CJ Campbell's atlas has been on my bookshelf for a few years now. It is a stark reminder that there are no huge energy reserves "yet to be discovered". It also plainly shows the reader that there is no magical country that you might fix colonial ambitions on because it's the next big energy sink you feel that century old need to conquer, bust up and exploit. Nope, all been found, all depleting, some a lot further along than others. So if you can grasp that energy is the economy not the bank, you may be able to grasp all those plans for continued growth don't happen without limitless cheap energy.
Well worth acquiring or a trip to your library to have a good read. Whomever controls the world's BTU's owns the whole enchilada... Lots of reserves out there, but coal seams 2 feet deep and a mile underground will never be mined but always counted in the "reserve" column. Neither will gas or oil deposits that require more energy to get out of the ground than they can return. So clever actors tell the story different ways - you have a big brain - you can figure it out for yoursel! Then there are geological events like earthquakes, vulcanism and plate movements that can greatly alter the performance of a reserve.
The past 200 years have truly been an anomaly - sadly most of the planets current inhabitants know no other way of life than the one we are experiencing at the moment. Entire systems of governance, financial machinations and "investment vehicles" are devoid of this finite and diminishing reality as well. It seems humans are just not good at history, and really good at delusional thinking, easily duped and manipulated.
They aren't good at non-linearity either, but I digress.
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| Yours truly |
Niccolò Machiavelli believed people were easily manipulated because he viewed human nature as inherently selfish, fickle, and driven by appearances rather than reality. In The Prince, he famously noted that the masses are easily swayed by a leader who masters the art of deception and projects strength.
People are quick to pledge loyalty when times are good but will turn on a leader the moment trouble arises. He believed that because subjects are self-interested, their allegiance can be bought or managed through calculated rewards and carefully applied fear. He argued that because "men in general judge more by their eyes than by their hands," a ruler does not actually need to possess good qualities, but must merely appear to have them...
LOL... maybe "AI" is good for something.
