Energy Wars | Art Berman
Вставка
- Опубліковано 25 вер 2024
- Whoever controls the energy supply controls the new world order.
Russia and China are deepening their relationship, Western allies in the Middle East are joining the fossil-fuelled BRICS alliance spanning the globe, and the Wagner group is loosening Europe’s grip of Africa. The tectonic plates of geopolitics are shifting along new fault lines as rising powers focus on securing resources while the old Empire in the West pretends it can decouple economies and energy. The world is at war, but only one side is being honest about what for.
Acclaimed energy expert Art Berman says this is the culmination of millennia of human fallibility. This is a conversation that takes us from 3000 BCE and the discovery of what he calls the most disruptive technology humans ever had right up to today and the energy wars blooming around the world. We discuss our psychological disposition to immaturity, our cognitive shortcomings when examining complexity, the secrets of holy texts and even morality. Art explains how energy is reshaping geopolitical alliances, which leaders understand the reality of our situation, and why technology cannot solve our problems.
🔴 Art Berman: www.artberman....
🌎 Support Planet: Critical: / planetcritical
🌎 Subscribe: www.planetcrit...
🌎 Twitter: / crisisreports
The whole relationship between overshoot, energy and geopolitics viewed through the lens of psychological drivers is the source of the human dilemma. Great episode, thanks.
Art Berman is a wise man living in foolish times.
fossil foolish, pen at names, with love
Was there ever a wise time?
He's full of shit. Making a film is NOTHING like the production and consumption of energy. Fuck 'em. If we knocked off that part of the economy that is IRRELEVANT TO LIFE, we would have enough energy for EVERYONE. Stupid shit like art and music, opinions, television, it's all bullshit that no one should be paid for (dollar equivalent to oil) doing absolutely NOTHING that benefits humans or nature. They should be the first drawn down. People, like in this video, whose opines are not as valuable as horse dung. Worthless. Waste of time and energy this is.
@@phil20_20 yes during the Buddha and the several hundred years after his influence, his Wisdom religion prospered. Buddha literally means Wise
She isnt grasping his message that there is nothing we can do about any of this.
Every time I hear Art Berman my respect for him grows, and you too Rachel what a thought provoking program!
Art is a great communicator and a wise man. I have a lot of respect for him. Our situation is really tough but it would be even worse if it weren’t for people like Art speaking up
I'm not sure if it makes any difference but at least we can understand it.
Ive known Art for Decades and he really displayed his polymathy in this segment. Thank you Rachel!
I work in a hospital laboratory. Our current system is 100 percent reliant on plastics. It's hard to imagine modern medicine without them. They're cheap, disposable, and easy to mold into innumerable shapes.
Agriculture too. Piping, greenhouses, pots, plastic sheeting to keep down weeds. It's everywhere.
Right and there's literally nothing that could ever possibly exist imaginable that could be used instead! Literally NOTHING!! We MUST have plastics or die, and Alan is NOT a shill!!! Not to mention the fact that you don't have to *burn* any fossil fuels to create plastic, they're made from petroleum. So you could cut fossil fuel *emissions* to zero, and have no limit on plastics other than what you can create using electric resources.
Plastics is one of Vaclav Smil's four pillars of modern civilization - concrete, steel, plastics, and ammonia. All require fossil fuels There are no economical substitutes that can be deployed at scale.
We are going to burn fossil fuels well into the next century.
Great Interview Rachel. Every time I see another interview with Art, my respect grows. The people he mentions, Nate Hagens and Bill Reece are well worth a watch as well.
This is the sort of thing you will never see in the mainstream media and that unfortunately our politicians do not understand.
If you want to put economics and in context with Energy, check out Dr. Tim Morgan's Site, Surplus Energy Economics.
Wonderful interview. Having watched Art Berman quite a few times before, this gave something new - it was clear Art wanted to articulate something different or articulate his thoughts more clearly, as in a different kind of focus on both background and consequences to his usual energy message, and Rachel was so sensitive, thoughtful and responsive in her questions and in letting him develop that. Grateful thanks to you both :)
Rachel's beautiful voice and accent (to my American ears) coupled with Art's insights = Completely awesome!!
The real four horsemen are: colonialism, corporatism, commercialism, and consumerism.
Art knows the oil predicament! Thanks Rachel for having him on!
He certainly does. I’ve watched lots of his podcasts, but something doesn’t quite sit right with me from his message.
At the beginning he blames our energy use on the individual (5:00), saying (paraphrased) ‘we’re all acting in our self interest, and when there are 8billion people on the planet it works against the self interest of everyone.’
