Inspired by the Limericks of Doom written by the great BenjaminTheDonkey, I kicked off this un-Denial site many years ago with a limerick I wrote to honor Dr. Varki & Dr. Brower for their important MORT theory that explains the existence and behavior of one very unusual animal on this planet.
For explaining why humans are odd
To Varki and Brower we applaud
A great mystery they solved
With denial we evolved
And created the Higgs, overshoot, and God
The last line attempts to communicate the three most amazing things about the human brain that MORT explains:
- Higgs is a particle we predicted would exist using theories we created to explain how the universe works, and was confirmed to exist 48 years after our prediction. Higgs is a metaphor for our extreme curiosity and intelligence that successfully explained the creation of the universe, origin of life, and one very special brain. No other species comes close to this accomplishment. Varki & Brower’s MORT theory explains how and why our brain evolved across a barrier to enable this unique capability.
- Overshoot: We used our unique extended theory of mind and intelligence to dominate all other species, and to create the complexity that enables modernity with a population of more than 8 billion totally dependent on rapidly depleting non-renewable resources, while aggressively denying our obvious overshoot predicament and probable CACTUS ending. Varki & Brower’s MORT theory explains why we are in overshoot and why we deny it.
- God: Humans have a near universal belief in life after death, despite zero supporting evidence, and plentiful contradictory evidence. God is a shorthand word we use for life after death. No other animal has Gods and Varki & Brower’s MORT theory explains why.
Gaia suggested we write a limerick for CACTUS.
I think this is a great idea, and a nice way to honor Hideaway’s CACTUS theory, which is the only significant new idea in the overshoot space since Varki’s MORT theory 10 years ago.
You are invited to write a limerick about CACTUS, and to publish it as a comment on this post.
I will then copy them here for better visibility.
After a few weeks, or when new contributions stop, we’ll have a vote to select the best, and I will publish it in the coveted second from the top position of the sidebar favorite quotes.
If it turns out that multiple limericks have “best of” lines, maybe we can collaborate on merging them into one super best limerick .
Here’s a sample of some of my favorite limericks by BenjaminTheDonkey, copied from here.
I’m O.K. with more BAU—
It’s better than being all through;
The truth is, my friend,
I don’t want it to end,
And neither, I’m betting, do you.
We’d be smart to shut our damn yaps
And keep this doom stuff under wraps:
If we kept it hush-hush,
We might put off the rush
To inevitable collapse.
But it doesn’t take a savant
To excuse being nonchalant:
Once we admit
That we can’t change jack shit,
It doesn’t matter what we want.
Rational Animals: An Oxymoron
What logical reasoning gave
To us since we came from the cave
Sure got lots of ink
And changed how we think
But not the way we behave.
Define limerick.
A limerick is a specific form of short, humorous, and often nonsensical poetry. It follows a very strict structural and rhythmic pattern that makes it instantly recognizable—and usually quite catchy.
The Structure
- A limerick always consists of exactly five lines.
- Rhyme Scheme: It follows an AABBA pattern.
- Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme with each other.
- Lines 3 and 4 rhyme with each other (and are usually shorter).
The Rhythm (Meter)
- Limericks rely on a bouncy rhythm called anapestic meter. This means two short syllables followed by one long, stressed syllable (da-da-DUM).
- Lines 1, 2, and 5 typically have three beats.
- Lines 3 and 4 typically have two beats.
Example
To see the anatomy in action, here is a classic example:
There was an Old Man with a beard, (A)
Who said, “It is just as I feared!— (A)
Two Owls and a Hen, (B)
Four Larks and a Wren, (B)
Have all built their nests in my beard!” (A)Common Characteristics
- The “Opening”: Most limericks begin by introducing a person and a place (e.g., “There once was a man from Nantucket…”).
- The Twist: The final line usually serves as a punchline or a surprising conclusion to the “story.”
- Tone: They are almost always lighthearted, whimsical, or even a bit “naughty” (though many are written specifically for children).
Contributions
#1 – By Gaia gardener:
Down under lives a sage we call Uncle,
Whose Theory of CACTUS would prickle
The masses who deny
Modernity’s end is nigh,
Yet none can refute nor debunkle!
#2 – By Gaia gardener:
At un-Denial we hold daily practice,
led by Rob so nothing distracts us,
from the doctrine of MORT,
and civilisation cut short,
because Seriously, we’re all CACTUS!
#3 – By Renaee:
We gather as we cannot conceive
That the masses don’t see what we see
But we figured it out
It started to sprout!
Then the cactus prick set us all free
#4 – By Renaee:
There once was a man from Arizona
He saw FIRE then saw it’s all over
Coz when humans got lit
It all turned to shit
But really it’s the BLOB that’s the poser
#5 – By Nick:
It’s clearly our cognitive style
To process hard truth with denial
We’re not rational actors
So ideas like CACTUS
Can be safely ignored
… for a while
#6 – By Gaia gardener:
Our predicament shouldn’t be hard to explain
to a species with a sizable brain,
We’re heading off the CACTUS cliff,
far too late to cry “what if?”,
and it’s not the free fall, but the landing that’s a pain!
#7 – By Flippr:
No problem here says our regime
As weather becomes more extreme
Tornados blowing!
Floods, start rowing!
FEMA will make it all peaches and cream
#8 – By el mar:
CACTUS, the truth telling plant,
is predicting a Seneca End!
Until the terminal end of BAU,
carpe diem – enjoy yor life now,
don´t expect to receive any rent.
#9 – By nikoB:
It appears that soon we’ll all be cactus
No longer is the time just to practice
They’ve shut the Straits of Hormuz
Now we’re all set to lose
The Orange man has certainly Fracked us
#10 – By David H:
The society’s gears are well oiled,
The landscapes that were are now spoiled.
When there’s naught left to mine,
We can only opine,
“What a shame that we’ll all soon be broiled”
#11 – By Rob:
Modernity requires growth
Of complexity & scale both
Experts all missed it
None have admitted it
Because reality’s too damn gross
#12 – By Rob:
Complexity & scale must gain
In a planet wide supply chain
Unfortunately infinite
Is impossible on finite
So expect high but short pain
#13 – By Rob:
Resources decline in quality
Forcing up scale & complexity
As they deplete
Best we first eat
Supernova is modernity
#14 – By Rob (with edit by Renaee):
Modernity requires continual growth
Resource flows & complexity both
Debt can reset
But physics is set
Only a wish or a dream is degrowth
#15 – By Renaee:
Mind Over Reality Transition
Got us into this crazy position
The game was rigged from the start
With no way to depart
From our inevitable Cactus affliction
#15A – By Renaee (with edit by Rob):
Mind Over Reality Transition
Created our overshoot position
Denied from the start
With no way to depart
From our CACTUS destination
#15B – By Renaee (with edit by Rob & Renaee):
Mind Over Reality Transition
Kickstarted our overshoot condition
Denied from the start
With no way to depart
From our fated CACTUS fruition
#16 – By paqnation:
The blob consumes energy through ingestion
Photosynthesis, chemosynthesis and absorption
But there’s only one path to CACTUS
And it revolves around blasphemous
Cooking is the path to this deadly destruction
#17 – By Gaia gardener
A universal truth–we reap what we sow
And thus, CACTUS from MORT’s seed did grow,
Now a deadly weed in Earth’s garden
For which we beg mother Gaia’s pardon,
“Forgive us, in our denial we didn’t want to know!”
