Category Archives: Human Nature

The History of Drunkenness

Posted on May 26, 2021 by

Preface. This is a book review of “A short history of Drunkenness” by Mark Forsyth. I expect alcohol to be a big part of life postcarbon not only because most cultures have embraced alcohol, but to drown the sorrows and … Continue reading →

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A Strong Case for the Anthropocene: no other species has ever consumed so much of earth’s resources so quickly

Posted on September 24, 2020 by

Figure 1. Produced energy and the pattern of human population growth from 1750. Utilization of these energy sources, together with the energy used by humans from net primary production, is now approaching the entire energy available to the global ecosystem … Continue reading →

Posted in ! PEAK EVERYTHING, Climate Change, Human Nature | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Native American enslavement

Posted on September 15, 2020 by

Preface.  This is a book review of “The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America” by Andrés Reséndez Slavery is an important postcarbon topic because given our past history, future wood-based civilizations will certainly return to slavery, … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Slavery | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

A book review of “Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America“ by David J. Silverman

Posted on September 12, 2020 by

Preface. This is a book review of “Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America“ by David J. Silverman 2016. I found this book hard to put down.  It should be read because it tells the role guns played … Continue reading →

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Book Review of “Against the Grain. A Deep History of the Earliest States”

Posted on September 9, 2020 by

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 →

Posted in Collapse of Civilizations, Collapsed & collapsing nations, Human Nature, Life Before Oil, Slavery | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Were other humans the first victims of the 6th mass extinction?

Posted on May 4, 2020 by

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 →

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The carbon trap by Paul Chefurka

Posted on October 1, 2019 by

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 , , | 13 Comments

Rare Earth: Why complex life is uncommon in the universe

Posted on June 2, 2019 by

Preface. So much research on why complex life is rare in the universe has come out since this book I’ve created another post: Rare Earth updates: recent research on why intelligent life is probably rare in the Universe. And intelligent … Continue reading →

Posted in An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Biodiversity Loss, Evolution, Human Nature, Life Before Oil | Tagged , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Book review of Hillbilly Elegy and why hillbillies voted for Trump

Posted on September 12, 2018 by

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 , , , | 1 Comment

The dangers of relativism, of not being able to criticize anyone or anything because all of our beliefs are equal

Posted on September 4, 2018 by

[ 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 , | 5 Comments