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2022 — A Year-End Contemplation
2022 — A Year-End Contemplation Another year has passed (almost), yet the world didn’t collapse. We have got close to nuclear annihilation — probably closer than we’ve ever had — yet we are still here. The long decline of our High-Tech civilization in general, and the Western empire in particular works on different timescales than […]
Fusion!
Fusion! How hydrogen fusion will save us (or not) A recent breakthrough in an experimental fusion reactor has created a shock-wave of news rippling through mainstream media. Writers from all stripes waxed lyrical how this is a major step forward, and how it brings us closer to a ‘clean, safe, almost limitless’ energy source. Reality though […]
Gutting Germany — Part 3: Diesel
Gutting Germany — Part 3: Diesel A story of economic suicide in the face of resource depletion Photo by Jennifer Latuperisa-Andresen on Unsplash In the past two installments (here & here) we have seen how the geology driven decline in coal production in Germany has led to an increase in natural gas consumption and black coal imports. Now, that Russian […]
Conditioned To Believe
Conditioned To Believe In a High-Tech Future We Trust Photo by John Fowler on Unsplash Many of us believe firmly in a Star Trek world to come, where technology and science would eventually have an answer to every problem we face today: from cancer to infinite growth on a finite planet. (Not that these are two different things […]
Electricity vs Oil
Electricity vs Oil The epic battle that never was Photo by Maksym Kaharlytskyi on Unsplash In light of the diesel crisis unfolding around the globe I thought it would be worthwhile to touch upon the topic of electrification. Will EV-s be our saving grace? Can we save the climate and our modern way of life by switching to […]
8 Billion Souls
8 Billion Souls By the time you read this, the counter above will have probably hit 8 billion (1). Screenshot from World Population Clock World population is projected to reach a new milestone — 8 billion people — tomorrow on November 15, 2022. According to United Nations Population Fund chief Natalia Kanem: “Eight billion people, it is a […]
There Is No Way Out for Europe
There Is No Way Out for Europe “Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder” The late historian Toynbee argued, that when civilizations meet a challenge they cannot overcome or resolve, they rather commit suicide than to let themselves murdered by outside forces. I sincerely doubt however that anyone from the political class in the West […]
What collapse?
What collapse? Western Europe, ca 2050. I’ve been contemplating a lot recently on how modern industrial civilization would collapse. (That it will collapse was no question to me.) The term ‘collapse’ of course invokes fear and anxiety in most, as it implies a sudden, irreversible, truly catastrophic event on epic proportions. One really bad day all shit […]
The Road to Ruin — Part 3
The Road to Ruin — Part 3 False solutions — and a way out Our leadership class displays an extraordinary amount of stupidity and ignorance when it comes to solutions regarding the dire energy crisis we face in Europe — and soon around the world. What are the pitfalls caused by this lack of imagination […]
Europe’s Permanent Energy Crisis Gets Worse
Europe’s Permanent Energy Crisis Gets Worse The pipeline explosions I wrote about last week were neither a beginning nor an end to Europe’s economic woes. The “invisible scissors” cutting all ties between Europe and the rest of Eurasia were already active since months — if not years — and did not stop for a minute ever […]
All Will Be Fine!
All Will Be Fine! Economic collapse simply cannot happen to Europe You all know this feeling running under the title ‘this cannot happen to me’. During normal times it does have a certain usefulness to it, protecting one from falling into panic and overreacting all sorts of possible problems. It also makes life look smooth […]
Water. Food. Energy.
Water. Food. Energy. Unless you have spent the past summer under a rock on a remote island, you have probably heard about the severe droughts besetting Asia, Europe, and the United States. Rivers turning into mere trickles. Crops failing or delivering less than half of their usual yields. Power plants shutting down due to a […]
Europe Cannibalized
Europe Cannibalized Abandoned industrial building. Image credit: Pixabay Europe is in the process of losing its industry. It didn’t start this year, it was already going on for decades now. However, in 2022 the process has switched from a long slow grind to a considerably higher gear. Energy is the economy. This is the key point in […]
The End of Reason — Part 1
The End of Reason — Part 1 Light a torch, dark times ahead Have we just passed Peak Rationality? Data Source: Google Search, red line: my extrapolation Most societies that have fallen before ours, have went through a similar pattern of rise, prosper and fall. Ours is no exception. Towards the end of their prosperous phase, […]
Our Capitalist Civilization’s Last Shot
Our Capitalist Civilization’s Last Shot …or how proposed solutions only deepen the problem What hole…? Bah, gotta keep on diggin’… Image credit: Dominik Vanyi via Unsplash For those of my readers who follow this blog for a while now it has probably become pretty much clear that this global capitalist high-tech industrial civilization is slowly over. […]
