{"id":69017,"date":"2024-12-26T15:39:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T20:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=69017"},"modified":"2024-12-26T15:43:11","modified_gmt":"2024-12-26T20:43:11","slug":"todays-contemplation-collapse-cometh-cxxv-hydrocarbons-and-the-maximum-power-principle-what-could-possibly-go-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=69017","title":{"rendered":"Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CXXV–Hydrocarbons And The Maximum Power Principle: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CXXV–Hydrocarbons And The Maximum Power Principle: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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(Original posting date: Apr 22, 2023)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mexico (1988). Photo by author.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hydrocarbons And The Maximum Power Principle: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Contemplation is a sharing of the response by a Facebook Friend, Schuyler Hupp, whose occasional commentary on posts in our mutual Facebook Group, Peak Oil, I have come to appreciate for their insightfulness and conciseness regarding humanity\u2019s predicament. I could share a number of these going back for some time but felt this latest one was particularly good.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Question.<\/p>\n

[Global Warming] You have a substance that when burnt releases a gas that makes it warmer, you burn as much as you can to make your car go broom broom and feed 8 billion people. Would it get warmer?<\/p>\n

In response to the above question posed by a mutual FB Friend, Schuyler had the following to say:<\/p>\n

Schuyler Hupp<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Burning hydrocarbons on a massive scale, and for a century or more\u2026 That\u2019s exactly what an army of engineers would propose if you actually wanted to warm the climate\u2026 Though they would warn that the long term outcome would be difficult if not impossible to predict or control, due to the complexity and the number of variables, both known and unknown\u2026 However, they would also warn that there would be a very real possibility for the climate being forced into a new steady state equilibrium that might not be compatible with human life. They would also be the first to point out that fossil hydrocarbons, i.e. ancient sunlight, are a finite mineral resource, and that their quality and the net energy return would become uneconomical after about 150 years or so, and thus it would not represent a sustainable energy paradigm, not to mention all of the damage to ecosystems that would result from the pollution, or the population growth that would result from their introduction, with humans essentially being slaves to their innate Maximum Power Principle behavioral instincts\u2026 and that population Overshoot would ensue, thus condemning the entire planet to a future of ecological collapse\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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I have little to add to Schuyler\u2019s response, except to stress that\u00a0we appear to be in a\u00a0predicament<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0ecological overshoot<\/a>\u00a0that has\u00a0only an outcome, not a possible \u2018solution<\/a>\u2019\u00a0\u2014 something almost everyone wishes to have laid out before them, seemingly to help them in their\u00a0denial of reality<\/a>\u00a0to abolish the stress such an inevitable trajectory brings. This is usually accomplished through a kind of\u00a0magical thinking<\/a>\u00a0that humans stand above and beyond nature, and can thus control it \u2014 usually via our\u00a0technology<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and then demand that the dominant, story-telling apes within our sociopolitical systems act to save us.<\/p>\n

[NOTE: the links in the above paragraph will take you to articles by another FB Friend, Erik Michaels, who has been doing deep dives into these subjects for a number of years and posts at\u00a0Problems, Predicaments, and Technology<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 a site I highly recommend.]<\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty certain that there is no Plan B possible; in fact, I\u2019m not even sure there was ever a Plan A\u2026except, perhaps, to pursue our reproductive \u2018success\u2019 in adapting to our immediate environment of the moment for as long as possible (and this does not imply there is a predetermined evolutionary \u2018goal\u2019 involved aside from\u00a0successful gene duplication<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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If you\u2019ve made it to the end of this contemplation and have got something out of my writing, <\/span>please consider ordering the trilogy of my \u2018fictional\u2019 novel series, Olduvai (PDF files; only $9.99 Canadian)<\/b>, via my <\/span>website<\/span><\/a> or the link below \u2014 the \u2018profits\u2019 of which help me to keep my internet presence alive and first book available in print (and is available via various online retailers).<\/span><\/p>\n

Attempting a new payment system as I am contemplating shutting down my site in the future (given the ever-increasing costs to keep it running).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are interested in purchasing any of the 3 books individually or the trilogy, please try the link below indicating which book(s) you are purchasing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Costs (Canadian dollars):<\/span>
\n<\/span>Book 1: $2.99<\/span>
\n<\/span>Book 2: $3.89<\/span>
\n<\/span>Book 3: $3.89<\/span>
\n<\/span>Trilogy: $9.99<\/span><\/p>\n

Feel free to throw in a \u2018tip\u2019 on top of the base cost if you wish; perhaps by paying in U.S. dollars instead of Canadian. Every few cents\/dollars helps\u2026\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

https:\/\/paypal.me\/olduvaitrilogy?country.x=CA&locale.x=en_US\u00a0<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

If you do not hear from me within 48 hours or you are having trouble with the system, please email me: <\/span>olduvaitrilogy@gmail.com<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can also find a variety of resources, particularly my summary notes for a handful of texts, especially Catton\u2019s Overshoot and Tainter\u2019s Collapse: see <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Released September 30, 2024<\/b><\/p>\n

It Bears Repeating: Best Of\u2026Volume 2<\/b><\/p>\n

A compilation of writers focused on the nexus of limits to growth, energy, and ecological overshoot.<\/span><\/p>\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.<\/span><\/p>\n

The document is not a guided narrative towards a singular or overarching message; except, perhaps, that we are in a predicament of our own making with a far more chaotic future ahead of us than most imagine\u2013and most certainly than what mainstream media\/politics would have us believe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to access the document as a PDF file, free to download.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CXXV–Hydrocarbons And The Maximum Power Principle: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (Original posting date: Apr 22, 2023) Mexico (1988). Photo by author. Hydrocarbons And The Maximum Power Principle: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Today\u2019s Contemplation is a sharing of the response by a Facebook Friend, Schuyler Hupp, whose occasional commentary on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4,5,6,7],"tags":[1535,33950,30370,33947],"class_list":["post-69017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-energy-2","category-environment","category-geopolitics","category-liberty","category-survival-2","tag-hydrocarbons","tag-maximum-power-principle","tag-todays-contemplation","tag-todays-contemplation-collapse-cometh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69017"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69021,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69017\/revisions\/69021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}