What's the plan?

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21

Hello, azzenstudent, and considering it’s your first post, welcome!

Oh, by the way, your first posting gets a hearty amen from me, and it sums up a sentiment I wish I saw around here more.

The "government is the root of all evil" mantra is incomplete at best and vacuous repetition of ideology at worst, yet it’s repeated ad nauseum by people whom I hold in high esteem.

And just so I don’t get jumped on by uber libertarians and Austrian schoolers, I believe if the word government is replaced in the above sentence with "capitalism" or "socialism" or "Wall Street" it’s equally true.

22

Hi All,

One exciting thing we should all educate ourselves about is alcohol/ethanol as fuel. I know the media and information outlets have pretty much killed the topic, "proving" that it is unsustainable. And it is, the way it is currently been produced by the big corporations. But there is a whole other story about how alcohol can be done on a small community scale - and it’s one of the most encouraging and exciting solutions around right now. I urge everyone to spend a short amount of time learning about this different perspective.

A great resource is the book and DVD "Alcohol Can Be a Gas" by David Blume. There is a website also:

www.alcoholcanbeagas.com

This body of knowledge is fascinating and uplifting on many levels, and may be a very important part of what we can all do - not by waiting for the multi-nationals to bring us alcohol at the pump, but by making it ourselves in our own communities.

Here’s one small tidbit from the book and DVD…

Grass clippings are the #1 irrigated crop in the US, and would create over 11.2 billion gallons of fuel per year - this is twice the amount produced by corn in 2005. If California grass clippings alone were converted to alcohol, they would
produce 1.5 billion gallons, or roughly 15% of the state’s fuel needs.

The book is about a lot more than producing fuel from grass clippings. It goes into many other crops, including the multiple uses for the by-products of alcohol production, turning around the greenhouse gas issues, etc., etc.

Happy New Year!

23

Howdy azzenstudent, welcome to Chris’s awsome site! Let me start by letting you know I’m not personal/emotional in my posts. I’m a hard core geek who sees interacting with folks as a way to refine my own thinking.

So: looking at your post, the last paragraph is what resonated most with me, and here is what I’d love to discuss:

>>We are not a nation of yeoman farmers.<<

We will once again be a nation of yeoman farmers, if we are lucky! I think we will be lucky, we will adapt, overcome and stay diverse. But, thats an optimistic wish in view of much of the available data.

>>We may be forced to cooperate
with one another, however, like farmers once did when this nation was
largely agrarian. <<

I’m a completely non-social, introverted, anti-humanist. Yet . . . I also see that strategically for our species, cooperation is key to long term survival. Whether speaking/thinking from a small scale community level, or from a nationalistic/global level. A diverse but connected community will always be more secure than a scattered and unconnected group.

>>But
it’s rank sentimentalism to think that governments will wither away and
freedom will somehow flourish. It won’t. It can’t. And we shouldn’t
even hope for the chance.<<

Quite right – power/authority/money typically flows downhill and gathers in pools together, gaining more traction and power. But we are in a unique situation now, simply because we have outgrown our hills and valleys. 2 or 3 billion of us humans are going to die off. The details of how it happens? Who knows. War, disease, starvation - a combination? Who knows. But all this economic stuff, this environemental stuff, this energy supply stuff . . . . . . . . . symptoms. Symptoms of what we all know is really up. 6+ billion humans isn’t long term sustainable. And we are still breeding fast, and Chris has done an excellent job of pointing out how hockey stick shaped graphs can’t go on forever.

Population is the suckiest thing of all to talk about, because we are all part of the problem. We are all one of the #'s too many walking the earth. And many of us have bred. But its impossible for a decent creature to regret having bred, after having looked at the faces of its young . . . meaning another layer of complexity for anybody aware of the over-human-population issue.

Back in 1972, when I was a couple of years old, "The Limits to Growth" was released by the Club of Rome. And it predicted exactly where we are now. War, climate change, resource depletion, and more — you cannot have infinate growth on a spherical object.

So, here were are. And, at least . . . . it won’t be boring!

24

I remember doing the Crash Course and waiting for Chapter 20 to get posted, thinking it was going to be the plan to fix this set of "problems." Then it came out, and after being disappointed for a day or two I realized that I hadn’t even understood the problem. I thought the problem was "what can we do to keep living this way, keep this system going, how do we fix it given these flaws?" and then it struck me that if the CC teaches anything it is that the system and the way of life of the last 20 years was over (maybe, or certainly, even major aspects of the way of life Americans have gotten used to over the last 120 years was over). That was like the bell jar ringing: this way of life was over–all those years of reading about sustainability finally hit home. It wasn’t an abstraction anymore.