What isn’t addressed is b1g-01L obfuscating the evidence showing people the catastrophic consequences of using it, of extracting the maximum amount as possible, of making as many products as possible and shoving them down our throats, of controlling politicians to eliminate anything stopping them from doing so. How can one expect a population to make good decisions when they’ve been fed so much mis/disinformation over the decades?
The global south especially has had a raw deal out of mineral/FF extraction, being (imo) the most impacted from the consequences.
Is this blame shift to the individual done on purpose by Art on behalf of c0rp_rat1ons, or has he been hanging round the likes of them so often he genuinely believes it? On his website it states ‘he’s the energy world’s unfiltered voice.’ To me that’s suspicious. He’s extremely likeable and speaks a lot of truth, and that’s what could allow this manipulation of who to blame to be so effective.
22:40 defending the companies again. He claims he isn’t, but he is.
Well done to Rachel as she raised the point I was making, that the average consumer isn’t to blame. Art uses good logic, and truthful, to answer this question, however he puts a spin on it by saying (25:12) ‘we can’t just stop oil [or civilisation will collapse]’ which is true, however that’s not the only option and nobody’s seriously suggesting that. Even the movement Just Stop Oil wants to only use the strict bare minimum of keeping everyone alive. We will have to make extreme sacrifices, and the only way that will realistically happen is if we limit extraction which will drastically reduce the standard of living and there will be deaths from it, however it will allow a more controlled collapse as opposed to a sudden one when it becomes unfeasible to extract any more oil (or one of the other meta crises gets us first).
I’m not sure Art’s corrupted and portraying this narrative on behalf of 01L, I personally don’t think he is, just indoctrinated by all the years spent working for them, it doesn’t matter too much either way, the issue is his message is dangerous and inhibits serious change if people blame themselves as opposed to the true cause.
Our politicians are C0r_upt, we need a s0cial1st re_olut1on.
My message is being c_ns0_rd so I’ll try send it in segments:
He certainly does know the predicament. I’ve watched lots of his podcasts, but something doesn’t quite sit right with me from his message.
At the beginning he blames our energy use on the individual (5:00), saying (paraphrased) ‘we’re all acting in our self interest, and when there are 8billion people on the planet it works against the self interest of everyone.’
What isn’t addressed is b1g-01L obfuscating the evidence showing people the catastrophic consequences of using it, of extracting the maximum amount as possible, of making as many products as possible and shoving them down our throats, of controlling politicians to eliminate anything stopping them from doing so. How can one expect a population to make good decisions when they’ve been fed so much mis/disinformation over the decades?
The global south especially has had a raw deal out of mineral/FF extraction, being (imo) the most impacted from the consequences.
I had a lot more analysis but I pressed copy for me last message which made me lose the whole lot I copied in my initial comment and I can to write it again. One key point was his straw-manning stop oil movements. In reality they propose limiting the oil used to the bare minimum. This will only be achieved by limiting extraction. It won’t happen with our corrupt system. Socialist revolution with the idea of limiting Ff use like XR is the only way to have a controlled collapse.
Lots still being removed. We’re so screwed, we can’t even discuss this existential threat.
I am again mindblown by the quality of guests and conversation. Thanks for what you do. I covers the complexities of problems without resulting to blame game or quick solutions. I like that wider picture.
Art points out so well, that to change the climate, we need to find a way to live comfortably on much less industrially made (fossil fuel intensive) things that we "think" we need. We need to "Do More with Less".
This was the mantra in the 70's when people started going back to the land. Publications like The Mother earth News were a paper forum of good ideas on how to do more with less. For instance: How to run a generator on waste wood gas. How to cook your food using a methane digester. How to convert a small engine to run on alcohol with a few simple hacks to the carb.
Today people know so much more about growing chemical free food, and living locally and more simply. Inexpensive and often reliable solar equipment is available now. I haven't paid an electric bill in seven years, and I hope I never have to again. The cost of my entire DIY system was about as much as I would have forked over tot he electric company in about 4 or 5 years anyway, so I'm free of their long fingers reaching into my wallet each month. I'm free in many ways I never even knew about.
People who relearn how to be mcGyvers with free and used materials feel more empowered, and resilient and confident in life than people buying expensive perfect materials that will be immediately replaced on the shelf by a new one made in a factory somewhere far away.