#18 – By Robin:
A Blockade of the Strait of Hormuz
by a President so confused
that he hastened the shift
off the Seneca Cliff
when he thought it was only a ruse.
#18A – By Robin (with edit by Renaee):
A Blockade of the Strait of Hormuz
by a President who is so confused
that he hastened the shift
off the Seneca Cliff
when he thought it was only a ruse.
#19 – By Robin:
A prickly cactus of arms
near the Strait of Hormuz, it swarms
to bottle the flood
of black global life-blood
as it backfires its economic harms.
#20 – By Hideaway:
I’ve been out limericked by Gaia and Renaee
There is nothing much left to say
In the fullness of time
When civilization is past it’s prime
Everyone wishes they’d been hiding away.
#21 – By el mar:
We humans believe to be smart,
but this thinking is also a fart!
We behave as created,
so don´t be frustrated.
Anyway entropy lets fall all apart!
#22 – By Robin:
The United States had a plan
to shoot up the state of Iran,
but they didn’t detect
that the guns on their deck
pointed backwards and shot their own cans.
#23 – By monk:
There once was a person aware
Of her own thoughts she could hear
With a start of fright
Her death was insight
So, she denied it to avoid the despair
#24 – By monk:
People think we can keep growing
Destroying the planet without knowing
That when the oil’s gone
We’ll be forlorn
That mass death is the only thing going
#25 – By monk:
There was a man from Mar‑a‑Lago
Who was dumber than a bonobo
Orange was his face
But he won election race
And now there’s no more oil cargo
#25A – By monk (with edit by Renaee):
There once was a man from Mar‑a‑Lago
Who was wicked dumb with much brovado
Orange was his face
But he won the election race
And now there’s no oil left in cargo
#26 – By Lurker:
In time it got more complicated
As supply lines got more integrated
Then out came one pin
And the whole thing caved in
So modernity got truly eliminated.
#27 – By Huldulæki:
There once was a panic in Norway,
As leaders moved fast without delay,
They reopened old wells,
As the loud worry swells,
To keep Europe’s lights on night and day.
#28 – By CampbellS:
A software engineer from Vancouver
Started an Un-denial maneuver
A guy from Australia
Made CACTUS the flavourAnd now we’re all fucked
Now it’s the ultimate remover
#29 – By great unwashed:
Our civilisation had become quite trite
Extracting oil with all its might
Futile prepped and bought
Yet billions had naught
As our demise drew quickly, goodnight.
#29A – By great unwashed:
Our civilisation had become quite trite
Extracting oil with all its might
Futile prepped and bought
Yet billions had naught
As our demise drew quickly in sight
#30 – By monk:
There once was a system that grew
On old sunlight’s stores it withdrew
Yet growth couldn’t last
Once the limits were passed
And collapse came much sooner than due
#30A- By monk (with edit by Hideaway):
There once was a system that grew
On old sunlight’s stores we went through
Yet growth couldn’t last
Once the limits were passed
And collapse came much sooner than due
#31 – By Renaee:
Denial is the name of the game
Everywhere we look it’s the same
The planet is trashed
While we all worship cash
It’s true, the whole world is insane
#32 – By nikoB:
Said Netanyahu to the Trump
Go give Iran a thump
But with every blow that he threw
Iran decisively chewed
A bigger piece out of his rump
#33 – By Mark:
Hope is the way
The masses pray
With the world in despair
And so few MORT aware
Better get OK, with complexity going away.
#34 – By Gaia gardener:
Denial–a river so wide
To cross a challenge untried,
Brave Rob captained his motley crew
who rowed with conviction true,
Alas, ran CACTUS and capsized!
#35 – By Perran:
Humans have an affliction
It’s called Mind Over Reality Transition
It means that despite being smart
They will deny from their heart
Any unpleasant condition
Limerick Competition Results
Limericks
Authors: 18
Voters: 11
Votes: 33
Limerick / Votes / Votes with Variants
#2 / 3 / 3
#5 / 4 / 4
#6 / 1 / 1
#8 / 1 / 1
#9 / 1 / 1
#10 / 1 / 1
#14 / 3 / 3
#15 / 3 / 8
#15A / 2
#15B / 3
#16 / 1 / 1
#24 / 1 / 1
#26 / 1 / 1
#28 / 2 / 2
#30 / 1 / 3
#30A / 2
#31 / 2 / 2
#32 / 1 / 1
Total / 33 / 33
Gold – #15 or #15B by Renaee (8 votes for 3 variants)
#15
#15B
Silver – #5 by Nick (4 votes)
Bronze – a 3 way tie!! (3 votes each)
#2 by Gaia gardener
#14 by Rob with edit by Renaee
#30A by monk with edit by Hideaway
Congratulations and thanks to everyone that participated!
====================================================
Limerick Voting Booth: Poll Closes Sunday 10:00am PST (Now Closed)
Please vote for your favorite limericks by replying to this comment with the identity numbers of up to 3 of your favorite limericks, or if you prefer confidentiality, email your selections to: peakeverything@outlook.com
Rules:
Voting ends 48 hours from now on Sunday May 10 at 10:0am PST.
Votes will then be tallied to determine the Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners.
10-May-2026 10:00am PST Update: Polls are now closed and the powerful un-Denial computer system is executing cutting edge AI algorithms to analyze the statistical significance of the vote. Expect a report on progress in a few hours.
P.S. If you vote by email I will reply to confirm I received your vote.
If you do not receive a reply you should assume something is wrong and check the spelling of my email address, or contact me a different way to report the problem.
LOL, I spent way too much time trying to narrow this down to three.
2
31
16
Haha bro,
Good onya for the great reveal and just about the same time I did, too! (your post didn’t refresh before I wrote mine) Well, that almost proves that we are related, or at least psychically connected in some way. It was soooo great to talk yesterday (was it only yesterday?) and look forward to our next chat. Please give Debbie my best for a happy Mother’s Day, after all without her you wouldn’t have been pushed out 50 years ago!
I just realised you voted for one of my efforts (as well as yours, of course!) To have the mark of Christ is a blessing (or cross?) too great to bear. Already I owe so much, my cup overfloweth.
Speaking of Bear, give all furries in your household a good scratch for me.
Screw it….posting mine as well.
Gold 15B
Silver 14
Bronze 26
🙂
I went for precision but would have liked a bonus vote for the most funny one after all!