Chris doesn’t say what comes next or how we get there, nor can he; there is no oracle on this site, the 3 E’s and our inability to have an accurate felt sense about the exponential function are just the facts, what we as a society do with them has yet to be decided. I hope we make good choices as a society, and getting the CC out to the world seems like the one positive action I can take to help that happen. I’m still optimistic about the long term future now that I accept that it will be very different than my life so far. I hope that we figure the way to get to the future with the least amount of suffering and damage.

My reading of history makes me think that crisis is necessary to motivate change and the CC lays out the crisis well. Developing a consensus on what the problem is seems like a necessary step before a consensus about the solution will be arrived at. It is a positive development for the site to begin to directly address the elephant in the room: what kind of world can we create that doesn’t ignore the 3 E’s (and how do we get there from here). It is clear that we are not at the point where a consensus has formed about the reality of our situation, let alone a solution to it. I wonder how deep the crisis has to be before the reality of our situation is accepted and solutions that are not merely band-aids that try to fix this system start to be seriously debated. We may reach that point before 2009 is over, I look forward to what this online community can offer as that point is reached.

25

Chris,

You might find this article of Elisabet Sahtouris interesting

The Big Picture

 

That’s an enormous cultural change in story. No longer are we
caught helplessly in a running-down-through-entropy universe that
has no meaning, that gave rise to Dadaism and Existentialism and
other depressing philosophies. At least the Dadaists laughed.
I used to hang on my mirror the motto, "Life is too
important to be taken so seriously." I think it’s a good
motto.

It’s a very serious situation we’re in, but we’d better have fun living it
because
otherwise we’re going to be very miserable as this
roller-coaster ride continues. Huge changes everywhere in the
world.

As we recognize the universe to be conscious, intelligent,
alive, and all of us co-creators, what is our role? Are we not
the creative edge of God? We are the universe inventing
itself. And that intelligent Cosmos, or God – whatever you call
it; doesn’t matter which word you use as long as we agreed that
it’s alive, intelligent, conscious, and creative – that is
looking through your eyes, working through your hands,
walking on your feet. Isn’t that exciting? How
does the universe get to know itself? Through all of us
and what we’re doing.

Norie said last night [Norie Huddle, see
www.bestgame.org] , we can change the
rules of the game –
we can play a new game. I’ve often asked groups, How many of you know how to play Monopoly? Would you raise your hands? Ok, when's the last time you played it?' It's the trick question, right? But in many audiences they'll respond, eight, ten, sixteen, maybe occasionally someone will say, I played it five years ago.’ And
I say, `Wrong, we’re all playing it. That is the world game,
isn’t it? We’re playing Monopoly.’

We’re playing the game of concentrating wealth. And what happens
at the end of the Monopoly game? You either re-distribute the
wealth and start over or you play a different game. That’s the
choice. We can play a different game if we want.

We have people here representing all kinds of ideas on how to
change the money game. How come our government gave away it’s
constitutional right to create money? The government never
should have been in debt, should it? There shouldn’t be a
national debt. The government, constitutionally, could create
money as needed. I believe it was in 1913 – where’s Tom
Greco?, he would know all this – there you are – was it 1913
when we gave that right
away?[1]
and started the Federal Reserve Bank which most Americans still
think is part of the government. Just ask them to look
for it in the blue pages. It’s not there.’

Somebody changes the rules of the game all the time. We
live in a dynamic universe. Not a static one. Life is not
static, it’s dynamic. And this is the first time in history
when anybody can play in the big world game. It is the Internet
that is largely responsible for the ability of a twelve-year-old, who
gets upset about child labor in India or somewhere, to start
a whole Save-the-Children organization, or whatever.
Marianne Williamson can tell us all to meditate on a certain
day and if it comes through in your e-mail there’s a fair chance
you’ll pay attention to that. So we can do group mind
around the world because we have the Internet.

 

Also, The Biology of Globalization

The Globalization of humanity is a natural, biological, evolutionary
process. Yet we face an enormous crisis because the most central and
important aspect of globalization – its economy – is currently being
organized in a manner that so gravely violates the fundamental
principles by which healthy living systems are organized that it
threatens the demise of our whole civilization.

