According to this web site, civilisation as we know it is coming to an end soon. The world's oil reserves will run out over the next decade or two (in fact, we may have passed the peak in oil production already). This will cause a decline in food production, mass starvation and the post-oil "die-off", with the world's population contracting to 500 million, as well as wars, fascism and the collapse of civilisation. As for alternative forms of energy, it's too late for them to do anything but prolong the human race's death-agony. Though I'm not sure I buy the claim that this will lead to America invading France. (via tyrsalvia@LJ)

Posted by: mitch | http:// | Thu Jan 15 12:02:49 2004

Some commentary: http://www.livejournal.com/users/regohemia/102218.html

Posted by: PEL | http:// | Thu Jan 15 18:20:05 2004

The author dismisses the use of nuclear energy too quickly - if necessary, we would no doubt crank up the production of refineries very quickly. The problem of course would be with terrorists. Osama and his ilk would probably revel in the scenario depicted in the article

Posted by: gjw | http://the-fix.org | Fri Jan 16 05:07:36 2004

"The problem of course would be with terrorists."

Damn terrorists steal all the glory. What about materials transport / waste disposal / uncontrolled meltdown issues? They concern me more than any terrorist threat, because they _are_ are problem, have been a problem for years, and will continue to be. Assuming the War On Terizm is going to be won, Osama won't be a problem in 20 years...will he?

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Fri Jan 16 12:35:35 2004

In 20 years' time (assuming humanity doesn't go extinct, of course), there are going to be a lot of pissed-off Arabs with nothing to lose. So, whatever happens with Osama, terrorism may very well still be a problem.

Posted by: Graham | http://grudnuk.com/ | Sat Jan 17 01:15:10 2004

On the other hand, there's the other argument that oil has been a curse for the Arabs, since it's dramatically increased the gap between the haves and have-nots.

Posted by: willc2 | http:// | Sun Jan 25 09:09:12 2004

no oil = no international travel

i guess they'll fly hang gliders into buildings then.

cool.

splat!

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