Good morning happy campers! I guess everyone is voting by email as I can’t see any replies here this morning. Well, I will be the first then to show my cards. It was quite difficult to narrow it down to the final three as I really enjoyed everyone’s contributions. Now I feel obligated to explain my picks. Firstly, out of honour and respect to Rob’s blog and the grandfather idea that started it all, I thought I should choose at least one that clearly identified MORT. And, because the original intent was to give CACTUS a limerick of its very own, I picked one that highlighted that acronym. It happens that both ideas are well represented in one of my choices. Here I want to emphasise these two acronyms in and of themselves are so clever. MORT means death as a Latin root and it is understanding our own mortality that began the reality transition, and of course, our pet CACTUS has pride of place for perfectly representing our complexity infused predicament and the Aussie humour of being finished by it. I also wanted to pick one that for me encapsulated the overarching picture in a classical limerick way (well done, monk! all of yours fit the bill and I chose the one with Hideaway’s slight edit) And finally, I wanted to choose a funny catchy one and Campbell’s stood out for me for the cheekiness in that extra crossed out line. Also, he specifically mentioned Rob and Hideaway’s masterful part in bringing us all to this conclusion.
So, Gaia’s choices are (and just in order of number) 15B, 28, and 30A
I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone for your enthusiastic participation, this past week was an especial delight when checking in at un-Denial. We all need to laugh our way through this mess and it’s always better shared. A huge shout out to Rob for organising this competition so assiduously, as with everything he does.
Namaste, friends.
Good to get yr explanation. I went email to heighten the surprise! Yes Rob runs a tight ship and we crew are the beneficiary. I am like you that I enjoy the word play, but appreciate minimalist comms as well.
Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers and products of mothers! Thinking of you and your family, Renaee, for this weekend gettogether.
It looks like I still have one limerick in me. I’ve always thought of Rob as our fearless captain, too, and this popped into my head. I am so grateful to be in the same boat with everyone here, wherever and however we’re going, we’ve at least got the best company.
Denial–a river so wide
To cross a challenge untried,
Brave Rob captained his motley crew
who rowed with conviction true,
Alas, ran CACTUS and capsized!
But at least we will all go down together!
Namaste, friends.
By the way, I am not expecting this late addition to be added to the voting list, of course rules are rules, otherwise we’d be like the current global geopolitical situation. But, I suddenly felt the limerick urge (which tends to come in fits and starts). Consider yourselves warned, that may not be the last!
I added it, and Mark’s.
The late entries missed out on the 629,245 votes already cast, but will be considered by the people who have not yet voted.
Thanks Gaia, I like that one. More crazy than brave however.
I realise now not necessary to prioritize one’s votes 🙃
Unfortunately, IP addresses don’t necessarily correspond to individual users.
Right now IPv4 addresses are so scarce that many ISPs are actually having many customers sharing an IP address.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrier-grade_NAT
Unlike fossil fuel depletion, which doesn’t have solutions, IPv4 depletion actually does have a technical solution: IPv6
BTW, I’ll send my vote tomorrow.
True, but most of the people that hang out here are old farts that don’t even know what an IP is, let alone how to change it to cheat the Limericks vote.
My votes:
5
15
28
My vote
31
32
15B
And my contribution even though it’s too late
Humans have an affliction
It’s called Mind Over Reality Transition
It means that despite being smart
They will deny from their heart
Any unpleasant condition
Thanks Perran. I added it to the list.
Voting procrastinators have been rewarded with another very good choice.
I sent email yesterday but no reply Rob
Got it. Sorry it was flagged as spam and put in the junk folder. I’ll check junk regularly in case it happens to anyone else.
Gold 15
Silver 2
Bronze 30A
I’ve gone with all the ladies, they just seem better wordsmiths than us old codgers..
5
15A
30
I am voting for #14, #6 and #24. The competition was pretty tight though.
Hello Rob,
Only a few more hours until the final vote tallying–it’s as exciting as the Academy Awards! Just wanted to see if we’re on the same page with this minor technicality. Since some limericks were edited, the vote may be split between the different versions which could dilute the standing of each. I think that the “mother” limerick should receive all the counts for that number and then the version within that number that got the most votes will be the official representative. Am I making any sense, sorry I’m not expressing myself clearly but I trust you are getting my gist. I don’t think it will matter in the end but just wanted everyone to know that this critical voting is being taking very seriously, no gerrymandering funny business here!
Hope this was a welcome diversion to your weekend and thank you again for all your brave and crazy efforts.
Even if one of your limericks doesn’t make it on the podium, you deserve a group hug!
The polls are open for another couple hours but I’m worried about voter apathy.
We have so far many fewer voters than people who authored limericks. I was hoping for the opposite with our thousands of lurkers casting votes.
Maybe everyone is waiting until the last minute so they can vote strategically to swing the result in a direction they favor?
Or maybe people are abstaining because there are so many good choices that its not fair to select only three?
If things don’t improve I may be back after the polls close seeking advice on how to proceed.
On your clarification, are you saying that the original and its variants should be viewed as a single entity with the sum of votes use to determine the winner? Then if that entity wins, the variant with the most votes would receive the prize?
Hello Rob,
You’re too good to us. Thank you for that amazing breakdown of the votes, that brought an even bigger smile and chuckle than all the limericks put together! Yes, that was what I meant but at the end it didn’t matter as Renaee’s entry 15 was the clear winner and it was most fair that she could choose the variant.
I am really not sure why the voting turnout was so poor. If only we had Elon Musk to prop up participation with bribes. I suggested that next time we should make it compulsory with heavy fines and loss of social credits. You’d think that we monkeys would fall in line then! But of course, we are a rare denial deficient subspecies so that could explain the wayward behaviour. You can just never know what drives us, but I’ll bet everything that we did still have a lot of fun!
Wow, it was hard to narrow my top picks down to 3. There are so many excellent entries!
I began with a short list of 11 that I more or less loved equally. In the end I got it down to 3 by i) eliminating any that did not include a CACTUS idea since that was the theme of the contest, and ii) giving priority to those that included both CACTUS and MORT ideas.
P.S. I made my picks before looking at how others voted.
My top 3 are: 15A, 5, 14
I am completely chuffed!! ⭐️ I will give it some thought during my walk and let you know which one is the go 😉
Thanks everyone for such a fun distraction and Rob too for your scrupulous attention to detail in compiling it all.
Second thoughts, I reckon I will go for 15B – a joint effort that mentions overshoot, the key concept that needs to be in there as well.
Way to go Renaee!! You’ve reached the peak of awesomeness. It’s all downhill from here.😂
Yes!!😂
Congratulations Renaee, so well done on the winning entry and all the others, too!
Congratulations and thank you to everyone who participated and a huge round of applause for Rob! I am very surprised in the lack of voting, it should have been made compulsory with stiff fines for non participation! Haha, I should talk because although voting in Australia is compulsory for citizens, I actually submit informal votes for all government levels (blank ballot), as I have completely lost confidence in the system and this is my form of conscientious objection.
Maybe it was just the sheer volume of great limericks that overwhelmed the populace. I am sure, however, that everyone who did read through them got some enjoyment from our collective efforts, and that’s the main thing.
Interesting time waster.
A good chunk of the post-CACTUS US doesn’t need 18 wheel diesel trucks.
That would be a great trip to do.
Australia has nothing like that.
If you are thinking about buying a new fuel efficient vehicle, this explanation of how hybrids work is super interesting.
I thought I understood how hybrids work and I didn’t.
I have a Toyota Sienna van with 215,000 Km that I bought new in 2004.