I personally made a huge leap 6 years ago and started living in an off grid cabin on 13 acres of land I had gotten a good deal on in 2011. My ecological footprint is now less than 20% of what it was when I was living in the rat race like everyone else. My expenses are even lower. My total expenses are now around $400/month excluding nothing. The only government assistance I get is free health care which I almost never use. I only have to work for money 10 hours a month now. The rest of the time I do what I please which is usually building a better homestead using free and local used stuff. This huge amount of free time allows me to cook good meals using basic (as local as possible) ingredients. My body is healthier than its been in a long time. My friendship and social connections have never greater. I am also able do a lot of volunteer and free work for friends and neighbors. You can buy a pre made house and a premade life, but you will have to pay rent or pay a bank. If you build up your home from scratch using free and local used materials, you can be living in a small but well insulated cabin in a few years. In effect you can retire without a 401K, or a trust fund, or nearly any savings at all if you can radically lower your expenses and your need for money. I recommend you look into getting some, even an acre of land in a place where you don't need to navigate expensive and complicated regulations or land where you have to ask someone's permission to build on or even live on. Land without zoning or regs is the best, otherwise someday someone from the office of making you sad arrives and kicks you out of your own home because its not good enough for you, according to them. There are places where the government can't do that, hoever. Seek out those places before you find your dream land.
I never imagined that building up your life from scratch, on a shoestring was possible, but since I've done it, I can say, it definitely is. My house, for instance only cost about $10,000 because a lot of free windows, doors, cabinets, etc were found.
It was hard at first. I lived in a tent for the first 6 months on my land then an old mouse infested RV, then 6 years ago I moved into the 400sf cabin I live in now and helped build. I heat with my own wood, (already dead trees are only used), I grow more and more food every year, I feel more financially secure than I ever have and yet I have never made so little money.
Who knew, that we don't have to work so hard to save the planet? We just need to do more with less. 😊
Thanks for sharing. Living the good life. Keep up the great work!
And when you get sick or accidentally cut off a hand you will probably want to go to a modern hospital. If everyone lived like you there would be no hospital.
A few people can live like you do. In fact, many very poor people in Africa HAVE TO live like you even though they desperately want to live a modern life like we do in the developed world.
Art Berman mailed it in the first six minutes. No tweak to the system can have any meaningful effect as long as we prioritize our own personal short-term self-interest. We need to think in centuries, not months or quarters or fiscal years.
No. It’s the fault of oil companies, not the individual. Arts a corporate shill, a very clever one admittedly, but still.
@@SamWilkinsonn No it isn't. It's people breeding like flies. It's our dna to breed uncontrollably, just like every other lifeform. However other lifeforms have natural negative feedback limits. Our feedback will be when we no longer have cheap energy or biosphere to allow us to live. We are nothing but intelligent CANCER
@@SamWilkinsonn Sure, we do not want petrol for our cars, it's the oil companies who are forcing it in our reservoirs.
@@SamWilkinsonnstop using your computer, phone, heat, and turn the lights off you oil company shill.
@silks who buys the oil? Individuals. No one forces them to buy SUVs and trucks. Who buys tons of consumer items that take tons of energy to use? People do. Check out Nate Hagen's view on human's hard wired psychology. Humans have hunter gatherer psychology, medieval institutions, and god like technology. What could go wrong?
Encouraging listening to Art Berman. He is definitely in the ballpark of big truth, in mentioning David Bohm , the Garden of Eden , Iain McGilchrist and overshoot etc. Unfortunately the human condition is being analyzed by the consciousness which created it. The answer will come by putting the pieces of the puzzle together from the perspective of a shift of consciousness , a new awareness out of fear and the beliefs and ideologies which deny fear and reality. Keep up the good work.
Art is an absolute legend! I learned about him through Nate Hagens, and has really upended my entire view of climate activism and just, on oil basically. I now appreciate so much all the things that oil provides for us. I think energy blindness has led us to taking it for granted, making it the black sheep of climate activism. So yeah, taking all of the info in and sitting with it is a decent first step. I really love and appreciate all the work that you do, Rachel, and will look into becoming a contributing member of the planet critical fam!
Does he have a podcast? He is one of the few people I've listened to that's able to point out interdependencies and connections and to go to the root of the phenomena.
He's been on the great simplification a few times
Art Berman is an Immediate watch.
Thanks for platforming Art Berman, Rachel. A terrific conversation was had that we hope will have been both challenging and enlightening for some of the Planet Critical audience. Hopefully some will be awakening to the understanding that there really is no solution to extreme ecological #overshoot, and that by attempting to solve for the wrong predicament our misdiagnosis only exacerbates our existential situation. Some might like to take the opportunity to check out our presentations at the University of Tasmania with Bill Rees and Richard Heinberg on the subject of our complex and 'wicked problem'.
Love that you’re getting to the nitty gritty of our species issues and relationships with the world around us. Thank you from a person who understands this hyper-object.
