2070.
Civilization fueled by oil slowly collapses over the next century because of depletion and as I sit around a camp fire among the ruins of these times this is what I am thinking: I could forgive the governments, banks, and corporations because they simply functioned on hubris and greed--easily understandable! But who I won't forgive is the academics and universities who failed to call for emergency action! Who didn't shift all of their resources into trying to find a solution to these most basic needs ( too busy with pronoun debates). They didn't turn their campuses into Eco Niche's or pool all their resources into solving pollution and creating the cleanest energy supplies possible.
I curse them as I sit by this fire!
These are the conditions, in general, that existed in 2050 brought on by the trends and trajectories of 21st Century policy makers.
-The oligarchy had sucked up 90% of the wealth of the earth
and now live in enclosed safe zones in the most luxurious of abodes. The post-collapse aristocracy has
reverted to modes of decadence and debauchery which were the trademarks of their pre-modern cultures.
-Automation had decimated 70% of the workforce and most people in the lower demographics which were middle class in the year 2000 now live in 'dumpster towns' in a daily struggle just to survive. A.I. is heavily invested in the policing of these new slums.
-Universities had shut down as their degrees became nothing more than toilet paper although they still exist in the oligarchic safe zones. Professors could still find work in the aristocracies safe zones but must teach according to aristocratic dogmas.
-The earth's great cities lived in air polluted distress as they hit the toxic saturation point forcing inhabitants to stay inside or use respiratory devices. These cities are also all in various states of martial law and commerce is nothing more than tribal/feudal survival within a Social Darwinist survival of the fittest meme.
-The Military Industrial Complex took full control of the remaining resources of the earth and has full immunity as far as being protected from prosecution by
using any means necessary to extract and protect any remaining resources.
And what of the women you ask? And a very good question it is, too! Well, there is a tale to tell there, also..........
To the woman, he said, "I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor, you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."
"Yes, that was mean ole Jehovah speaking, ladies!
And you simply didn't see it coming! You became blinded by The Megamachine and its myth of progress! And it's you who have suffered the most in these recent decades as the decline was swift and brutal because the way down didn't have the stability that the way up offered: reasonably stable environments
and, generally, plenty of food and water, so 'the way up' conflicts were not so devastating as the wars for what was left.
These wars which brought out the worst in men.....
IMAGE: hogmanoutdoors.com
I see it as you do and I wished I didn't see what is coming. Well written I'd like to read the rest of your book.
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STOPI like the perspective from the common man living in the ruins of society. Indeed, if ITER and other energy generators fail, then we will enter the era of Scramble. As long as nation-state exists as viable political entity, men will not proceed to orderly division of our limited oil supply, but choose the second option of Scramble. The First world nations have had contingency plans for Scramble as early as Pres. George Bush Sr., so the likelihood of your scenario is quite real.
I prefer the orderly division of resources by totalitarian oligarchy over the chaos of Scramble and nuclear wars, but reality will depend on the success of ITER reactors. Insh Allah as the Albas say.
ITER does mean, The Way, and of course, I hope for its success!
Here is the problem I'm having, though: Imagine I'm a 90-year-old Henry Ford and it's 1920 and society has listened to me talk about a thing I call an internal combustion engine; I've been talking about this thing for over 70 years now, and not once have I been able to demonstrate what it is I'm talking about!
So, I'm sure you get it.......They've been talking about this for a long, long time and to my knowledge, they are not even close to demonstrating this tech, so, in a sense, it's a little like speculative metaphysics......But why, then, should anyone take this seriously?
An orderly deconstruction of the consumer/materialist paradigm would be a saner choice and it's here where the world's academies have failed miserably, IMO....The academies have known about C.C. and Peak Oil for 70 years and.......
Maybe you could point me to one university that has established a completely self-sustaining eco-system without fossil fuels....
Which leads me to the chaos and green fascism of the German attempt at dealing with this issue. From following the issue from afar as a layperson it looks like total lunacy from what I can tell, and there is nowhere I can see where society is dealing with the issues of Peak Oil and Climate Change in a sane and orderly fashion.
Maybe only the local greenies who are downsizing to niche eco villages, but that's a tiny amount of people and they are not really being realistic about the horror to come if these intractable problems can't be solved......
In the meantime, the whole of civilization is held up by matchsticks! Better hope a strong wind doesn't blow:)
It is not only the academics, but also the general public, who are indifferent to the grander problems that face all of humanity on this planet. In the US, I recall Pres. Carter's address regarding the need for reduction in consumption and need for conservation. That speech cost him the election, resulting in US interference in Middle Eastern politics to this day.
The problem of global crisis, such as climate change, rampant pollution, ever decreasing usable water supply, etc. is the sad fact of wealthy nations being crippled by political instability of representative government. With the religious institutions, now but a vestige of their previous selves, and an appendage of political structure, only political solution can address our problems. Unfortunately, democracies and republics only have 2-4 year policy horizon and are unsuited to addressing longer-term issues of a nation-state, let alone the globe.