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323 comments on DrumBeat: August 1, 2006

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Prof. Goose on August 1, 2006 - 10:54am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
hey, someone's gotta die.  Might as well not be us.

(tongue firmly in cheek...)

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Euan Mearns on August 1, 2006 - 12:48pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Prof. Goose, your tongue may be stuck in your cheek - and I realise this is not a problem of your making - but if the US and Canada start to use their food surplusses that have enabled the world population to expand - to instead make bio-fuel to maintain a life style instead of life - is it not the case that starvation will be brought forward in whatever countries currently benefit from US food supplies?  I gather China is fairly high up that list.  Bio-alchol or food?
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crazypat on August 1, 2006 - 3:41pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
someone's gotta die.

EXACTLY RIGHT. In a population in overshoot, many individual organisms  must die. And humans on Earth are most certainly in overshoot. How do we decide who dies? Obviously, there's no easy answer if you want to be "humane." But there is one easy answer: NOT ME!

(and I'm dead serious, no tongue in cheek here. they can and will die, I'll hang on as long as I can.)

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AngryChimp on August 1, 2006 - 7:12pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
The "time of plenty" for the US and its partners in crime is coming to an end...

"The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive; others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear; others are being slowly devoured from within by rasping parasites; thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst and disease. It must be so. If there is ever a time of plenty this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored."
~ Richard Dawkins: River Out of Eden, page131-132.

==AC

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Agric on August 1, 2006 - 7:51pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Richard Dawkins has always seemed such a reasonable fellow, I knew he must have said something reasonable sometime. well found AC :-)
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LeGorfou on August 1, 2006 - 9:13pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
It is impossible to avoid the feeling that Malthus is 100% certain to win the game eventually. It is like playing against a crooked house.
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xuewen on August 1, 2006 - 10:37pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Well yes, but taking a broader view the second law will be the ultimate winner.

Being aware of peak oil has really made me face up to my own mortality, indeed to the mortality of everything around us. It makes it hard for me to keep ignoring the deeper questions about existence and its meaning.

"This too, shall pass".

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Kevembuangga on August 2, 2006 - 1:11am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
The "time of plenty" for the US and its partners in crime is coming to an end...

Yet another meaningless emotional response!

"partners in crime" : this is the evolutionary selected cheater detection mechanism at work.
Assuming an entirely egalitarian worldwide society (same income for EVERYONE) the problems of Peak Oil would be JUST AS BAD!

Cut the bullshit!

It is the GROWTH and total population which matters.

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Apuleius on August 1, 2006 - 7:48pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
I do wonder whether China in the near future will declare a vital interest in American agricultural output. That should make for interesting times.
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