Category Archives: 2) Collapse

The collapse of the financial system, breakdown of supply chains, blackouts, end of being able to make computer chips, and so on are symptoms of the underlying cause: LESS OIL AVAILABLE TO DO MILLIONS OF ESSENTIAL TASKS. Whether the house of cards goes from the financial shock of a natural disaster or from debt and corruption, blockage of the Suez canal, Export Land Model, or (nuclear war) — there is certain to be a series of dislocations that ultimately bring population down to 1 billion or less, and given past collapses, take about 20-30 years. Let’s hope there are some islands of sanity and that you, dear reader, are living on one of them!

Cybersecurity supply chain deep dive assessment U.S. Department of Energy

Posted on June 19, 2023 by

Preface. I’ve been reading about cyber threats since 2007, and a problem still true today is that the government can do nothing except a few puny regulations here and there for the most part, since critical infrastructure like energy and … Continue reading →

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Infrastructure interdependencies: an attack on one is an attack on all

Posted on May 29, 2023 by

An Attack on Energy Infrastructure would affect all other Infrastructure I should consolidate my many posts on cyber attacks, EMPs, and other ways the electric grid could come down, but our dependencies are just so widespread that I don’t want … Continue reading →

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Skyscrapers: A bad idea as energy declines

Posted on May 8, 2023 by

Preface. One reason Paris is such a lovely city is that it was built to human scale, with buildings of five stories or less, because that was about as high as people were willing to climb, so not surprisingly, rents … Continue reading →

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Book review of Turchin’s “Secular Cycles” and “War & Peace & War”

Posted on May 1, 2023 by

Preface. This is a book review of both “Secular Cycles” and “War & Peace & War”.  I recommend reading “War & Peace & War” first, then the more difficult “Secular Cycles”. Turchin has found patterns in the rise and fall … Continue reading →

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Prime movers of human evolution

Posted on April 10, 2023 by

Preface. The human brain and culture evolved at an astonishing rate, making scientists wonder what conditions and ecological pressures drove it, why we became homo sapiens so quickly. This is a post that will grow over time as I find … Continue reading →

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Review of Lights out: the electricity crisis, the global economy, and what it means to you

Posted on April 3, 2023 by

Preface. My books and energyskeptic.com explain why the electric grid can’t stay up.  This is a book review of Makansi’s “Lights out: the electricity crisis, the global economy, and what it means to you”. He explains why the grid is … Continue reading →

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California Governor Newsom goes furthest to soften collapse of any U.S. state

Posted on March 19, 2023 by

Preface. In September 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom passed 12 bills making abortion easier to obtain, and invites women from states where abortion is forbidden to come here.

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Collapse of Mayan civilization: drought, mercury poisoning, toxic algae

Posted on March 12, 2023 by

Preface. Drought is probably reason #1, but collapse is complex, I’ve seen lists of over 200 reasons for the Fall of the Roman Empire, and our own fall will have even more causes, though triggered by energy decline, since for … Continue reading →

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Review of “Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at the Crossroads”

Posted on February 26, 2023 by

Preface.  This is a book review of Rundell’s “Vision or Mirage: Saudi Arabia at the Crossroads”. If this book is right, things have gotten a lot better in Saudi Arabia than when my other review on Saudi Arabia was written … Continue reading →

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Human sprawl and wildlife destruction: a book review of “Nature Wars”

Posted on February 13, 2023 by

Preface.  This is a book review of Sterba’s “Nature Wars” and our interaction with wildlife as our insanely huge population growth wipes out nature.

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