Two Different Perspectives – Same Conclusion: Modern Lifestyles Will End Soon

I created a ChatGPT account and asked the AI a couple questions. It seems the AI is in as much denial as the humans that created it, and is as stupid as economists and medical professionals.

https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/

Q: When will depletion of non-renewable resources cause economic growth to end?

A: It is difficult to predict exactly when the depletion of non-renewable resources will cause economic growth to end, as it will depend on a variety of factors such as technological advances, resource substitution, and changes in economic policy. However, it is clear that at some point, the continued extraction and consumption of non-renewable resources will become unsustainable and will likely have negative consequences for the economy and the environment.

As non-renewable resources are depleted, the cost of extracting and using them is likely to increase, which could lead to economic challenges. In addition, the negative environmental impacts of resource extraction and use could also have economic consequences, such as through the cost of cleaning up pollution or through the loss of ecosystem services.

It is important for societies to transition to more sustainable and renewable forms of energy and resource use in order to reduce reliance on non-renewable resources and mitigate the potential negative consequences of their depletion on the economy and the environment.

Q: What are the implications of economic growth ending?

A: The end of economic growth could have significant implications for societies around the world. Economic growth is often seen as a key indicator of a country’s prosperity and well-being, and a lack of growth can lead to economic challenges such as unemployment, poverty, and reduced living standards.

In addition to the economic implications, the end of growth could also have social and political consequences. It could lead to increased inequality, as some groups may be better able to adapt to a stagnant or contracting economy than others. It could also lead to social unrest and political instability, as people may become dissatisfied with their economic circumstances and the inability of their governments to address these challenges.

It is important for societies to find ways to adapt to a changing economic landscape and to address the potential negative consequences of the end of growth. This may involve implementing policies to redistribute wealth and opportunities, investing in education and training programs to improve workforce skills, and transitioning to more sustainable and renewable forms of energy and resource use.

Q: I am very worried about getting sick from covid. How often should I get a booster?

A: The frequency with which you should get a booster for COVID-19 will depend on the specific vaccine you received and the recommendations of the vaccine manufacturer and regulatory agencies. Some COVID-19 vaccines may require booster shots to maintain immunity, while others may not.

It is important to follow the recommended vaccination schedule for the specific vaccine you received. If you are unsure of the recommended schedule, you should consult with your healthcare provider or check with the vaccine manufacturer or regulatory agencies for guidance.

In addition to getting vaccinated, it is important to continue following recommended measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as wearing a mask, practicing physical distancing, and frequently washing your hands. These measures can help protect you and others from the virus even if you have been vaccinated.

Ray McGovern says JFK was whacked by the CIA.

I believe him because I know he has integrity, and because I have 2 years of covid evidence proving how corrupt our governments are. Three years ago I would have called myself a wack job.

Chris Martenson today with a very nice year end discussion on covid and other bad things happing in our world caused by our evil and/or stupid leaders.

Kunstler’s annual end-of-year predictions are doozies this year.
Good new: He’s almost always wrong.
Bad news: One of his many predictions is that we’ll avoid nuclear war.

https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/forecast-2023-get-out-of-the-way-if-you-cant-lend-a-hand/

A retired Apollo engineer explains how what might be the greatest achievement in the universe works.

Tom Murphy wrote a nice essay for Christmas this year. It seems he has spent the last year widening his view from a focus on energy depletion. He argues that our species should never have left its hunter gatherer state.

In order to make comprehensible the vast tract of human time on this planet—itself 5,000 times shorter than the age of the universe—I will compare the 2.5–3 million year presence of humans (genus Homo) on Earth to a 75 year human lifespan: a span that we can grasp intuitively. On this scale, we get the following analogous periods:

First 70 years: various species of humans evolve and coexist (sustainably) on the planet;
Last 5 years: the age of Homo Sapiens (about 200,000 yr; mostly sustainably);
Last 15 weeks: the age of civilization (agriculture; then cities) (10,000 yr);
Last 4 days: the age of science (400 yr);
Last 36 hours: the age of fossil fuels (150 yr of increasingly significant use);
Last 12 hours: the age of rapid global ecological devastation (50 yr).

On this lifetime scale, agriculture is a recent, unexpected hobby we picked up, and one that is still pretty new to us in the scheme of tings. Or maybe we can compare it to a gateway drug that radically changed our behavior, values, attitudes, and expectations (gave us the munchies?). Or maybe it’s like the rapid onset of a mental disorder. In any case, our friends and relatives would be pretty alarmed by this uncharacteristic change toward the end of a long life.

