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Recent Posts
- Peak Oil is Officially Here! World oil production peaked November of 2018
- Wood, the fuel of preindustrial societies, is half of EU renewable energy
- Rare Earth updates: recent research on why complex & intelligent life are rare in the Universe
- Book review of “Chip War” and the Fragility of microchips
- The tremendous material and energy toll of the digital economy
- Nuclear attack on U.S. could kill 90% of Americans
- What percent of Americans are rational?
- Book review of Lights Out. A Cyberattack. A Nation Unprepared. Surviving the Aftermath
- Off-Road vehicles & equipment need diesel fuel
- Book review of “Prime Movers of Globalization: the History & Impact of Diesel Engines & Gas Turbines”
- Mental Health. Coping with the future: notes from Jackson & Jensen’s “An Inconvenient Apocalypse”
- Tesla Semi trucks hauling corn chips
- What is the plan for an electric grid outage that lasts for months?
- Where to be? Links to Superfund, hazardous waste and other toxic sites in U.S.
- Why methanol cannot replace petroleum as a transportation fuel
Category Archives: Human Nature
Book Review of “Against the Grain. A Deep History of the Earliest States”
Preface. Energyskeptic.com is ultimately about the rise and fall of civilizations, although I didn’t know that when I first started writing this as an energy and resource blog. Our civilization too will fail as fossil fuels decline, and then we’re … Continue reading
Escape to Mars after we’ve trashed the Earth?
The idea that we can go to Mars is touted by NASA, Elon Musk, and so many others that this dream seems just around the corner. If we destroy our planet with climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, soil erosion, aquifer … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Extinction, Far Out, Hopium, Human Nature, Planetary Boundaries, Where to Be or Not to Be
Tagged biosphere, colonize, Earth, Mars, radiation, space, terraform
11 Comments
Were other humans the first victims of the 6th mass extinction?
Preface. This article makes a good case that we did indeed wipe out other hominids. “…Yet the extinction of Neanderthals, at least, took a long time—thousands of years. While Neanderthals lost the war, to hold on so long they must … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature
Tagged extinction, human nature
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The carbon trap by Paul Chefurka
Preface. We are caught in the carbon trap — we utterly depend on fossils that don’t have an electric replacement. Someday people will figure this out the hard way, but Chefurka compassionately points out that there is no one to … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Interdependencies, Paul Chefurka
Tagged Carbon trap, Chefurka, fossils
13 Comments
Rare Earth: Why complex life is uncommon in the universe
Preface. So much research on why complex life is rare in the universe since this book came out that I’ve created another post, coming out on in March 15, 2022 titled: Rare Earth updates: recent research on why intelligent life … Continue reading
Book review of Hillbilly Elegy and why hillbillies voted for Trump
Source: David Horsey / Los Angeles Times Preface. I bought “Hillbilly Elegy: A memoir of a family and culture in crisis” because I’d like to understand why anyone would vote for Donald Trump. Before the election, it was well-known that … Continue reading
Posted in (Auto)biography, Human Nature, Politics
Tagged book review, hillbilly elegy, Republican, Trump
1 Comment
Book review of “Deer Hunting with Jesus”. Best book to find out why people voted from Trump.
[ Joe Bageant grew up in poor, conservative Winchester Virginia, which is like tens of thousands of other small towns in America. He is one of the few who escaped and got a college education. So when he retired there … Continue reading
Posted in Critical Thinking and Scientific Literacy, Human Nature, Politics, Religion
Tagged class war, fake news, propaganda, Republican, Trump voters
3 Comments
The dangers of relativism, of not being able to criticize anyone or anything because all of our beliefs are equal
[ I’ve been criticized for attacking right-wing Republicans, fundamentalist Christians, astrology, medicinal quackery, and so on. This is dangerous nonsense. It means I can’t criticize Hitler, because after all, he was a product of his times. I can’t tell my … Continue reading
Posted in Critical Thinking, Human Nature, Politics, Religion
Tagged critical thinking, relativism
5 Comments
How Christians were manipulated by Pat Robertson into becoming right-wing Republicans
This is a book review is of “The Gospel of self: How Jesus Joined the GOP.” It was written by an evangelical Christian for evangelical Christians to show them how he, as the senior producer of Pat Robertson’s “The 700 … Continue reading
Fantasyland 9. Myths and infotainment
Preface. This is the last of the Fantasyland review series. Links to the 9 parts of this book review: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Alice Friedemann www.energyskeptic.com author of “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the … Continue reading
Posted in Critical Thinking, Critical Thinking and Scientific Literacy, Human Nature
Tagged critical thinking, delusions, fantasyland, infotainment
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