I drive my super fuel efficient Honda CB500X motorcycle in the 3 non-winter seasons but I have a feeling I’m going to have to replace my van before I die, and assuming CACTUS does not occur in the next couple years.
When I buy I will be leaning towards a hybrid van because I like that my van doubles as a pickup truck for moving big stuff, and I can sleep in the back when camping.
Lyle Lewis’s investigative journalism is second to none. It’s a disgrace that no other media outlets are covering this important story.
https://lylel.substack.com/p/scientists-discover-climate-change
ps. This video cracks me up. Fans of ‘Saved by the Bell’ will get a kick out of it.
Really good and really true.
Also works great for proving experimental gene therapy transfections are “safe and effective” vaccines.
Preptip:
Buy more stuff.
“thugs”
“recently wiped out 42,000 innocent unarmed protesters”
“laughing at the great USA”
“response from so-called representatives TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE”
FYI, I’ve edited the pinned comment above with the limerick competition results.
While we’re waiting for my servers to complete the statistical analysis on the vote, here’s another classic by BenjaminTheDonkey.
Our life is wrapped in MORTality
As there is no escaping reality
but once we’ve been here a while
most folks develop denial
To escape our coming fatality.
😂 😂 😂
Excellent essay by Wendy Williamson today on how to cope with the increasing insanity that surrounds us.
https://www.wendywilliamson.com/why-people-are-going-crazy/
Nice example of how a lack of CACTUS awareness leads to completely wrong conclusions.
Rintrah consults an AI to determine the scale of civilzation that is possible using solar panels for energy.
He thinks he’s being clever by catching optimistic assumptions made by the AI but completely misses the bigger picture.
https://www.rintrah.nl/ask-claude-how-much-of-the-earths-surface-can-we-cover-in-solar-panels/
The A.I. as in any A.I. will make a whole heap of assumptions from popular misconception. You have to make it qualify the assumptions made, as Rintrah did for some of it’s conclusions, but not all.
The EROEI often shortened to EROI, which is a mistake by itself, uses narrow boundaries which always make any energy source seem a lot better than it really is. If it’s something we are going to rely upon, as in statistically, then there should be no boundaries in the calculations, it’s that simple.
As soon as boundaries are included, then it’s just a story of fiction we tell ourselves. We know for a fact people prefer fiction to reality, because religions exist, so why expect anything different?
I love this old engineer, Bill Hammack.
He makes a couple videos a year explaining how important things in modernity work.
Today he explains a technology relevant to CACTUS: copper extraction.
Just a couple clips that get emotions out of me. Happy emotions.
This is my favorite sports moment of all time. Including the announcer’s call. Listen to that thunderous roar when he hits the ball. And look for Griffey’s big smile at the bottom of the pile. (another cool aspect that adds to the drama; Seattle was about to lose their team to another city, but this moment saved the franchise)
Gaia will like this one cuz of the song. Start it from the beginning and I bet the 2:41 mark will make you laugh, cry, or at the very least put a big smile on your face.
Both excellent. Another good movie I’ve never heard of.
Hey bro,
Thanks for that. One of my favorites, how did you know? Except I wasn’t lip syncing, but belting it out for all I was worth. Nothing’s gonna stop us now (except for Cactus). But better to be in the same boat with you all until the bitter end.
re movie song = loved it! And this kinda rang a bell, but i don’t think I have seen it before, not sure. But Andrew knew exactly what film it was and told me re story line, I reckon will line this one up as well for another night.
Our “leaders” are apparently unable to dream up a new idea to prepare us for CACTUS.
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/hantaviral-memes
Art Berman has been VERY aggressive the last few months with anyone claiming to know a lot about energy when they know little.
Today Berman cuts down Richard Medhurst.
Not sure where I found this. Cool video about the blob.
A little fuel for the misanthropes. And don’t worry, I’ll arrange it so that he spends eternity in hell.
Right up there with the people that shoot elephants for their ivory.
Right up there with parasitic wasps that inject their eggs into still living hosts so that their children can eat them alive inside-out! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasitoid_wasp
Addendum: these wasps made Darwin himself question the existence of a benevolent creator god: https://www.columbia.edu/cu/tat/core/darwin.htm
Hope is the way
The masses pray
With the world in despair
And so few MORT aware
Better get OK, with complexity going away.
Ps No voting for me, but thanks for the comments.
Hello Mark,
Very nice contribution, thank you. So many of us have tried to express the same sentiments as you did in our own limerick efforts. Wishing you and your family all the best going forward, and trust that you’ll be OK.
Namaste.
B nicely articulates what many of us are feeling, and compares today with prior crises.
https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/dont-look-up
Wide boundary news update from Nate Hagens.
Nate made 2 important observations in this talk:
1) We are being deliberately misled about energy scarcity. Reliable data is becoming very hard to obtain, even for peak oil experts. There’s a good chance the majority will never be aware of what is causing the problems they experience.
2) Environmental activism will be very different on the way down than it was on the way up. For example, instead of promoting “green” energy, activists will have to worry about people around them chopping down all the forests to stay warm, or governments approving mining in public parks to get the minerals needed to sustain modernity.
And he has Art Berman on the show next. Travelling on a bus to the country so lots of time to listen. Both his and B still talk in decades about the future 🤷♀️they have not read Hideaway’s 90 days of close of Strait essay obviously.
https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-05-08
Ed Conway’s got a new book coming with another CACTUS theme to complement his previous book Material World.
Hideaway was not impressed with Material World but I thought it was an excellent primer on how extraction works for some of the key non-renewable resources that enable modernity.
Said Netanyahu to the Trump
Go give Iran a thump
But with every blow that he threw
Iran decisively chewed
A bigger piece out of his rump
Hello friends,
Well, we’re heading into another weekend of nail-biting. Of course I’m referring to the nearly unbearable excitement of picking the limerick champion of the un-Denial world! As a side show, there’s the minor spectacle of the US/Israel and Iran war, the expected resumption bombing will seal all our oblivion.
I know the jury’s out with this Professor Jiang guy, he does have a certain manner that could be considered irksome but I think this interview showcases the best of his understanding and exposition of the world situation. Great visuals with maps, too (and a super cool smartboard). Steven Bartlett does a great job leading the interview step by step, so the core concepts should be easily understood. Very interesting conclusions, time will tell how his latest “predictions” unfold. Of course we’ve got our own CACTUS prediction going, but too bad we don’t have the same online following as either one of these podcast wonders. Give it a try if you haven’t been able to stomach his lectures online.
And now for the most important issue of the day, the limerick competition! I suggest that we get to rank our top 3 in the voting, and perhaps we can have several categories of limerick–one for the more serious, and another for humour for example. As you can see, I would love it if everyone could be a winner! And maybe we should give Uncle Hideaway the honour of choosing the top prize if there happens to a tie. To be fair, we should nominate Rob as official chairperson of the committee devoted to the voting process. Of course, we should have a golden winner’s trophy (one that DJT would envy!) and a runner’s up plate. The rest of us will get consolation prizes, in Australia there is the dubious wooden spoon award for the person or team coming in last. I’ll leave it to you all to decide which of my suggestions are completely facetious (if any!)
