[Rod_Cloutier]

As a middle aged man coping with burn out, or a mid-life crisis, I'm hoping a post peak world will mark a return to simplicity in day to day affairs. The level of complexity in the modern world goes far beyond perplexing.

When I was a young kid in the early 1970's during the Apollo missions; I was told by my elementary school teachers that by the time I was middle aged they would have permanant research bases on the moon and Mars, and interplanetary transportation would be commonplace. Wow, did that future never materialize!

Now as a middle aged man (out of work), I now find that I have to compete for employment with high school and college kids who know far, far more about computers than I'll ever will know. When I was in high school (mid-eighties) computers had 64K of memory, now a single picture could be a 64K file. To say nothing about me not being in the least bit proficient in powerpoint, excel, or knowing anything about PDF file formats.

I was curled up on my couch today watching DVD reruns of the Twilight zone and Hawaii 5-O episiodes from the 1960's. People in general don't seem that much different from the way they are today 50 years later, but the lifestyles look so much more relaxed. People had Job security, pensions, unions, common respect for police and elected officials, stable if ordinary jobs. No cell phones, computers, spam, people would rather curl up and die than bounce a cheque.

I'm hoping a post peak world will diminish the complexity and stresses of everyday life. Consumerism, and a lot of prosperity may vanish in the transition, but I'm betting the hectic pace of modern life will slow down signifigantly.

My wife wanted to go to the casino tonight. I went along for nothing better to do. It was sad really. Seeing all those hundreds of people, flushing away cold hard cash, staring with blank faces into these one arm bandit machines composed of the most silly, pompous, electronic light shows. One VLT machine was made of a likeness of Kenny Rodgers and it would play a verse or two from his song 'The gambler' every time someone would win. I hate VLT machine's. It is pure and random chance to win a prize, and the odds of winning are stacked so high against winning that you would think the places would be stark empty rather than seated to capacity.

I would hope the post peak future will render some sanity to the post peak world- but one never know what will happen?

[ian807]

We have met the enemy, and he is us.

Las Vegas, Peak Oil. It's you and me friend. Your wife si making someone rich. The money you paid for gasoline in your life went to the Saudis. It's not just them. It's us.

[Ferretlover]

When the Reality hits, it's quite a body slam, isn't it?
When I leave home and see all those peolple who don't have a clue, well, it can be quite overwhelming. I used to want to (essentially) grab a bullhorn and start yelling, "Run for your lives, Reality is Coming!"
But, as most of us learn, sooner or later, there is no point. Everyone cannot be saved in the upcoming, incoming Future.
Basically, there are three types of people:
=Those who haven't a clue, and live in a fantasy version of life. Let them enjoy themselves-you can't change or save them.
=Those who Just Plain Don't Want to Believe What's Happening, and will fight anyone tooth and nail to make those Crazy People put the fantasy back. Engage them if you are feeling a bit frisky, but, in the long run, it is best to ignore them and let them fight each other.
=And, then, there's us. While we don't yet have the time line defined & refined, we can see what is going to happen. The resources are being diminished. Although demand destruction will slow down the losses, eventually There Will Be Nothing Left.
When you meet one of us, give a little smile and a nod of recognition. We know "wassup."

[coyote]

I think that, unfortunately, the world will get a whole lot more complicated immediately post-peak, before it becomes simpler again. Bread lines and tent cities; family and living space adjustments (moving in with Mom and the cousins); a never-ending fight over the dwindling supply of remaining jobs; denial and bad solutions thrown repeatedly at the wrong problems; the political madhouse as we slowly reorient ourselves to the new reality; resource wars; one new energy gimmick after another; and above all the cultural clash of new energy production versus environment preservation. Even after the peak, it will be a real nail biter for a while, as we wait for the damage we've done to the biosphere to catch up to us, waiting to see if it will be too much to recover from, trying desperately to keep others from destroying yet more as they understandably try to keep what standard of living they can salvage at any price.

Eventually things will settle into a new equilibrium of sorts; and then things will either be simpler, as we are wishing, or if things fall the other way, the bad way, then it will be one long, diminishing struggle for survival through the centuries as the remaining survivors continue to outstrip the capacities of the remaining landbase. But by the time either of those happens, none of us here will be around to see it. It falls on us to witness and ride the crash; it will fall on our children, and their children, to pick up the pieces after. I'm beginning to think that preparing our descendents for that time is far more important than any personal survival preparations we could make for ourselves. This is not something that will be over and done with in a few months or a few years. This will be, as the man said, Quite An Event.