by threadbear » Sun 22 Jan 2006, 03:05:43
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bboyjiji', 't')he optimistic economists believe that market predictions of future prices will send current price signals to warn society. in theory, this should give us enough time to reconvert our infrastructure to sustain oil decline as we gradually transition to the 'new stuff'.
there's much debate on what exactly the 'new stuff' will be let alone hope for the country to change its way of life. but this academic field and its teachings is also a piece of our hubristic culture. I don't think the society, as a whole, will ever except Peakoil for what it really is, the end of growth. the media will probably glaze over with a 3 second soundbyte that the petroleum production sank a bit each year. To us peakoilers, we'll be laughing and giggling with the "i told ya so's" in our heads. but like our warnings, our validation will fall on deaf ears belonging to an unimaginably ignorant mass.
i've been a forum lurker for about a year and i think that in the excitement of this new doomerism culture, we've been ignoring the demand side of oil. i understand that demand destruction itself is a joke of a solution. but to be optimistic, there will be a combination of renewables and research initiatives in the future. and it really is a matter of finding ways to jump start those early or soften the landing. buying time for technology is the key. sorry for the non sequitor.
Welcome. Where you from? BTW, I completely agree with you. Goodbye growth, Hello Homeostasis. Or--the cancer has been arrested. The implications of peak, even with demand destruction, are expensive energy from here on in, be it oil, coal, nukes.