Namaste and happy voting, friends.
We’re thinking along the same line Gaia.
There are so many excellent limericks most people will have a tough time picking only one.
I was thinking each person will have 3 votes they can spend anyway they wish, including using all 3 for a single limerick that they absolutely love. When I announce the start of voting tomorrow, each voter would reply to my announcement with their 3 numbers.
After the deadline expires (I was thinking 48 hours) I would tally the votes to determine Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
I’m not sure about your idea for categories. We could do serious + funny but that means every voter would have to select 6 entries which feels to me like a bit of a tiresome chore.
I wonder if having Gold, Silver, and Bronze is good enough for people to select a mix of serious and funny.
Happy to go with whatever the majority prefers.
To summarize my proposal: 3 votes per person with a simple tally to select Gold, Silver, Bronze.
Let me know what changes you want for the voting process.
Does anyone feel the need for voting to be private?
We could do it by emails to me if you prefer privacy. Or I could publish an email for people to optionally use.
I understand that voting against Christ might create spiritual turmoil for some.
I don’t mind re an email or on the site.
but the question is – are we allowed to vote for our own Limerick?? Doing away with false modesty here 😉
And Gold Silver Bronze i think is the way to go – six is too many.
Yes, you can use all 3 votes for you own. You can even swear to go to church every Sunday if Christ votes for you.
🤣 🤣 very good sir
No voter intimidation tactics from me I promise. Just three loving words to all of my children out there: Beware My Wrath
It came up in my feed too, and I am not usually a fan of the diary of CEO guy, his style is to play dumb and talk fast, but on your rec I will give this one a listen. Yes a minor distraction this WW3, to the real matter at hand 😉
I quit Bartlett too. Every episode is some super secret sauce for how to be super happy, or super successful, or super healthy, often with companies that Bartlett has used his podcast fortune to invest in because their secret sauce is so super good.
Also quit Jiang. He’s another polymath in denial. Except his poly is light on things that matter.
But I’ll give this one a go tonight because I trust Gaia.
Oh dear, the pressure. I just put this out because I thought if you had only 2 hours (and that might be too long) to get the jist of what this Jiang guy is all about, this could be the one-size-fits all lecture. Some interesting ideas but of course no Cactus awareness.
I like the Gold, Silver and Bronze podiums. This is just like the Olympics!
We can all memorize the winning limerick and it will become our club anthem!
I’m halfway through the Jiang interview and think it’s pretty good.
I like that Jiang doesn’t think Israel is calling the shots, and that he thinks the US is executing a plan. He does a pretty good job of explaining the US motivations.
It would be better if he had awareness of resource depletion and overshoot, but in fairness, no popular geopolitical analysts are aware.
I finished this interview with Jiang today and wanted to let you know that Gaia made a very good recommendation.
This is a good interview to sample Jiang’s ideas because Bartlett has a big following so Jiang had his A-game on, and he presented a big picture overview of all his ideas, rather than the snippets you get from his own videos.
Jiang does have some interesting ideas and he’s not afraid of offending people like genocide supporters, or people who vote for morons.
I saw hints that Jiang might just be at least a little CACTUS aware, but as with anyone trying to make a living from selling ideas, he has to be very careful not to say anything that triggers MORT.
Great interview. Glad I listened to the end just now, especially interesting re Platos cave and his personal story after that.
I typed into the google search bar the phrase: “how fast does oil form”, and the top result was a young earth creationist website called “Answers in Genesis”. We are so screwed!
https://sashalatypova.substack.com/p/anthony-fauci-will-not-be-prosecuted
We’re so lucky those Muslim lunatics don’t have nuclear weapons, and only sane ethno-supremacist Zionists in the gulf have them.
I must be a poor negotiator, yet despite this, I’ve never found calling the other side of a negotiation lunatics or idiots, as I’ve never found calling people your negotiating with names has ever helped a situation, ever…
Perhaps I need to change my style for those I’m negotiating with..
How do people think this will work, with my new style?….
I want a discount on that car, TV, Air con, whatever, of at least 20% you F@#$%^t, or else…
It’s unbelievable. Nobody gives a shit about bad behavior any more.
LOL
When I worked as a mattress salesman, I learned that some people (mostly from India) really do negotiate this way. My coworkers would usually get offended at the aggressiveness and not budge off the sticker price. But I always appreciated the game and would play along.
But easier to just use the Kramer discount for 30% off. Doesn’t always work though:
Trump is a misanthrope
“The most important human aspiration is the pursuit of morality in action. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in action can lend beauty and dignity to life.” – Albert Einstein
Trump has destroyed the minimal consensus. It was never perfect in world politics—but there were moral guidelines.
People have always lied everywhere. Tactical lies and white lies are commonplace in politics. But lying used to be respectful to a certain extent, even if it was deceitful and selfish. Trump has broken down all boundaries. His behavior is utterly disrespectful, unworthy, and despicable.
He has taken something away from humanity—he has pulled the rug out from under the very ground on which we might have been able to rebuild some trust. He has downgraded humanity to junk status. Now, there are no standards whatsoever.
Well said. It’s a big shift in the wrong direction.
Define misanthrope.
I would guess than some un-Denial citizens are also misanthropes, but unlike Trump, retain some morality.
The misanthrope community loudly rejects Trump from our club.
Hear, hear el mar! So well said about our degraded human condition. That quote by Einstein is certainly one to aspire to, thank you for bringing that encouragement to light.
I join many others’ professional opinion in that the proper term to describe Trump is sociopath/psychopath. I think he actually enjoys the company of his sycophants, needs the approval of others, and craves the limelight so he doesn’t exactly avoid being with people. A sociopath/psychopath deliberately disregards social norms and the rights of others, being devoid of empathy and in fact, receives pleasure in manipulating, exploiting, and harming others. How did we get here where the most flagrant example of this mental pathology and the POTUS are the same person?
I refuse to compose a limerick with any reference to DJT (don’t want to give him any more exposure!), but appreciate so much all the fantastic ones already penned here. If anything, we haven’t been crass enough!
I will try to calm down now and end with a serene
Namaste.
Jan Bloxham doesn’t say much anymore but when he does, it’s usually worth my time.
For me, learning that WASF, and the severity of it, was the easy part to accept. A little bit of fun even. The hard part was the inevitability of it all. That if you ran this shitshow experiment a thousand times, Rob’s blueprints are gonna show up every goddamn time. Not much fun in that.😉
https://substack.com/@gnug315/note/c-255098521
ps. Great tune about depression and despair. It’s actually an upbeat melody.
I got it years ago from Scrubs. I’ve gotten tons of songs from there. Whoever was in charge of picking music on that show had good taste.
IYKYK = if you know, you know
I’m not so sure my blueprint is inevitable. Some of the barriers like the eukaryotic cell, MORT, and a big store of fossil energy seem to have some low probability luck associated with them.
Bacteria and archaea experimented for 2 billion years before they figured out how to collaborate to generate more energy and thus enable complex life.
Once you get across the barrier it does feel like the outcome is inevitable.