Another masterful delivery by Art Berman who has a true talent for laying out the terms of complex issues. As societies and individuals we are more interested in believing the stories we tell ourselves than the things we really know. We know that we live in a world ruled and limited by the laws of physics. The so called solutions we so easily taunt are the tapestry of these reassuring stories. Climate policies are irrelevant and we are committed in the next few decades to a level of warming that will greatly reduce our numbers. We have alredy hit +1.5C in 2024, we will breach +2C by 2040 and +2.5~3C by 2050. This alone is an apocalypse. A rapidly unfolding climate apocalypse is merging and amplifying the collapse of the natural world in the context of dwindling natural resources deemed essential to today’s 8 billion humans. We’d better ask how to prepare ourselves for what is coming than pouring resources into story telling ans doomed solutions.
Thank you Art for pushing back on the "just stop oil" crowd, including Rachel. Do we need to stop? Absolutely. Can we? Not really.
As opposed to the business as usual crowd?
@@sjoerd1239 BAU isn't the answer either. There are no good answers. Being simplistic about "just stop oil" isn't a good answer either. Don't be obtuse.
@@PimpinNinja2U
Berman wasn't standing up to the business as usual crowd, so don't give me your nonsense.
Rachel is a kook
Civilization will collapse WITH oil as well.
yep, with oil overshoot will only get worse
@@vincentkosik403 population overshoot
@@didforlove that too
"Billions of people will die". Everybody dies and I used to think "billions won't be replaced", which makes it more palatable, but it's really "billions will be born, live and die in misery".
yep but the adults, well maybe 15 years, who manufacture them will not be slowing down because .... guess what ... the sole purpose of Life is competition to the death and the premiere method of supremacy is to produce the most progeny. It's actually the DNA doing the thinking & planning & the vessels like you'all and me are merely vessels not much more in control than robots.
Is it weird that these are the highlight of my Wednesdays now, lol?
I always enjoy these shows too!
Hi Rachel. Excellent podcast! Your questions, comments and insights are quite profound. Millions of people should listen to this. Mr. Berman is truly one of the experts on energy and our existential predicament.
4 pillars, 4 horsemen, and I'd like to share 4 Alphas.... Awareness, Attitude, Action and most importantly, Adaptation. As Dr. Rees points out, the human species is only following our biological nature on the journey to...... Omega
I loved this one; great job! Art is just great at cutting through the BS.
Live simply so that others may simply live
The wise decision is to learn to sit. Watching all the activity of my mind is the start of understanding my actions. There is enough messed up past that I don't really require making too much more of it. The entertainment and squirm inducing memory in there is vast. By the time I am prepared to die, I might have a more peaceful and authentic view of my past and the most practical relations with that particular present. Perhaps I will have understood forgiveness, patience and trust. What else could I ask for? What might you wish for?
Less energy use is the best idea. Be ready to perish when we don't get to be serviced.
Always love you and your guests. Our thinking is always suitability stressed. The conclusions are inescapable. Bearing in mind we , that is most us are relitively wealthy people who indulge ourselves in unrealistic imagination of business as usual, but the sobering fact, absolute, is that when an individual population overshoots it must suffer the consequences. Every effort has to be made in every direction, dethroning the obesity of wealth and governance structures actually leading and engaging disciplinary actions to shift in the right direction will at least ensure some survival.
Another fascinating and valuable perspective. It's almost the ultimate zoom out on the human species and its likely downfall. Thank you as always Rachel for your hard work - please know that it is greatly appreciated.
"The Religion of Technology" by Professor David F. Noble is a good book on the "religious belief in technology"
Sounds like the Houthis are heroes. I hadn't thought of it that way before. They're stopping oil
I give you a standing ovation Art Berman ! This is the "art"of taking attention away from the appropriate solutions. I do not say that you were not right in criticising humanity and human attitude, capitalism, wars but this is the time we must take quick action ! You can take it easy if you have a bunker!
Art Berman is concise and clear, I appreciate his insight. My heart when he recommended Dr.McGilchrist, I hope you can get him on, and I recommend his books and videos.
Iain will just say people use their right brain too much. What good will that do?
Art Berman suffers from capitalism blindness
Among other things, such as neo-Malthusianism. See my comment from 5 minutes ago (sort comments by "newest first").
Great show. I’m an Art Berman fan
Crop failures from environmental factors are already accelerating with access to modern fertilisers. You can't grow crops in 45c as the plants metabolism shuts down due to the heat. Assuming they don't get flooded by heavy precipitation. There are alternate building materials and methods that don't require steel in large amounts, or concrete. The whole modern civilization thing is completely unsustainable as it is.
Art, you are a patient man, I could never do what you do. People are simply too ignorant to make any sense to me. Few will crack a book or two in order to find the most realistic solutions. BTW, love your new headset!
Please remember just stop oil is seeking specifically to stop the granting of NEW fossil fuel licencing, which the IPCC and the IEA both say must happen AND is consistent with a viable transition to renewables.
There is no viable transition to renewables without the majority of humanity dying within a year.