In the last four days, we took our hobby to a whole new level. Agriculture is about control of at least part of nature. Science put that control on steroids. Maybe it’s like cocaine following the gateway drug. It gave us a mechanism by which to learn from controlled experiments and then exercise (imperfect, problematic) control over an expanding set of domains. It “amped” things up.

In the last day or so, we found an even more potent enabler. Let’s see…I’ve already used steroids for the previous step, so what would steroids on steroids be? Fossil fuels equipped us with superpowers to carry out our scientifically-guided ambitions to previously-unimaginable new levels. I seem to recall from the “scare” films in my youth that drugs like PCP can make us think we have superpowers so we’re prone to jump out of a window, convinced we can fly. Similarly, the superpowers granted by this short-lived finite resource have tricked us into thinking that these powers are an intrinsic human quality: owing to our big brains, not the substance. Beguiled by this false flattery, we tell ourselves that nothing can stop our boundless juggernaut of innovation!

In this altered state, we find ourselves on a destructive rampage, as evidenced by the severe toll on habitats and biodiversity: about 85% of primary forest is gone; vertebrate populations have declined by about 70% on average since 1970; and now 96% of mammal mass on the planet is embodied in humans and our livestock. The dots are not difficult to connect. The combination of methods and substances available to us have allowed explosive exploitation of resources on a global scale. A paltry and decreasing amount of habitat—increasingly fragmented—remains. The healthy, biodiverse regions are disappearing fast.

So, reflect on how you would react to a 75-year-old relative who went on a euphoric bender as extreme and damaging as the one in this story. It’s as if this otherwise stable and (mostly) harmless person spiraled into manic behavior so quickly as to leave us stunned. It’s as jarring as a crash; like slamming into a brick wall. We might even suspect an alien baby gestating in our relative’s stomach cavity, so outlandish is their behavior. For the safety of your relative and all those around them, you’d probably want them sedated and strapped to a bed in a hospital for observation. Ironically, our recent “hobby” obsession with control has left us spiraling out of control.

The backdrop, or fabric of your entire existence—the few hours for which you’ve been alive on our scale—seems entirely normal to you, but the whole point of this post is that it’s really just not.

Any path to success must start on a sound ecological foundation, whatever the field of concern: economics, politics, belief systems, human rights, science, engineering, and the rest. Is that the first chapter/lecture in any of these fields? Of course not, but it ought to be. Otherwise we are teaching a blind path to failure. Think of it this way: what would you trade (technology, comforts, materials, even relationships) for all the (non-human) animals/life on Earth? Probably nothing, upon realizing that we ourselves can’t live without a functioning (healthy) ecosystem, and that we are just one of ten million species. Okay. Then we need to act like it. Make biodiversity and ecological health the highest priority and work within the resulting constraints. All decisions should start with the question: “would this action help or harm the (larger, and ultimately more important) non-human world?”

To echo a provocative sentiment others have used to great effect: What good is a Honduran white bat, you ask? Well, what good are you? How have humans, or you personally, (on balance, or in net terms) helped the planet’s wild species or overall ecosystem health? Are you more valuable, or less valuable to sustaining biodiversity than the bat, the newt, or even the mosquito? Yeah, that hard truth stings me, too.

https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2022/12/the-simple-story/

Putin is to blame for Canadian overshoot.

As 2022 draws to a close, Canada’s population has already grown more than in any other year since Confederation.

Statistics Canada says the country’s population grew by 362,453 people, or 0.9 percent, between July and October alone.

The federal agency is attributing that to a rise in non-permanent residents, including work-permit holders and people fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

That influx of people over the three-month period was more than the total population growth of 350,000 in all of 2011.

And it was the fastest single-quarter growth rate since the second quarter of 1957.

At that time, there was a postwar baby boom happening, as well as an influx of refugees after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/canadas-population-growing-faster-than-it-has-in-decades-statcan_4938633.html

Nature is so harsh. 🙁

An alpha male hummingbird is very territorial over the feeder in my yard. There’s plenty of sugar syrup and multiple drinking stations yet he cannot share. Just saw one die in the freezing cold trying to fight for drink.

Sam Mitchell is a movie star! He was interviewed on a channel with 4M subscribers and got 45K views in 12 hours.

Sam talks about his background and what it means to be a hardcore doomer.

“The problem is not fossil fuels, or capitalism, or over population. The problem is humans.”

“Everyone under the age of 50 is fucked”.

The evidence is overwhelming that the west has negotiated in bad faith with the Russians, broken promises, torn up agreements, and crossed red lines that would not be tolerated for a nano-second by the west if Russia did the same, such as putting missiles in Mexico or Cuba.

Has anyone found any evidence that Russia has negotiated in bad faith, or broken promises, or torn up agreements?

Is the blame one sided as it appears to me, or are the Russians also to blame?