It’s entirely evitable if you bypass MORT through a robust absence of emotion (you don’t need to deny what you are afraid of if your brain does not have the neuro-architecture to experience fear to begin with) – the problem here is that you would have to find a pathway that leads to unemotional intelligence, and then find a way to stabilize it in the gene pool (turns out a sentient being without emotion may not have any interest in reproduction – my best guess is that you would have to design the organism in such a way that replication happens passively, like shedding eggs with excretions and said eggs becoming offspring that can survive on their own without any parental care)
Model organisms, at least in part, are documented: schizoids have a remarkably flat affect (doesn’t mean no emotions, but far, far below the established human average), certain neurological conditions that destroy the amygdala also selectively remove the fear-response of the brain (e. g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbach%E2%80%93Wiethe_disease ) and autism, while not typically associated with reduced emotionality, which tends to come with better reality testing at the cost of reduced ToM.
Lifeforms without any capacity for fear are the norm (plants, bacteria, fungi, anything without a brain, really) and function exceptionally well, the only question would be how you give those things a high-capacity brain without emotional protocols (I think this is possible, just very unlikely on this particular planet, given that such an organism has not been documented so far)
Addendum:
If I had to create a life-form that bypasses MORT but still has extreme cognition and ToM, I would probably start with the organism being a sort of reptile that reproduces asexually: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico_whiptail
Giving it a bigger brain will probably require a larger body, so I would size it up at least to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komodo_dragon levels (actually larger than a human in size and biomass; the design works just fine with contemporary earth)
In case of the brain, I would obviously leave out all genetic sequences that encode the amygdala, that should get rid of a lot of fear-responses and emotional nonsense.
Of course, intelligence means jack if you do not have the body parts to actually do anything with it (hello, hands with opposable thumbs), so the final result would probably look more like this:
/revision/latest?cb=20190921162830
This model reptiloid of mine would have a very clear understanding of death, but would be completely unbothered by that insight. It simply sees its existence as a time-span from t(A) to t(B) and everything after that is irrelevant to it (that includes the existence of its own species into the future, which is why it is important that reproduction happens regardless in a passive way, such as shedding self-sufficient eggs with excrements)
It has no concept of metaphysical belief systems (gods, afterlives, burial rites, myths, ethics, spirituality, superstition etc.) and also doesn’t need any of those (it’s a solitary organism and has no use for narratives to maintain group-cohesion)
It probably spends its life in a cave in a jungle, licking spiders and insects off the walls and analyzing its environment to optimize nutrient intake and personal health.
What it wouldn’t spend time on is building memorials, tombs, temples, brothels, bars and so on and forth. Probably tools and perhaps protective equipment, even though its scales already offer excellent natural armor, and it also can regenerate most of its limbs over time in case of catastrophic damage.
Crucially, now that we have set up the Anti-MORT-non-fire-monkey, we must keep in mind that the existence of an anti-MORT organism does not by itself prevent the evolution of a MORT organism that again fucks everything up, so it might be logically necessary that the anti-MORT organism knows in advance what MORT organisms ultimately end up doing, and react to the presence of MORT organisms with severe hostility and probably exterminate the entire population before it can proliferate to the point where it becomes unmanagable.
I enjoyed your thought experiment.
I believe some reptiles can change sexes as the environment dictates, and some can even produce offspring without sex when times are really tough.
Removing the pleasure of and need for sex would probably reduce mental aguish and suffering in the world by 95%, at least for one of the sexes.
It’s probably not hard to evolve a behavior that kills anything with a god. The opposite behavior of killing anything with a different god or no god evolved with ease when behaviorally modern humans emerged.
Hello J. Doe,
Thank you for this very interesting excursion! I couldn’t help but wonder if nature/evolution has already produced such creatures in our distant past, none other than the myriad dinosaur species which dominated this planet for 150 million years, and I argue that there are life forms that walk (or swim) amongst us now that may have transcended MORT with full consciousness.
Here I thank whoever it was (and I am sorry to have forgotten, maybe it was niko?) who recommended that we divert ourselves in the Prehistoric Planet series–I finally got around to that and enjoyed it so much, had to pinch myself that it wasn’t really a filmed doco! And while I’m at it, David Attenborough has just turned 100, what a life he’s having, it must actually be heartwrenching to have lived long enough and in the right era to witness our planet’s spectacular decline and know that your own species was responsible.
Anyway, it’s just a thought, not one that we could ever prove of course, that some dinosaurs did achieve consciousness in their long unbroken time of development. Some had the requisite body morphology to utilise tools with free (although seemingly vestigial) upper limbs, although they were already so perfectly adapted that perhaps tool use was not necessary for their survival. Although egg layers, some are portrayed as devoted parents (speculative?) but I don’t see how this would preclude your narrative, nor does the hypothesis that many species did live in groups.Perhaps I am completely biased after watching that computer generated series and even more crazy by anthropomorphizing over it, but you can’t help but wonder if these living beings had an inner dimension in addition to their very successful survival mechanism.
I understand that you are highlighting the idea that this hypothetical organism doesn’t have the emotional lability to cause a MORT complex as developed in H sapiens with subsequent behavioural sequelae. But as long as having and feeling emotion, and developing theory of mind doesn’t lead to any longstanding ecologically imbalanced action, then even if they do succumb to MORT, their evolutionary path naturally would look very different to ours. This could be because they have intellectually overcome emotions (as some human Masters have done) or because they don’t have the physiology to action more complex behaviour on their emotions, or both.
For example, in the case of elephants and dolphins, neither have the anatomy to create or finely manipulate advanced tools, lacking opposable thumbs and such. More obviously, one lives in water and thus cannot even access fire, much less maintain it. The entity previously known as paqnation and I had a great exchange on this in his legendary fire debut essay. However, with all our observations to date, I think it would be incredulous not to believe that these species have some, if not highly developed, inner awareness. They may even have an entire world view that centres around an understanding of death, and perhaps a concept of a creator or universal greater force. But because we cannot enter their minds (and this is true for all even of the same species, one can never be completely sure what the other is thinking or feeling, we can only extrapolate based on our receptive input means) and their language and nuances of communication are largely hidden from us, we can never know.
But yes, your reptiliod rendition is very attractive indeed, if only I had the eyes of the same species! Oh wait, you have made them asexual, but still, I’m sure they would be great friends if they ever happened to meet in the same cave. I can envisage their daily existence as noble hermit sages, being at one with the universe.
Namaste and all the best, friend.
There’s a new BBC documentary out to celebrate Attenborough’s 100th birthday.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002w132
You can download it here:
https://thepiratebay10.xyz/search/David%20Attenborough's%20100%20Years%20on%20Planet%20Earth/1/99/0
I am not a biologist, just a bit biology-adjacent due to my background in chemistry, so I can’t really comment in any qualified way that goes beyond (somewhat informed) speculation.
I see several angles that allow something like MORT to happen, and emotions generally seem to be at the center of each.