So love Art up front knowledgeable wisdom regarding this critical energy blindness future 😇💖
The car is the modern horse. Powerful insights thank you Art and Rachel.
There is literally zero chance mankind will fix any of this. Complain all you want about us negative-nellies, but my statement is undeniably true.
Art did propose a catch all solution, use less energy. I do think we need to compose a list of no-regrets (or at least minimal regrets) solutions otherwise people will just do nothing. This list can be researched and backed up to the nth degree but it is needed or no action will be taken which will absolutely end in tears.
Oh wow another pleasant surprise. I was hoping to see Art on here actually. Very good 👍. Checkout Ruben Nelson if you get a chance Rachel. He's a unique character, you will like him.
Anyone and everyone who has aligned with the west have always prospered! The issue is not energy or economic ..it is political pure and simple
Many, including Prof William Rees, would argue that agriculture is the most destructive technology ever devised by humans.
I do think we should maybe consider strategic rationing of some sort whereby things like agriculture and it’s supply chains have a fundamentally higher priority than anything else. This could look like all sorts of things but I think we should start with prioritizing food and let luxury goods fall to the wayside.
Thank you for sharing
Brilliant interview. Well done, Rachel!
Great talk thanks, interesting to hear about the horse, obvious really, but I never thought about it clearly
I understand and agree with many of your points. The way that you say “there are no solutions and any solution you think of will be a bad one” is defeatist. It may be correct but it means that we do not understand the problem deeply enough. You cannot solve what you do not understand. The vast majority of people on earth have little knowledge of the multiplicity of problems and how they interact. Making this seem unsolvable. As we suffer the results of these issues , there will be moments that positive actions can be taken. I will not call them solutions. Not one but many. It isn’t impossible and in fact it could catalyze a transition to a more enlightened society. Living a simpler lifestyle is a major benefit. We suffer from the excesses of our age and this will correct.
This guy is great. Honest and straightforward. Art should read Clio-dynamics. He misses a few points, for example: the structure of the monetary and rentier capitalist system. That is what is impeding the transition to an ecological civilisation.
What Art German is blind to, is that we are at terminal crisis point now, not some convenient managed future point, and we have no choice but to direct our energies toward saving something of civilization.
How a brand new account like yours can tell anybody he is blind to things is beyond me. If you believed, if you are a you, then you would stop oil immediately. change your life immediately, now. If you are ai somebody should pull the plug, agi is supposed to take twenty five percent of our current electrical usage.
@@antonyjh1234 I agree, just stop oil now, tax wealth now, restore true democracy now and on and on. I think you may have misunderstood my comments, easily done. Why does the age of my account effect the validity of my remarks?
@@OgreMan-cg6ok I meant in your own life, stop oil, have you? If you haven't been able to remove it from your life, then how will society? The issue with new accounts, especially lately with ai, when smoking and Big O companies tried to sow doubt to slow down change, they set grass roots foundations and people up that would sow doubt and confusion. Saying he is blind to anything does this. Considering you are saying just stop oil now, something that went against his message, did you not watch the video?
The homonyms of ‘growth’: An increase in ‘value: monetary or moral’, increase in size, increase in ‘age is maturity’, ... It creates a mental association between profits/more and goodness/better.
Growth ua-cam.com/video/kZA9Hnp3aV4/v-deo.htmlsi=IAi2G6E8HRONShu1
The dilemma: We need to grow beyond fossil fuels while degrowing population, without halting the birth of new children. Returning to a neo-pre-oil era with global population near 1-2 billion.
New colonies on the Moon or Mars aren’t solutions, they are only backup insurance for survival of mankind. There isn’t enough energy for 6 billion to migrate off planet.
Thank you Art and Rachel. I was introduced to Art Berman's cogent energy perspectives through Nate Hagan's Great Simplification podcasts. I am happy to have discovered the Planet: Critical podcasts today! While I resonate with most of his discussion, I respectfully disagree with Art's assertion at 1:10:40 about some truth existing in all misconceptions. From a neuroscience perspective, it would be much more accurate to say there's short term survival utility in these misconceptions (cognitive bias/psychological defenses). The level of delusion in your average human differs only by degree from a floridly psychotic person. In the Western perspective, most of us are conditioned to see the world through this practical fictional concept/psychological function called the self. The wisdom traditions see this vestigial self-centered perspective as the root-cause of our apparently inevitable demise. Nature bats last. Unfortunately, so does this eternally ignorant aspect of human nature.
''We can't blame fossil fuels... also we need to think about the societal consequences of stopping fossil fuels!'' Yeah dude... its almost like we needed to start divesting AGES ago, when Climate Change was discovered and big oil industries spent the following decades doing everything their money could in order to prevent this divesting from happening (while also working to secure our dependency to oil)! Even to this day fossil fuel companies are STILL actively trying to push Climate change denialism so that populations won't push their governments to act... and they have infiltrated the top positions of Climate Change global meetings!!
