Category Archives: Society

Energy and resources limits what humans can do. So do their own systems. Financial systems fail, corruption, wars, religion, politics and more all play a role in how successful societies are and how wealthy their citizens are. As the distribution of wealth grows more unfair, the population is so immiserated at some point that collapse and a new society emerge

QAnon and Witchcraft. Hard to tell them apart

Posted on February 10, 2022 by energyskeptic

Preface. I just read Schiff’s book “The Witches: Salem, 1692”. As I read it, I kept thinking that these Christian witch killers weren’t much different from QAnon believers, who are also mostly Christians (evangelists). I’m not the first to think … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking | Tagged critical thinking, QAnon, superstition, witchcraft | Comments Off

Is there a long emergency plan for peak oil?

Posted on February 8, 2022 by energyskeptic

Source: A year on the midieval farm https://www.medievalists.net/2014/06/year-medieval-farm/ Ever since I learned about peak oil in 2000 after reading my grandfather Pettijohn’s memoir (Pettijohn 1984), I’ve wondered what The Plan To Cope with Oil Decline and eventual disappearance was. … Continue reading →

Posted in An Index of Best Energyskeptic Posts, Energy Policy & Politicians, Farming & Ranching, Government on what to do, Military, guns, Over Oil | Tagged agriculture, carrying capacity, dawn of everything, emergency plans, long emergency, peak oil, war, weapons | Comments Off

Book review of “Halfway Home”. What happens after jail

Posted on January 22, 2022 by energyskeptic

Preface. This book is about what happens to released prisoners. Many of the homeless you see on the street were prisoners who are on the street because landlords won’t rent to them, and their family won’t let them move in … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime, Gangs, Corrupt police, Private security, Drug wars and the prison system | Tagged corruption, drugs, jail, prison system | Comments Off

Insect & other BioInvasions

Posted on January 19, 2022 by energyskeptic

Preface. Invasive insects that have no predators in the U.S. can only be somewhat reduced with oil-based products that will grow scarcer as petroleum declines. Pesticides are made out of oil and damage the environment for many generations to come. … Continue reading →

Posted in BioInvasion, Society | Tagged ant, ash borer, beetle, Bioinvasion, deforestation, fire ant, mosquitoes, mountain pine beetle, rats, small hive beetle | Comments Off

Predicting who will become a violent terrorist

Posted on November 13, 2021 by energyskeptic

Preface. This study was clever in predicting the political and religious outlook of people using abstract tests that were not political or emotional, such as memorizing visual shapes. This study of worldviews was able to predict political preferences 4 to … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Politics | Tagged conservative, critical thinking, liberal | 2 Comments

Book Review: Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight & Loose Cultures Wire Our World

Posted on October 8, 2021 by energyskeptic

Preface. A must-read book for those who want to understand themselves, their family and friends, their culture and the world. A new framework that gives clearer vision, rather than muddying it up by giving false understandings like astrology or seeing … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Human Nature | Tagged human nature, pandemic, politics, Trump | Comments Off

How corporations used evangelists to gain wealth, power, and undo the New Deal

Posted on October 5, 2021 by energyskeptic

Source: Republican Jesus Preface. This is a book review of One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America by Kevin Kruse (2016), followed by excerpts from the book. Much of this introduction is my take on what this … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Corruption & Finance, Distribution of Wealth, Religion | Tagged corporations, corruption, evangelical, free enterprise, fundamentalist, Jesus, religion, Republican | 1 Comment

Over 250 Cognitive biases, fallacies, and errors

Posted on September 20, 2021 by energyskeptic

Preface. All of us, no matter how much we’ve read about critical thinking, or have a PhD in science, and are even on the lookout for our biases and fallacies can still fall prey to them, after all, we’re only … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking | Tagged cognitive bias, critical thinking, fallacies | Comments Off

Soil salinity and erosion

Posted on September 2, 2021 by energyskeptic

Preface. Civilizations fail when their soils are ruined or eroded. One way conquerors made sure that those they enslaved during wars was to salt their land and burn their homes so they had nowhere to escape to. Erosion is an … Continue reading →

Posted in Peak Topsoil, Scientists Warnings to Humanity, Soil | Tagged erosion, food, salinity, soil, topsoil | 2 Comments

Can democracy survive peak oil?

Posted on August 27, 2021 by energyskeptic

Preface. This is a book review of Howard Bucknell’s Energy and the National Defense. University of Kentucky Press. Bucknell was amazingly prescient as you’ll see in this review, especially about why democracy might not survive the energy crisis. Heck, it … Continue reading →

Posted in Advice, Energy Books, Military, Politics, Rationing | Tagged authoritarianism, Bucknell, defense, democracy, energy crises, energy transitions, rationing, synthetic fuel | 1 Comment