The Oil Drum

Although you may disagree with the theory I have set out above, I have found it an interesting way of looking at where the numbing sense of peak oil catastrophism comes from. It is, in the main, a theory most felt and promoted by men.

Well I'm going to disagree vehemently with his theory (but not diss him as a person because it is the theory we are talking about and not its proponent).

There are major differences between the way women think and the way men cognate. If you are not aware of that yet then you are probably from Venus or Mars rather than from Planet Earth.

Women tend to focus their cognitive skills on social interactions rather than on interactions with inanimate objects like computers, cars or oil wells and stuff. If something does not work and you are a sufficiently flirtatious female, it is no great effort to get a dozen geeky engineers to oogle over you as they try to prove they are the "dominant" male capable of solving your latest blue screen problem and thus fathering your children (yeah fat chance --but keep dreaming nerd).

The life experience of most women is that if there is a "technical" geeky problem, some man will come around and fix it. No need to waste cognitive energy worrying about that kind of stuff.

On the other hand, for a geek oriented male (not an AMPOD) the inability to fix the next tech problem means you won't have a chance in hell (as if you ever had one) to mate with the alpha female and pass you genetic code onto the next generation of nerds. Thus it is doom. It is the ultimate catastrophe.

I do feel a number of regrets, though.  Specializing for success in the last half century has meant taking on more and more sedentary, cerebral jobs.  This has left guys like me in our mid 50's with too much lifespan left to avoid feeling the effects, but not enough physical capacity left to continue succeeding in the brave new world.  If I was only 20 years younger...

The other regret is that I may not be able to continue caring for my family as effectively as I have, once the requirements begin to change.  I think for many men this is a very disturbing realization.

Like Rob I've wondered why there are so few women in the Peak Oil community.  It could be that since men are inherently problem-solvers, we tend to be more interested than women in seeking out and understanding problems.  The women I've told about the problem all get it right away, but they tend not to obsess about it.  Their reactions vary from "We'll muddle through," to "Don't talk to me about problems, talk to me about solutions," to "This might not be such a bad thing, you know!"

I think on the whole women tend to be more connected to the world around them, and suffer less from mind/body, man/nature dualisms than men do.  Next time I'm coming back as a woman.

He basically says that if you believe Peak Oil to be a catastrophe, it is because you are useless IT geek with no skills. On the other hand, if you are more optimistic like he is it's because you are more usefull.

Okay, lets apply our critical thinking skills here. (Critical thinking will still be important after Peak Oil, correct?) Here goes:

The fact that modern women are as useless sans petroleum as modern men are seems wholly lost on him. His theory, that men are doomers b/c they realize are useless sans pretorleum is bunk. If that was what is repsonsible for doomerism, you'd have just as many women show up at the PO doom-fests as men b/c modern women are just as useless as modern men.

But I guess we can't expect too much critical thinking or analysis from Rob. He's got sock knitting classes to attend, don't you know?

This is mostly Rob trying to insult and demean people who don't feel the same way he does. Basically a peak oil dick size contest is what he's trying to engage in here.

Personally I've responded to PO with doomerism b/c I follow the money. It's simple: trillions are being spent for oil and oil wars while billions are being spent to get away from oil and oil wars. You do the math.

If you're not freaked out by PO I suspect it's because your brain has simply wired itself to keep the real consequences compartmentalized. (It has to do this or you wouldn't be able to function.) If you were in Baghdad right now, would you not be a bit freaked out by the consequences of PO? Simialrly if you were in Bangladesh, would you not be a bit freaked out by PO's cousin, Climate Change?

I grew up with homemade bread, but I didn't slice my own until I left home.  Mainly because my mom is something of a control freak.  Her kitchen is her castle.  She didn't like her loaves sliced crooked, so she did the slicing for us.

In our culture, someone who gave a three-year-old a machete would probably be arrested for child abuse.