Varki’s core argument seems to be that full understanding of death would cause fear paralysis in beings that are susceptible to that. Removing that susceptibility, if feasible, seems like a straightforward way. Some argue that fear is too useful evolutionarily to completely ditch it, but I would argue that a sufficiently intelligent organism doesn’t gain anything from being afraid – if the brain operates accurately and swiftly enough, then a purely rational real-time risk-assessment would be enough to ensure survival; e. g. you do not need to be afraid of a tyranno saurus, you just need to know that something much larger, much faster and much stronger than you is probably something you would want to avoid if you do not want to die. My best guess is that the fear-route is easier to arrange for and thus happens far more frequently than the alternative.
I just can’t help but feel that a being that has no fear, but a capacity for joy might still end up MORTified, not out of a fear of death, but because selective attention to “feels good” will make it reproduce faster than a being without that particular setup, ultimately outnumbering them. So just removing the capacity for fear might not be sufficient to avoid MORT; hence, I went for the more radical removal of all emotional capacity (even though I do confess I am a bit biased here, as a schizoid myself, my entire emotional processing is extremely flat and I can’t help but muse that it helps in being able to really process what Dr. Varki is saying – or anything else, for that matter. Emotional beings tend to recoil when something they encounter does not align with their established internal affective states, and then proceed to mind-over-reality all over it to reframe, ignore or trivialize.
Given that the majority of all organisms known do not have brains and probably no feelings, either (evolutionarily, if we assume that feelings require very specific brain structures and biochemistries, then emotions came very, very late in the history of life, AIs I talked to about this estimate that of all lifeforms ever, only 1% have emotions (typically social mammalian organisms, it’s a bit unclearer with things like worms, insects, spiders etc.)
But that tells us that life without emotions seems like the norm, with emotional beings being the “deviant” ones.
At least, that is my thought process behind it.
The second option, that MORT can establish itself in emotional beings even when they have selective fear suppression, would imply that you can end up with anti-MORT and MORT lifeforms at the same time (mathematically unlikely, but at least plausible, in my humble opinion), but the MORT lifeform would very likely out-compete the anti-MORT organism, at least on this planet (it might be different in a place where humans were not the apex predator and where holding false beliefs was far, far more lethal than on earth).
But I agree, and have often said so myself, that consciousness is ultimately a very tricky, if not impossible, research subject, because an individual seems to only ever be able to have access to its own phenomology, e. g. the way it experiences its inner world and whatever external stimuli its sensory organs hand over to its brain. Scientifically, we are limited to mere inference, my personal favourite are imaging techniques of brain activity (certain patterns seem to correlate with reported emotional states, that’s something to work with that is actually testable in a laboratory; problem is we don’t have any dinosaurs to put into an fmri-device or what not to see what their brains do when they get agitated or confronted with death)
A question that immediately comes to my mind in this context: if a carnivorous dinosaur fully understands death (and suffering), would it become depressed because it can only sustain its own life by ending the lives of other sentient beings? If it has not just cognitive understanding, but also affective empathy (mirror neurons that copy-paste the observed emotional states of other organisms into itself), it might simply stop eating, reproducing and goes extinct, which then would fail to stabilize that combination in the gene pool (which could be solved through denial, when it simply ignores the suffering it causes).
I’ll probably feed these thoughts to a few AIs, just to see what they “think” about it.
I love your reptiloid. I volunteer my brain as a guinea pig for your Island of Doctor Moreau.
For some reason this thread has put me in mood for old school Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
I mean, I have nothing against splicing an onion with spider and tick genes with a dash of human brain genes, I just find it mildly disturbing that the result has four legs (arachnids have eight), so what happened to the other half???
Addendum: I have to add that spider legs are a terrible choice if you want to slice-and-dice with those appendages like the spider onion in your video. If that’s your thing, I would rather recommend Mantis Shrimp genes:
Addendum II: Of course, if you are against genetic engineering because you are Christ and consider biological creation perfect as is, then splicing Mantis Genes into you to get slicey-dicey-stabby arms is a no-go. But fear not, there is a new, more modern religion called Techno-Optimism which has you covered! Say no to genetic editing and embrace human augmentation instead! Here they are, the MANTIS BLADE ARM PROSTHETICS – GUARANTEED GENE-FREE!!!
Last call for limericks. I’ll start the voting tomorrow.
Peak oil boys & girls today.
Skip to 11:55 for Steve St. Angelo’s presentation on the bitcoin scam and why the AI bubble will soon pop due to unprofitability and energy scarcity.
That’s good news for me because hard drives, both mechanical and SSD, plus RAM memory for a desktop computer upgrade I’d like to build, are unaffordable or unavailable today.
Hoping we get a brief period of fire sales before CACTUS makes everything unavailable.
Excellent peak oil presentation from Charlie Hall, as are most of his, except for the last 30 seconds where he states the possible solution is geothermal, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t believe it himself.
I think he just puts it in to appease others. I think his “This is where you die” line from a prior slide is his real belief..
I suspect Charlie Hall would be right at home here at un-denial, but has to keep up a semblance of ‘hope’ to stay relevant among all those that have a major investment in denial..
Dr. Hall’s presentation was very good and starts at 56:20.
I’ve listened to a lot of talks by Dr. Hall over the last 20 years and this was the best that I can recall.
I liked the focus on food. It will be central to our CACTUS future.
What a lovable curmudgeon Dr. Hall presents to be! I got a kick out of his endearing frustration with the computer system, backseat driving of the slide presentation, and solemn pronouncement of this is when you die. Now in his 80s as one of the modern grandfathers of the peak oil movement, his wealth of knowledge and experience are amazing. So interesting about the natural gradients for different crops in maximizing food production, makes perfect sense that different plant species developed niche habitat. The longer days in the temperate climate growing season make sense for increased PV energy conversion into carbohydrates for better yield, but the tropics with the year round warmth make it up with multiple crops per year. The take-home message for me (not that it needed any emphasizing) was just how reliant we are on fossil fuels for feeding the world. We really must get more used to the idea that lots of people will die from sustained severe calorie restriction syndrome (aka starvation) and not just in already desperate countries in Africa.
It’s been a little while since I posted some photos of our place–the famous Limerick festival was partially to blame. With all this talk of Cactus and starvation, did you know that we are growing a species of edible cactus which you may or may not know as dragonfruit (David H here will give the botanical name of Pitaya). The fruit is delicious, a juicy many seeded thing which kind of looks like a pink or green hand grenade when ripe and the flesh can be different shades of magenta, yellow or white. It’s so hard to describe the taste and texture, maybe like a mild honeydew melon but with tons of tiny edible black seeds that give it a slight crunch. Sorry I didn’t take a recent photo of the fruit (usually I just inhale them). The cactus originates from South America and is a tree climbing cactus, attaching itself to the trunk and branches by roots and long branched arms. They are water-loving cacti so that’s a reason they do pretty well here in the wet tropics. This photo shows young dragonfruit plants which are grown up along a trellis structure we made from reinforcing concrete mesh. We used some bamboo slats to help train it vertically, and also provide a bit of shade to the young plants. It might be another year or so before these plants are productive. The great thing about cacti is you can increase your plantings just by taking a section of stem and poke it into the ground where most likely it will take root. The other common edible cactus you may well know is the prickly pear but that has been declared a noxious weed in Australia so I don’t grow it. So you can have your Cactus and eat it too!
