Tuesday, August 19, 2014

PODA weapons devolution 7


PODA WEAPONS DEVOLUTION 7

Future Gunpowder Empires

The American Empire was born and raised on excess.  It was Texas Growth Squared- bigger is better, on a global scale.  The American Dream is not about the freedom to go from rags to riches because we are special and have a Constitution and are democratic and other such rot.  We had a dream of all sharing in the biggest, most fatty creamy delicious pie of all time due to our resource wealth.  For a short while, there was enough of a surplus for subsequent generations to have a share, and immigrants ( illegals are considered cheaters who benefit without our consent to share ).  That is long gone, and every bellowed  bullspit utterance to the contrary is just snake oil hucksters enriching themselves by selling the continued delusion.  They all are pleas for better management of the sharing out of the pie, forgetting conveniently that the pie is shrinking as immigration and population is exploding ( indigenous population growth is stagnant due to medical cost, most gains are new arrivals and new arrivals with government medical services ).  I’m sorry I’m now considered unpatriotic and cynical because I don’t help spread the propaganda.  Anyway, as long ago Das Homeland was denuded and degraded in hyper-growth mode, mega-corporations spawned by the initial treasure moved outward globally and exported our economy model in the  mode of a shrew consuming its own body weight each day to stay alive.  The entire planet has been mined.

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For some years now, I would surmise a bit over twenty, our mighty growth has been founded on literally mining all our ores.  To do so we mined all of our petroleum wealth ( the US alone was no longer in hyper growth but now most of the planet.  It takes a lot more stuff ) as if we would continue to find new North Sea and Alaska and Siberian oil fields.  We have not.  Global oil field discoveries peaked in the 1960’s and have NEVER improved despite all efforts ( fracking oil is what was left from pervious mining, not NEW oil ).  Without surplus oil, we can’t mine new ore finds because all the old concentrated areas are mined out and only vast inputs of energy can mine out the new areas which are all diffuse ores rather than concentrated.  If I have a square foot of ground that has a big copper nugget of a hundred pounds, that is easy to extract.  But now, you must scoop up all the dirt over a hundred acres and each microscopic speck of copper must be separated from that dirt, that is NOT easy to extract.  That is where we are today.  Less energy to get more energy intensive ores.  By no stretch of the imagination can you say this is a growth economy, based on the supply situation.  Contracting fuel and ores, water supplies and fertile soil, soil inputs, all are anti-growth.  It is in this realm that new future empires must try to emerge and survive.  Due to lack of all resources, only solar energy ( as in photosynthesis, not as in energy panels ) and salvage are viable.  Whether that delivers a surplus needed for growth is debatable.  I’d wager more on another five hundred year Dark Ages where the land had to recover before any growth was possible.

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3 comments:

  1. All too many refuse to believe that the old gas tank could ever run out. Dig deeper Jim, for it is a coming. As you and I both well know.

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    1. I feel so conflicted. One hand, I know I need to move further away. Other hand, I'm good for only another ten/twenty years best case and just kind of weary and care less than I used to about surviving that long. Although, hermitage is looking more attractive just for peace, quiet, more reading.

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    2. I plan on surviving to the end of the century at least, and for my kids and grandkids and great grandkids to be able to use the survival infrastructure I build now. Look long term enough and there might be a light at the end of the tunnel. NO not the oncoming locomotive, beyond that.

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