Its not easy for climate activists and climate scientists to push against the power and influence of these global giants have on governments... and without governments even acknowledging the emergency and direness of the situation, most people aren't going to wake up in time!
We don't need to stop it 100%, we can continue a small usage for what is absolutely VITAL... but to continue the way we are? Its not just a couple billions who will be doomed. Our entire species along with all other species, could be doomed. The longer we wait to drastically reduce fossil fuels? The more DRASTIC the needed measures will be... and if we wait too long, our planetary destabilization will force us to a halt, and that option will be even less pretty...
Yes we did but it goes back to the opening statement. If instead of being expedient and self interested we recognized what limits to growth meant in the 1970s and started to limit capitalism and put policies in that slowly reduced or maintained the population we could have had 1 or 2 more centuries of fossil fuel use before we hit where warming is today.
You literally want us to be more concerned about being the one to knock over the tower than we are about playing a game where we know the tower will collapse in the first place.
That was excellent!!!!!
I think agriculture was the most disruptive tech, with it we can change whole ecosystems and increase populations.
52:30’. “Preparing the ground for resource grabbing…”. With respect to Ukraine, the resource grabbing began decades ago, with the move to bring Ukraine into NATO and the EU. Partly for its resources, and partly because Ukraine is a great springboard from which to threaten and ultimately dismantle Russia.
The difference being that Ukraine is invited, not invaded, to be part of a larger coalition.
Art is awesome as always. The host is, however, deeply annoying.
No worries. Tony Seba will save us.😮
The Late Bronze Age Collapse -- "1177 BC" being the written book. Worth knowing of, for reference.
Great guest Rachel
And then there are those that need to over complicate the entire world, which diverts people's attention away from any possible direct resolution to the problems at hand: energy, and how best to survive the complex times ahead of humanity.
The comment about
“No one is forcing us to use oil” is
DEFINITELY not correct or even real.
Without a mode of transportation quick, readily available and cheap, you are so
Okay not going to even be able to afford Property Taxes, let alone everything else….
Excellent conversation.
Thank you for having it.
If I summarize this guy's rational take on where we are, and put it here in the comments, I get censored. Happens in every YT video's comment section, for the three years, or more, that I've been doing it.
53:18 i applaud youre observation of the west role in africa coz alot of people this side of the continent have always preached this messaage that they're here for our resources not to give us democracy and free market mantra.
"Energy" is merely the symbolic talisman of human arrogance. Our culturally-instilled, ebullient, self-centered focus has allowed humanity to utterly "miss the point". The collective interaction of ALL life has made human life viable and possible. We, as a species, are actually "biting the hand that feeds us". Our arrogance, and our greed, prevents us from seeing that fundamental, foolish, self-defeating arrogance.
"Civilization is a heat engine."
--Tim Garrett
It's not just the other half of the world that is dissatisfied with the current dispensation. Vast numbers of Western populations are fed up too. Fed up with the permanent oligarchy. Fed up with mass immigration. Fed up with the endless deconstruction of our identity. Fed up with forever wars.
so we're fucked, conclusion
Welcome to reality. Otherwise known as the doomasphere.
No, we can change.
@@antonyjh1234 Okay. Come back here in 5 years and let me know how we have changed.
@@j85grim4 How have you changed in the last five years? Do you only comment doom and gloom on environmental podcasts?
@antonyjh1234 I have changed dramatically in the last 5 years. I went from a techno optimist snob who looked down my nose at people who didn't drive an electric car to someone who understands now e.v.s are just a PR stunt that won't solve anything. I now have a community of people that speak the truth and are attempting to build a parallel society so when this one inevitably crumbles, all will not be lost....hopefully.
I think this man is conflating the situation. We could cut consumption to a fraction without meaningful sacrifice. Look at switzerland vs the USA in terms of emissions. They use 1/4th the resources but live longer.
Switzerland's real emissions are 231% higher than what they emit on their territory.
@@borealphoto Regardless, the OP's point is correct. The U.S. has VAST waste built-in to everything it does, with emissions being just one of the downstream effects. We could be living very good lives (better lives in fact) on perhaps 20% of current levels of consumption.
@@alan2102X The OP is just plain wrong. The Swiss' consumption emissions per capita are on par with the USA.
@@borealphoto You're not getting it. This is not about Switzerland specifically. It is also not about emissions specifically.
@@alan2102X I got it the first time and you're wrong, in denial.
You can live with 20% of your income today. Why aren't you doing it?
