to relieve the dissonance that is caused by the conflict between the beliefs. For example, one may hold the belief of limitless growth which is supported all throughout the culture. Presenting information about peak oil creates dissonance which the person will naturally want to resolve. Because most folks in the USA have predicated their lives upon the former assumption of limitless growth, they are highly invested in that belief and will prefer to resolve the dissonance between conflicting beliefs by maintaining the belief in limitless growth, generally blocking out information which contradicts that belief.

Even among very bright folks who are environmentally aware, very few will entertain the idea that we are in deep trouble, preferring to believe that "someone will invent something, electric cars" to save us. We ain't gonna convince anybody who doesn't want to know. Only empirical evidence over time will break through this kind of denial.

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'h')e sits around all day working on these numbers

[JPL]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('shortonoil', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'J')PL wrote:

We still have a choice, damn-it, but time is now getting VERY short...

[shortonoil]

rdberg1957 said:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'E')ven among very bright folks who are environmentally aware, very few will entertain the idea that we are in deep trouble, preferring to believe that "someone will invent something, electric cars" to save us.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JPL', 'Y')es! There are low-energy lifestyles out there - they just take time to set up. And we are running out of time - fast.

[shortonoil]

Ludi said:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '(')Cubans lost an average of 25 pounds per person while they transitioned to low-energy living)

[oiless]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JPL', '
')
Noooooooo!!! That was not the case in the 70's & I know 'cos I was there. What was in the MSM at the time was the fact that we had 30 years of oil left - but it was going to run out WITHIN OUR LIFETIMES.

When I was doing undergraduate Geology in the early 80's my college lecturers told us we had 20 years of Oil.


JP

[threadbear]

A lot of people aren't able to spot patterns, early on. Some can't spot them, even when they start to establish, as they can't stand back far enough to get a big picture. They're the bean counters, the measurers. Their job isn't to extract meaning and that's just how they're wired.

The conformists and minor players who golf with upholders of the status quo, are impediments to the free flow of ideas. They hunt for Weapons of Mass Discussion and try to neutralize them every chance they get.

These types are usually wannabes who can't see the forest for the tees--an entirely different kind of myopia, symptomatic of a primary character deficit.

Add that to the hope that the media is there to point the way, to inform--that there is some kind of unwritten social contract there, and you have a society where a majority have almost preselected themselves for some kind of culling process.

I just hope it's limited to a mild financial culling; the kind where their wallets take a hit, but they remain standing.

[sameu]

i know at least one big autmobile constructor where they're aware of peakoil and where it's a current topic
don't know what their strategies are, but at least they're aware

[Keith_McClary]

Radio Havana Cuba has been reporting the PO response to the BP pie-in-the-sky.

6.18 MHz. in North America.

(If you email them they will send you a Che pocket calendar).

[wisconsin_cur]

So the question on the table is "what now?" An earlier poster mentioned that the cost of preparation could be ready to skyrocket as individuals discover po and begin to do what ever they can to get ready. this has been my fear for sometime and if the predicted shortages occur I'm afraid it could prove true. There are a lot of people in the world able to out-bid me for the last few things I feel that I need, what now? I'm going to have to seriously look at my situation, distinguish between needs and wants and then go get those last few pricey items even if it means a little more debt. I think my job will last long enough to ride the wave (I just received a letter telling me I would not be considered for a more secure job closer to home).

Soon it will be time to start making do.

[Starvid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sameu', 'i') know at least one big autmobile constructor where they're aware of peakoil and where it's a current topic
don't know what their strategies are, but at least they're aware

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sameu', 'i') know at least one big autmobile constructor where they're aware of peakoil and where it's a current topic
don't know what their strategies are, but at least they're aware

[shortonoil]

threadbear said:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he further merger of state and large coporations (or should I say corporation, as if things keep going like they are, perhaps only one corporation is the goal Laughing) is going to ramp up the govt. subsidies process to the point where competition is no longer possible.

[Madpaddy]

The irony.

Volvo and Ford are among the most inefficient cars in Europe.

We have a catch 22 here. The car companies don't want to invest in a more efficient diesel or petrol engine because like all cornucopians, they believe the next big breakthrough with hybrid or hydrogen powered engines is just around the corner and they don't want to have spent all this R&D money for nothing.

This is precisely why almost all industry will be caught swimming naked when the tide goes out.