 

26

Chris,

I like your idea that solutions should come from a position of understanding. So if a basic premise of my understanding on any single point is flawed, then would it not follow that I may end up a bit off base in my conclusion in that point? I am referring to the conclusion that the Fed printing money out of thin air is the only answer as to where dollars can be obtained to make the almost unimaginable barrage attacking everything from liquidity to bailouts of every kind. But then maybe I am misunderstanding the point altogether. Perhaps it is of no consequence. I wish I knew.

Joe

27

Techno Luddite,

I tend to agree with your analysis. My qualm involves population. You don’t shed three billion humans without extraordinary and excruciating pain. We’re not going to do this while living in quaint and charming circumstances. We will be lucky if we’re not cannibalizing one another. Government will be the one buffer left in dire times.

How it actually happens will be interesting and I’m curious myself how it all turns out. I would prefer a manageable catastrophe to The Apocalypse. Again, government will be an absolute necessity for a "soft landing".

I appreciate Chris Martenson’s humane and optimistic views. Most of us have read James Howard Kunstler, who is not particularly warm and cuddly. He probably alienates as many people as he persuades. Our arguments have to be made in ways that Chris makes them because the coming troubles will test our capacity for cooperation and reason. Once civilization starts unraveling, unleashed forces will overwhelm our best arguments UNLESS we’re prepared and organized. So, let us be Jeremiahs but with as much compassion as we can muster. No one wants to die. All animals will do whatever it takes to survive. Let’s remember that when we gameplan this crash.

 

28

Reading Chris’s excellent post made me think of some of John Michael Greer’s recent posts at the Archdruid Report. Normally, I resonate deeply with what he writes and have no trouble taking it in. But I was originally perplexed and even frustrated by his recent articles. After reflecting on them for a while, I’ve come to better understand what he’s getting at. His argument is not exactly the same as the one Chris makes here, but it’s based on the same underlying assumption: it is premature to discuss specific solutions until and unless true understanding has been achieved.

Greer takes it one step further, I think. He believes that because it’s impossible to predict exactly how the almost infinite variables will play out in a given place, it’s likewise impossible to construct a coherent plan for the future. All plans are based on the assumptions that underly them, and if those assumptions are wrong, then the plan will be faulty. He has recently critiqued the Transition Town movement (and other similar ones) on this basis.

Here’s an excerpt from one of his recent articles:

[quote]That concern unfolds from the basic assumption underlying the project:
that a contemporary community can imagine a better future and then
successfully plan out the route there in advance. That’s a popular
assumption nowadays, and of course it’s been basic to most ways of
thinking about social change since the heyday of the Enlightenment more
than two centuries ago. Most of the French philosophes
whose ideas lit the fuse of the French Revolution claimed that a better
world could be planned out in advance and then put in place by the
collective will. Note, though, that this isn’t how things turned out;
what replaced Louis XVI’s feeble monarchy was not the happy republic of
reason so many people expected, but rather a parade of tumbrils hauling
victims to Madame Guillotine and the cannon and musketry of the
Napoleonic Wars.
To judge by recent history, we are no better at guessing the future than the philosophes were.
We do know a few things about the most likely future ahead of us. We
have good reason to think that the decades to come will bring sharp
decreases in the energy per capita available to people in the
industrial world, and in all the products and services provided by
energy – which, in an industrial economy, means every product and
service there is. We have good reason to think that the current human
population is more than the world can support once fossil fuels run
short. We have some reason to think – at least this is the point of
view that makes sense to me – that these processes will bring the
decline and fall of industrial civilization, along a trajectory like
those of other civilizations that outran their resource bases. How
these broad patterns will work out in the microhistory of a town or a
region, though, is anyone’s guess, and history seems to take an impish
delight in frustrating our expectations.
Planning for the
future becomes especially risky when, rather than starting from present
realities and trying to figure out what can be done, it starts from a
vision of a desirable future and tries to figure out how to get there.
The gap between the futures we imagine and the realities that replace
them, after all, tends to be embarrassingly vast. Many of my readers
may recall, as I do, what the year 2000 was supposed to be like,
according to accounts in the 1960s: manned bases on the Moon, undersea
cities dotting the continental shelf, fusion plants turning out
limitless cheap power, geodesic domes everywhere, and commuters
traveling by helicopter instead of by car. One forward-thinking builder
in Seattle during those years topped his new parking garage with a
helipad and control tower in hopes of getting a jump on the
competition. As far as I know, no helicopter ever landed there, and the
garage with its forlorn tower was torn down to make room for condos a
few years ago. How many of today’s plans will face the same sort of
disappointment? I doubt the number will be small. [/quote]

While I agree with Greer’s thinking here, I think there are nevertheless patterns emerging now that we can respond to and patterns likely to emerge in the future that we can respond to, if only in a general way. The steps that Chris has identified and advised us to do are an example of that, but there are many more. Increasing food and energy security in our homes and communities is something that makes sense no matter what the future holds, from several perspectives (environmental, economic, survival, etc.).