Thanks Rachel for another valuable interview cum political lesson. The Liberal democratic values that underpin the dominant unipolar world order have failed to adapt to the rapidly changing geopolitical, socio-economic circumstances and the technological advances of the 21st century. Moreover, the unipolar world order has also failed to meet the socio-economic and cultural needs of the vast majority of the global population. Consequently the transition out of a Western centric unipolar world order into a rapidly emerging Eurasian centric multipolar world order, has become inevitable, necessary and dangerous.
Let me ask you, if recent history were to be considered is it the West or the East or the Global South that is more likely to be the source of, the beneficiary of, the victim of this danger?
@@allenmaa7064 A lot depends on how far the present champion of Liberal values and a unipolar world order ie; the U.S., will go to continue and defend it's aspiration to become the economic and military global hegemon. In the unlikely event that future U.S. administration somehow gains sufficient nous to accept the inevitability of a Eurasian centric multipolar world order, then it could continue to be a leader, albeit among equals. Only then might the danger be mitigated, possibly even eliminated.
@@robertseaborne5758 One disruption that we all need to think more about in terms is AI. Should we abandon the entire framework of polarity power? Imagine a world of Asymmetrical AI warfare? Imagine a world where Western technological supremacy is rendered moot in a few decades. Today the West can lip service international law - what happens when the US has to return to the table asking for a rules based global order after Gaza because its vast empire can no longer predict or provoke conflict?
Thanks for this back and forth, its fun.
Re "What can we do" one thing would be to modify our behaviour in baby steps. Have businesses only operate 3 days a week. Allow people only to drive (except for emergencies) on odd / even days. Stop subsidization of ff. Make lobbying (bribery )a crime again.
Thank you
Thanks for the episode, interesting perspectives particularly "horse technology" (first I've heard of that as the #1 disruptive tech in human history :). There should have been more talk of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss. Unfortunately (to say the least), continuing to burn fossil fuels and stopping immediately will have the same effect on industrial/consumer societies: collapse. Erratic weather is already having a large negative effect on crop yields around the globe. However, now that I think about it, "stopping oil now" will be much better for non-human species. Humans are f***ed either way and colonialism was the main culprit.
I'm reticent to admit it, but it appears the end of the story laid out in scripture is coming true. We are headed toward apocalypse. Fortunately, it ends well for those souls willing to learn the lesson and convert to an agape spirit....
33mins in…Wife said - Typical irrational thinking, if we just throw a wobbler, somebody will solve the problem. My husband said ‘you can say that, but I couldn’t possibly comment’.
The ordinary consumer doesn't have a choice"
But we don't have to be willing participants.
The problem is that most western governments laws don't allow people to live simply. You can't just live in a mud hut. Tiny houses aren't even legal in most places.
True, that's why I am a unwilling participant.
@@mitkoogrozev I wonder if the word supporter, would have had more emphasis. The ordinary consumer can't say " I don't have any choice so where are we going on our skiing trip" and get to absolve them of guilt because there is no other choice, other than not going of course.
@@antonyjh1234 If I get what you mean, then I would say it doesn't go far enough . As such I would expand it to : "I don't have a choice in participating in this shit system, and it winds me up so much, that to be able to continue existing without blowing my top off, I have no choice but to go on a skiing trip to chill down" . Even the entertainment is basically part of said system that people are unwillingly participants in. It's essentially there to be able to keep people going without rebelling. And we gotta take into account that they are probably completely unaware, which removes even more 'blame' from them ( not that I believe in praise or blame, since those are free will tied concepts, and fee will is utter nonsense, just trying to get a point across without going into this side subject ).
@@mitkoogrozev With 636kw of energy in a tank of diesel, around 3 months of my electrical energy in a sub tropical summer with the air con going 24-7, going skiing seems like cutting a hole in the titanic where the ice berg is going to hit, no matter where you have to drive from. Escaping the system, when I am a result of the system, while taking the best parts forward and enjoying ourselves, on a sinking ship? Now that is going to take skill. To tell people any oil related products have come because people died in other countries and oil is all around me, props up the system and our lives revolve around it and money, without direction, just more, makes it hard to live in the belly of the beast at times for sure.
"It doesn't mean that we should just stop renewables..." Maybe it does mean that.
Nobody is forcing to use it; but there are no alternative in the market, that was intentional and the result of decades of lobbying and economic convenience.
Fossil fuels are not only very useful, their density and distribution make power relations unfair, so even without a climate crisis and fairer energy system should be in place.
We are not equally responsible of this crises, less than 80 companies and few countries are responsible for more than 90% historical emissions and material use.
who is he talking about at the end, "who would you like to platform ?"
iain mcgilchrist needs to be ur guest...sorry didn't watch till the end
Horses are a technology, ignore the neigh-sayers.
you are very punny!
