{"id":81,"date":"2014-10-17T16:52:45","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T16:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai2.wordpress.com\/?page_id=1"},"modified":"2026-07-03T15:32:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T20:32:50","slug":"collapse","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Infinite growth.
Finite planet.
What could possibly go wrong?<\/h1>\r\n
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If you\u2019re new to my writing, check out\u00a0<\/b>this overview<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/h2>\r\n
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If you wish to help support my writing and online presence, you can purchase the Olduvai trilogy <\/strong>for just $9.99 CDN.<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n

Place your order HERE<\/a>.<\/strong><\/h1>\r\n

and\/or
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Read my latest Contemplations:<\/p>\r\n

July 3, 2026<\/p>\r\n

Today’s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CCXLVII\u2013<\/b>
<\/b>Monetary Systems, Thermodynamics, and Ecological Overshoot, Part 1.<\/b><\/p>\r\n

\u201c<\/span>Applied to our monetary system, the complexity is the global financial architecture itself: derivatives, cross-border settlement systems, high-frequency trading algorithms, regulatory frameworks, and the entire central banking apparatus. This architecture does not produce food or energy. It consumes massive amounts of electricity and human labor simply to operate.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

As net energy declines, maintaining this financial superstructure consumes an increasing share of the shrinking surplus. The cost of managing the claims begins to exceed the real wealth the system generates. At that crossover point, the complexity ceases to be a solution and becomes a drag.<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Website<\/a>\u00a0
Medium<\/a>\u00a0
Substack<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

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June 26, 2026<\/p>\r\n

Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CCXLVI\u2013<\/b>
<\/b>Laughing at Our Self-Destruction.<\/b><\/p>\r\n

\u201c<\/span>Laughing at Our Self-Destruction<\/span><\/em> is an important book for anyone who has looked at the evidence\u2014ecological, economic, historical, psychological\u2014and found themselves unable to maintain either the optimism of the techno-utopians or the despair of the doomers. Erickson offers a third way: clear-eyed acceptance of our predicament, combined with a commitment to living meaningfully within it. The book is not a solution to our crises\u2014there are no solutions to predicaments\u2014but it is a wise and humane response to them.<\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Website<\/a>
Medium<\/a>\u00a0
Substack<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

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June 18, 2026<\/p>\r\n

Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CCXLV–
Overlooking the Biophysical Basis of Human Societies.<\/b><\/p>\r\n

\u201cNeither de Rugy\u2019s paean to growth nor GJP\u2019s supranational contraction apparatus meets the magnitude of the predicament. The former refuses to see that the material conditions for growth are dissolving; the latter imagines that a political machinery of staggering complexity can manage a planetary contraction without itself driving collapse\u2014and without being captured by the very ruling caste whose interests it would threaten.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

The most uncomfortable truth is that we are still fighting the same rhetorical battle, with the same accusations of methodological fraud and \u00e9lite indulgence, while the overshoot that both camps either deny or misunderstand continues its quiet, relentless advance. In the face of that advance, the only meaningful response may lie not in any global plan, but in the stubborn, grounded work of preparing our own communities for the world that is already emerging.<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Website<\/a>
<\/b>Medium<\/a>
<\/b>Substack<\/a>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\r\n

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June 12, 2026<\/p>\r\n

Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CCXLIV\u2013
<\/b>We\u2019re Saved! The Finale: All Aboard the Salvation Bus.<\/b><\/p>\r\n

\u201c<\/span>I have been called a pessimist, a doomer, a Cassandra. I am none of these things. I am simply someone who has read the evidence and refused to look away. The recurrent phenomenon of societal collapse\u2014from the Bronze Age to Rome to the Maya\u2014teaches us that complex societies do not “solve” their way out of diminishing returns. They continue to invest in complexity until the returns go negative, and then they simplify, often violently and always painfully.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

We are no exception. The only question is how fast, how hard, and how much unnecessary suffering we will add through our continued clinging to salvation stories.<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Website<\/b><\/a>
<\/b>Medium<\/b><\/a>
<\/b>Substack<\/b><\/a><\/p>\r\n