If anyone is intersted in reading more on this topic, check out Greer’s excellent blog.

29

ttanner wrote, addressed to me personally:
"Ben – The problem with waiting to create a vision, or a direction, or a consensus, or whatever else you might want to call it, is that time is growing short and our window of opportunity to move through our current logjam of conflicting dogmas and philosophies is shrinking. I don’t claim to represent anyone at this site, or anywhere else for that matter, but given a choice, I’d rather stand side-by-side with thoughtful, rational folks who are interested in facing our problems head-on. We’ve seen what happens when people stick their heads in the sand and hope for the best. It simply doesn’t work."
I’m not sure what I said that upset you, but I thought I was simply re-stating what Chris had said about getting the CC out first, and then the "critical mass" of changed consciousness would move enough of us to act that the changes we need would come about. I’m unclear how that says that I’m "sticking my head in the sand" or irrational, or whatever opinion you gathered of me.
So, if you are clear about what our announced goals should be, then how about writing them into some "comments" and let’s see if we all want to join with you, make it public, and get the ball moving in a big way.
Maybe we’ll all switch to your plan, and away from Chris’. I kinda doubt it, but I am very open minded and willing to see your plan and how you plan to lead it. Then we can all decide.
And, by the way, I have found Chris’ work, AND a lot of the folks on this site to be very "thoughtful, rational folks who are interested in facing our problems head on." I have learned a lot from all of them, and I really appreciate their constructive and cooperative comments.

30

Mike wrote: "I believe that creating widespread understanding is the best hope for
the future. That said, I’m not sure it will get widespread enough
before things start getting ugly. It’s relatively easy to change the
mindset of a town or community, but changing the mindset of a nation as
diverse as the United States is very difficult."

Absolutely. Which is why the crash is essential to the solutions… NOTHING much will happen until power is wrenched from Wall Street and Bernanke and all the other idiots in charge.

It’s also another reason why Chris is entirely correct in asserting that right now, the most important thing that should happen is spreading the word. I’ve just had a 1000 word article about the crash accepted by our local paper (ESSENTIAL to work at the local scale - there is no way a national paper would have accepted it) and this site gets copious mentions. So spreading the word whilst at the same time the system crashes about us is what is necessary… so long as the crash doesn’t happen so fast we have not yet done our work!

Also essential that people like Pir8don and myself act as ‘cells’ to propagate the idea of local food production and local economies. From one cell many cells germinate, and that is how we take over the world… haaaargh, always dreamt of world domination! Wink

It doesn’t matter yet that very few people are aware, or even fewer who are taking action… it all has to start somewhere, but we MUST keep the momentum, NEVER GIVE UP!

Once CRITICAL MASS is reached, THEN we can start changing things, because EVERYTHING needs changing, everything… It’s hard to believe we could have got so many things wrong actually!

Mike also mentions being " forced to subsistence." There’s NOTHING wrong with subsistence Mike… One can hear this constantly on TV, pointing the finger at "poor people" eking a living on subsistence farming… as if sustainability was a dirty word! Subsistence does NOT equate poverty. Those poor farmers are only poor because we in the rich world steal all their resources!!!

Mike in Australia. Man it’s hot here. We had 105F yesterday…!

31

Hi David

Everyone wants a reason to wait (including me). But its what we do each day that matters. Consensus will take a lot longer (4ever) than we have got.

The three E’s are not the elephant. Population is the elephant. P = E + E + E.

Don

If the only fix is a big fix then there is no fix

32

So what?

Grass, as YOU point out yourself, is irrigated… when we are running out of water all over the owrld. I’s also fertilised, and sprayed, and MOWN, using oil, and then it would have to be transported, using oil… and I’ll bet if you used the alcohol instead of the oil, there’s be no alcohol left over.

Get used to the idea of a fuel - less world.

I have. I don’t own a car. And right now, I’m planning on replacing all the grass (all 1 acre!) on our land with something far more useful like Pinto’s Peanut and Alfalfa…

Then I can use that to fed the goats and chickens and ducks, and even the soil wehre our food grows.

