peak oil | peak oil
May.13.2009
Prophets of an indefinite expansion of today's "information society" tend to forget that information has an awkward feature: it requires a physical substrate, and when the substrate goes away, so does the information. The future of the internet may make that principle all too clear,...
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Apr.30.2009
As we approach the thirtieth anniversary of the first of the Mad Max movies, are we headed for a future Beyond Thunderdome? Not so fast, suggests the Archdruid, in the latest installment of The Archdruid Report.
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Apr.22.2009
It's not accidental that so many conversations about the future end up with the participants talking past one another. As Thomas Kuhn pointed out decades ago, fundamental models -- paradigms, as he called them -- define the meaning and importance of even the most basic points of any discussion,...
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Apr.15.2009
Ever heard of distributism? How about guild socialism, synarchy, or syndicalism? Since the end of the Second World War these and a great many other systems of political economy have been off our collective radar screens, drowned out in the ideological fistfight between capitalism and socialism. ...
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Apr.08.2009
One common question from people who are facing up to the crisis of industrial society is what they can or should do about it. With the help of two German Romantic poets, the Archdruid offers some suggestions in the latest post from The Archdruid Report.
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Apr.01.2009
Carolyn Baker's new book Sacred Demise makes a valiant attempt to talk about the elephant in the living room of peak oil -- the role that collective emotion and cultural narratives play in foreclosing possible responses to the crisis of industrial society. The Archdruid comments in the latest post...
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Mar.25.2009
What do bailouts of failed financial companies and the latest round of funding for fusion research have in common? If Arnold Toynbee is right, one of the keys to our collective failure to face the twilight of the industrial age. Another round of cheery news from The Archdruid Report.
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Mar.18.2009
In today's era of internet hype, is there still a place for the lowly book? Depends on whether you want what you write to survive the contraction of technology and energy in the deindustrial future. An encouraging post for book lovers, and a depressing one for almost everyone else, from The...
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Mar.11.2009
Is our culture's faith in perpetual progress rational, or are we unknowingly copying the follies of a famous flying saucer cult? The latest post from The Archdruid Report explores the uncomfortable possibilities.
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Mar.05.2009
The Archdruid cheerfully explains why you won't be able to retire in the latest post from The Archdruid Report.
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