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June 5, 2026<\/p>\r\n

Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CCLXIII\u2013
<\/b>We\u2019re Saved! Artificial Intelligence.<\/b><\/p>\r\n

\u201c<\/span>When all is said and done, the notion that AI is a \u201csaviour\u201d to help humanity achieve ecological sustainability while ensuring economic prosperity for all is as far removed from reality as one can imagine. The chasm between what cheerleaders of this technology repeatedly promise and what is actually happening is as vast as the growth they insist will follow\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

\u2026Given the full weight of the analysis above, the potential for AI to achieve sustainable resource management, fix climate change, or deliver true human sustainability is, in a word, negligible\u2014and in practical terms, actively negative.<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Website<\/a>
<\/b>Medium<\/a>
<\/b>Substack<\/a><\/b><\/p>\r\n

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February 13, 2026<\/p>\r\n

Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CCXXX\u2013<\/b>
<\/b>Revisited: <\/b>
<\/b>Collapse = Prolonged Period of Diminishing Returns + Significant Stress Surge(s).<\/b><\/p>\r\n

\u201cPerhaps one of the more significant impediments for our species in being able to accept that societal collapse is inevitable is that in our human proclivity to deny\/avoid\/ignore anxiety-provoking thoughts, the vast majority of us disregard the overwhelming evidence\u2026so we support, even encourage, the elite response to keep pushing on the string of increased complexity and technology. Because, you know, human ingenuity. But all we are accomplishing by doing this is helping to make a tough situation even worse.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

We mostly ignore, at our peril, the alternative (and one that will appear whether we wish it or not): simplification.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

Website<\/a>\u00a0
Medium<\/a>\u00a0
Substack<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

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We\u2019re Saved!
A Collection of \u2018Solution\u2019 Critiques.<\/b><\/h2>\r\n

Click Here<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\r\n

Volume 1.<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

Bamboo and Hemp: Fusion Energy Is Imminent; ‘Good Government’ Has Humanity’s Back; A Nuclear Renaissance Is Upon Us.<\/p>\r\n

Volume 2.<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

Thorium-Fuelled and Molten Salt Reactors; Carbon Emissions Have Decoupled From Economic Growth; Hydrogen Energy; Wave Energy; Steel Production Without Coal; Pulling It Together…So Far; Ecomodernism; ‘Renewables’ and Energy Security.<\/p>\r\n

Volume 3. (in press)<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

Massive Buildout of Solar Photovoltaic Energy. Solar Photovoltaic Recycling. A Circular Economy. E-Waste for Empire. Canada is Saved. Artificial Intelligence. The Finale: All Aboard the Salvation Bus.<\/p>\r\n

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It Bears Repeating…<\/h1>\r\n

A compilation of writers focused upon our unfolding predicaments.<\/h4>\r\n

Click Here<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\r\n

Volume 1<\/u><\/strong><\/h3>\r\n

With a Foreword and Afterword by Michael Dowd, authors include: Max Wilbert; Tim Watkins; Mike Stasse; Dr. Bill Rees; Dr. Tim Morgan; Rob Mielcarski; Dr. Simon Michaux; Erik Michaels; Just Collapse\u2019s Tristan Sykes & Dr. Kate Booth; Kevin Hester; Alice Friedemann; David Casey; and, Steve Bull.<\/p>\r\n

Volume 2<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\r\n

With a Foreword by Erik Michaels and Afterword by Dr. Guy McPherson, authors include: Dr. Peter A Victor, George Tsakraklides, Charles Hugh Smith, Dr. Tony Povilitis, Jordan Perry, Matt Orsagh, Justin McAffee, Jack Lowe, The Honest Sorcerer, Fast Eddy, Will Falk, Dr. Ugo Bardi, and Steve Bull.<\/p>\r\n

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Interview with Erik Michaels and myself by Michael Dowd.
June 24, 2023<\/p>\r\n