Alcohol’s for DRINKING!

Mike

33

Hi Don,

What I was suggesting by the phrase elephant in the room was the question referred to in the thread title "What’s the plan?" Something that Chris is pointing to himself by way of this thread and which felt like it was missing to me when I took the crash course. I personally think that human overpopulation is certainly at the base of the problem (and one of many elephants that is out there). Humans are withdrawing natural capital to sustain the current population and life style and that will end one way or another (as websites like dieoff.com my clear). I hope the plan that humanity comes up with to face the challenges of the 3 E’s will be one that creates the least amount of suffering. Currently the political discourse is around the question of how to fix the financial system, until there is consensus about the larger problems that we face I don’t see a consensus about how to face them arising. Helping the CC get seen is a great place to begin. Developing ideas for a plan by way of this online community seems like a great idea as well; I imagine population can’t help but come up directly in that forum. I look forward to those discussions.

Grow fruit trees, don’t multiply!

34

I just love Kunstler’s dry wit…

As I said on another post, no one gets out of this game alive. It’s how you check out that matters…

A huge proportion of the populatiuon consists of baby boomers like me. At 56, I would be lucky (I think) to live another 20 years. Over the next 20 years, LOTS of baby boomers will check out… especially the obese ones, once they have to put their backs to the grindstones!

I’m not concerned at all about checking out. I have lived through the most amazing period of human history, and I will have left behind a legacy my children can use to live sustainably for the rest of their lives. I don’t want anything else…

35

 

I’ve suggested this and other ideas earlier…and maintain these types of aids would eventually help to connect to the average audience.

 

Nichoman

36

Chris - I want to thank you and your team for all the hard work you do. The Crash Course has been a big wake up call for me and to everyone to whom I have been able to convince to watch so far. I look forward to getting as many people as I can to watch the Crash Course in '09…call it my resolution to start the revolution!

Happy New Year!

37

David

Thanks for your thoughts. I of course agree that getting the crash course to people can do nothing but good. Not so sure about seeking or waiting for concensus.

Perhaps population is the mammoth in the room. Too many elephants.Smile

Yes we have fruit trees

Females have more control over multiplicity but I do occasionally claim the high ground having no children - to my knowledge.

Don

"And those that create out of the haulicaust of their inheritance, anything more than a convenient self-made tomb, shall be known as survivors" From a Keith Jarrett record cover.

38

Ben,

My apologies for what seems to be a misunderstanding. You didn’t say anything at all that upset me. For that matter, your comments seem considered, rational and respectful. I don’t know how I could ask for more.

Let me clarify a couple of things. I wasn’t referring to you, or anyone else on this blog, when I talked about the “head in the sand” approach. Just so you know, that comment was directed toward the Bush administration, and toward people who view a series of extremely complicated issues through a narrow ideological prism.

Regarding the Crash Course and “critical mass” - I don’t disagree at all. If some significant portion of the public doesn’t begin to educate themselves and demand substantive change on the economic front, things aren’t likely to change; at least not in the ways that we might hope for. I have high expectations for the incoming administration, but as you’re no doubt aware, real change requires both willing politicians in Washington and a concerted push from the public.

As for me personally setting our goal or vision; well, I’m afraid you either missed my point, or, just as likely, I didn’t make myself clear. Any “vision” we come up with has to be a collaborative effort. On further thought, I’d also suggest that “vision” might not be the best possible term, although it’s awfully close, and it’s one I’ve used before - albeit not here. A better word might be “path” or “road,” because, as people like John Michael Greer have pointed out time and again, we’re in uncharted territory right now and flexibility will probably be as, or more, important that any particular set-in-stone plan that we might come up with in the short term.

That said, I do think it’s vital that those of us who are aware of the issues facing our society make a decision about where we want to go and what we want things to look like on the other side of the bottlenecks before us. There’s obviously no guarantee that we’ll be successful, but I do stand by my original point. If “we” - conscious, aware people the world over - can’t decide on a general road forward, I’m afraid there’s a decent chance that the human race won’t come out the other side.

Two more things. I don’t usually read blog comments, and I rarely make them myself. I just don’t have the time. But in this particular situation, I felt it was important to respond, and to clarify what I wrote earlier.

Finally, I visit this particular blog a couple times a week because I respect CM’s opinions, and what he’s attempting to do. While I know quite a bit about energy, and about our environmental situation, I’m a long way from being a financial expert.