Nice
Genetics. We are programmed to follow the primary directive. Maximum reproductive fitness. Access to materials and energy increases fitness. Humans individually can rationalise their actions and recognise their relative destructiveness, however as a species the most destructive and most consumptive have an advantage over their peers and set the agenda as a whole. If. prepared to kill to gain advantage, no amount of passivity is going to protect your interests. The same is true of an economic system that rewards grabbing the biggest share possible. Either play the game or live on crumbs. Can we be different?
Art Berman, Simon Micheaux, Nate Hagens, Joseph Tainter, and too many other very knowledgeable human beings have eloquently pointed our the error of our ways. Yet we, as a species, continue to be "led" by self-serving, narrow-minded, and self-interested plutocrats. Ironically, I feel very content to be an old man "on his way out". I am ashamed and embarrassed to see what the human species has done to itself.
Please note it is not just the rich to blame, it is the damn human species. Over population and over shoot of resources is also to blame by the POOR who keep breeding more to suffer and die and eat resources and extrude sewage and pollution.
After listening to some quite rational insights into the complexities of self-interest being The-Issue, Art suggests listening to guru Ian Mcgilchrist, whose hypothesis is that there is a Devine Feild of Consciousness. Clearly we will be saved by the supernatural, aka the DFC.
《 Arrays of nanodiodes promise full conservation of energy》
A simple rectifier crystal can, iust short of a replicatable long term demonstration of a powerful prototype, almost certainly filter the random thermal motion of electrons or discrete positiive charged voids called holes so the electric current flowing in one direction predominates. At low system voltage a filtrate of one polarity predominates only a little but there is always usable electrical power derived from the source Johnson Nyquest thermal electrical noise. This net electrical filtrate can be aggregated in a group of separate diodes in consistent alignment parallel creating widely scalable electrical power. As the polarity filtered electrical energy is exported, the amount of thermal energy in the group of diodes decreases. This group cooling will draw heat in from the surrounding ambient heat at a rate depending on the filtering rate and thermal resistance between the group and ambient gas liquid or solid warmer than absolute zero. There is a lot of ambient heat on our planet, more in equatorial dry desert summer days and less in polar desert winter nights.
Refrigeration by the principle that energy is conserved should produce electricity instead of consuming it.
Focusing on explaining the electronic behavior of one composition of simple diode, a near flawless crystal of silicon is modified by implanting a small amount of phosphorus on one side from a ohmic contact end to a junction where the additive is suddenly and completely changed to boron with minimal disturbance of the crystal pattern. The crystal then continues to another ohmic contact.
A region of high electrical resistance forms at the junction in this type of diode when the phosphorous near the ĵunction donates electrons that are free to move elsewhere while leaving phosphorus ions held in the crystal while the boron donates a hole which is similalarly free to move. The two types of mobile charges mutually clear each other away near the junction leaving little electrical conductivity. An equlibrium width of this region is settled between the phosphorus, boron, electrons, and holes. Thermal noise is beyond steady state equlibrium. Thermal transients where mobbile electrons move from the phosphorus added side to the boron added side ride transient extra conductivity so they are filtered into the external circuit. Electrons are units of electric current. They lose their thermal energy of motion and gain electromotive force, another name for voltage, as they transition between the junction and the array electrical tap.
Aloha
30:15 "in fact there may not be.. ANY solution"
Yep, that's right. This system of ours will come crashing down. It's inevitable.
Two billion humans by 2100. And that's an "optimistic" maximum.
We need
“New Pillars”
1 st principles thinking
Greenpeace took out a full page to present a photograph of a dissipated tanker captain named Hazelton in the NYTimes, the clever caption read:
THIS MANS DRIVING DID NOT CAUSE THE EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL.
YOURS DID!
"Without oil, civilization would collapse."
Yes and insofar as civilization is destroying its own future, collapse is inevitable so what's the threat?
key point seems to be its over population thats the issue
I listened to half; that was enough. This guy spent 10 or 15 minutes talking about why we can't suddenly stop producing oil. IDK of anyone who seriously suggests that we can or should, so why even mention it.
Umm no. The average consumer has nothing to do with the military industrial complexes of the world so we have very little to do with the baseline demand for energy.
How on Earth were the Maya, Inca, and the Aztecs more advanced than Europeans? That's just an absurd statement.
Well he is a professional Oil and Gas Geologist, not a historian
there is actually some contestation that there were horses in north america prior to European settlement
If iI remember well thé Aztecs don't inow thé wheel, or has this been proven wrong?
The prehistoric cultures in Mexico have produced toys with wheels ( little animals with 4 wheels ) in Archaeology, but no large carts etc. no draft animals to pull them .
Is that an edinburgh acesent sounds like one