And that’s enough for right now. If you decide that you’re interested in learning more about my personal views, you’re welcome to visit www.kaelendrake.com and read Pandora Redux or Looking For Vision on the resources page. Otherwise, thanks for sharing your thoughts and good luck as you walk your own particular path.

TT

39

“My position on actions is that solutions should come from a position of understanding. I believe it is premature to discuss specific solutions until and unless true understanding has been achieved. Preceding understanding is awareness, and the prerequisite of awareness is a lack of denial. Said in reverse, the stages are: denial >> awareness >> understanding >> solutions”

Well said Chris, but, preceding these four logical steps are several others that appear to form the largest obstacle to just get people up to the “denial” stage. One is apathy, another is ignorance, and perhaps the most foreboding one of all is that the magnitude of the situation is simply unbelievable to even some of the most intelligent and knowledgeable people, let alone the masses.

This is all brand new information to most people I know, and some of them have a lot more formal education (not just in America), but, from all around the world, than I do, and they dismiss my attempts to inform them of what I have learned as absolute nonsense. I have actually earned a reputation amongst the people I work and play with as a paranoid, tin foil hat toting, doom and gloomer. My credibility is virtually waning, at least in the eyes of those I’m around most often. The only redeeming factor I have in all of this is the fact that I’ve been telling people for quite some time that we very well could be headed for not only a Depression that will make the last one look like a cake walk, but total life changing events that will be written about in future history books in a similar way that we read about the fall of the Roman Empire, only on a much larger scale. The economic news of the past year has made a few of these people wonder if maybe I am on to something, (especially those who ignored my advice to put their 401K money into the safest place available which is the money market), but, by and large, most still believe and are only aware of what their television or newspaper informs them.

Nearly this entire society is just too brainwashed by television and other distractions that amount to entertainment, to even want information such as that which is presented in the “CC.” Everyone seems to honestly believe that if a crisis of such magnitude really were on the horizon, they would have heard about it on main stream media. So, it appears. From my limited vantage point, that the vast majority will require a major panic of epic proportions before they become interested, and as I’ve come to believe from reading your site, several of the books you recommend, and other sites and videos is the message that Dr. Bartlett and yourself are trying to get out, and that would be that by the time most people realize and fully fathom the fact that there really is a problem, the problem will be of such a magnitude that it will already be too late to do anything about it and the result will be a lot of suffering, pain, and perhaps even a massive “die off” across the globe.

The 80 year old, retired bank president I convinced to watch the Crash Course” only made it through the first sixteen chapters before falling asleep. He later asked in another conversation, what I meant by the term, “fiat currency.” Another friend of mine is a 63 year old, former nuclear physicist from Germany who is currently a practicing psychotherapist in America, asks me if I’d like a referral whenever I try to discuss these issues with him. I gave him one of the copies of the “CC,” but I don’t think he’s watched it yet. I gave him a copy of the book, “The Creature from Jekyll Island,” but, he has yet to read it and among the people I come in contact with, nobody even wants to discuss the topic because they aren’t even close to the denial stage yet. I work in the engineering department of a construction firm and nobody even wants the DVD after I tell them what it’s about, even when I offer it for free. Most of my friends would rather discuss sports, home or car repair, or the weather rather than anything of any meaningful significance. Only three of my closest friends are on the same page with me regarding these important topics.

So from my point of view, it seems that just getting people up to the state of denial prior to an all out crisis is the real challenge. One of the most refreshing and encouraging aspects of your site and the “CC” is the fact that you are able to remain optimistic. So far, I have been unable to bring myself to an optimistic attitude and often doubt that I ever will, but I would be content to find some middle ground between optimism and the pessimism I now suffer from regarding these issues. That is why I spend as much time as I can reading on this site, because, as many others have pointed out, this site has more of the most intelligent, informed, optimistic, and unbiased opinions than any other site I visit on a regular basis.

40

Set I am sure your post echos the situation of many of us here. The most positive light I can throw on it is that of Nicolas Taleb in his book The Black Swan where he suggests we embrace extreme events. Though both he and his mentor Benoit Mandelbrot report loosing sleep over the current situation. You can lead a horse to water …

It seems like we have a ration of attention and that many of our compatriots have found theirs used up already and that only very significant life changing events will give rise to any displacement of the mind numbing activities called entertainment and their seeming therapeutic role.

Awareness is not a state from which we can retreat. We can choose our level of engagement with others and each decide for ourselves how much of our beliefs and knowledge to share and with whom. Prudence might be wise but not necessarily a guarantee of personal integrity.

Don