Namaste, friends.
I wanted to watch this, but atm it feels a bit like homework and i am glad for your summary, but may get to it. We have a bag of frozen dragonfruit chunks in the freezer, Lee puts them on breakfast bowls and in smoothies, the color is remarkable, so pretty. I hope they flourish up that impressive looking structure!
Christ, you’re evil.
https://energyskeptic.com/2026/the-staggering-destruction-of-knowledge-by-christians-in-the-roman-empire/
Another way to look at this is that Christianity and its holding power was a force for good in that it destroyed progressive thinking and kept us in a dark age of more or less sustainability within overshoot limits. Anything stepping out of that sphere that wanted to escalate to new knowledge (that would head towards overshoot) should be destroyed.
Not that I believe that was the intent but the function was there. Technology should always be suppressed if it leads to overshoot. We apes are just to dopamine driven.
Opinions all over the map on what happens next.
I lean to Wilkerson’s and Berman’s view that US will soon attack again and Iran will successfully retaliate with help from China and Russia.
Which will be bad from a CACTUS prespective.
I wonder if the US knows the entire world is mocking it?
Apparently the Saudi’s and Qatar banned US military to fly in their airspace to enforce project freedom (of a brain). This is a huge shift if true. Too much damage done. The US maybe forced to turn over the table and run.
I read today but don’t know if it’s true that Saudi’s have flipped and are again permitting use of their airspace.
It’s gong show chaos and no one knows what’s really going on.
Drill baby drill.
Very good, thanks!
It’s amazing that biology and geology collaborated to create and bury oil 10,000 feet underground.
Think of how much life had to grow and die, and the geologic forces required to bury it.
Think of how much carbon was sucked out of the atmosphere and removed from the carbon cycle.
This made me laugh. Very clever at generating new revenue streams those Iranians.
China, Russia, and now Iran is showing the world that there is another path forward rather than the zero sum stance of the US hegemony which has left trails of destruction all around the globe. What a brilliant diplomatic stroke to offer aide to the vessels entrapped due to this illegitimate war of choice. On one hand, the US offers brutish threats, blockades, and outright priracy, and now Iran plays the gracious host. I note that in this missive there is no concrete mention of payment (seeing as all vessels will eventually have to pay the Strait of Hormuz passage fee), at least for now. After all, in many Asian cultures, the guest is god.
Good on the Iranians for what may be a thinly veiled disguise to enrich their coffers, at least the offer is a very pragmatic gesture given the dire situation for the stranded vessels and done with refinement rather than the daily crass bombast from DJT.
I reckon they must be so desperate to get off those ships they will readily take up the Iranian offer, payment or not. It is pretty hilarious and true to form, that they step in afterwards and do exactly what US could not.
Thoughts in the morning:
The Industrial Civilization Bullshit Machine (ICBM) inevitably destroys its own natural foundations because it strives for unlimited economic growth on a finite planet.
As CACTUS proves, It is heading toward ecological, energetical and social collapse.
Without Mort and denial, the ICBM could not exist, and neither would we here at un-denial.
We are children of the ICBM, which has attached itself to the ecosystem like a parasite through a one-way party. Denial is just as necessary for the ICBM as fossil fuels.
The ICBM is our habitat!
Shouldn’t we advocate for un-un-denial?
For many years I thought the first step towards doing something useful about overshoot was to achieve broad awareness of MORT.
Then after making zero progress, I realized MORT predicts MORT will be denied, and therefore if MORT is true, there will never be broad awareness of MORT.
Then Hideaway explained CACTUS which says modernity is not possible without overshoot and a crash. There is no such thing as sustainable modernity, nor any way to safely climb down to a simpler smaller level.
So where does that leave us?
We are a tiny group of people that understands what is going on and why, and we understand there is nothing that can be done other than to try to make more people aware of CACTUS, so we do not reduce the time that remains for modernity by doing something really stupid, like attacking Iran when doing so will make things worse for everyone including the attacker.
Would you agree that industrial civilization would not have developed without Mort?
We would not be behaviorally modern humans with an extended theory of mind if we had not achieved MORT, so I agree there would be no industrial civilization without MORT.
…and as a result, there would be very few humans. Approximately less than 500 million!?
…and I would have died of pneumonia as a toddler without antibiotics!
There’s a lot of strange facts that smell like luck that were required to enable life and IC.
Like for example, a couple cubic kilometers of oil that was buried and preserved.
Or the fact that solid water is less dense than liquid water and therefore floats.
Keep on pushing – we have to carry on!
Good song and video.
Another artist that I need to add to my library.
going to see him this summer in Bonn!
Nice.
The deep green philosophy adds third point to this.
Good point, although I doubt Trump has deep green goals.
I understand degrowth is impossible, but it would have been nice with some simple healthcare.
I know it wont happen.
traditional socieities normally have some sorts of helathcare, espcially herbalism. But yea you wouldnt be getting a hip replacement in old agre or that cancer chemo. Something I have observed is that once you start getting modern medicine interventions, you often need more. As a person in my 30s, I am thinking about what i can do to avoid needing future surgergies, as these may not be avialable at all when I am say 70 – if i live that long. Eg not wrecking my joints so I dont get arthritis
An analysis of Richard Medhurst’s theory. (h/t C&E comments for the link)
I’m not smart enough to know if this is good critique. But I’m assuming it is.
When Richard first put out his theory, I felt relief because hey, USA is gonna be even stronger. But then Rob had to crush that hopium.
https://substack.com/@elinaxenophontos/note/c-254752625?r=u4dr&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
ps. Flippr’s cheating on us.😊 He took his fine limerick talents over to that site. (good one Flip)
There once was a gent named Pan,
And a brilliant website he ran,
Climate disruptions,
Financial eruptions,
Keeping us informed, he is the man!
pss. Now that my garden is producing mass quantities of food, I’ve had to up my security. Mr Zeus now patrols in 12 hour shifts instead of 8.
You’ve got a nice crop coming. Well done.
Flipper spreading the Limerick joy/madness!
That dry heat of AZ looks like it is great for toms and capsicum – well done. And even more embodied heat radiating in from the solid cement wall – are they common where you are, or just your place? You could go crazy with climbing beans up them as well.
You know your craft well. Tomatoes and peppers are the only things we’ve ever been good at growing. Never tried the climbing beans.
Yeah, cement walls are very common in AZ.
Europe is not only facing military threats, which are discussed below, it also faces the risk of AMOC collapse.
A map showing the latitude of European capitals compared to North America for reference of what Europe’s climate might be like without the AMOC.
One day. The latest US military plan lasted one day before being cancelled.
Can you imagine what the grunts think of their leaders?
You can’t make this shit up.
What a truly enlightened human being. He is known for his uncompromising integrity and his benevolent leadership has improved the lives of people in the US and around the world. He also has a deep respect for nature and a strong commitment to protecting the environment. /s
On the German “gelbes forum,” some user are predicting shortterm “blows” from Russia, because the Russias leaders are losing their temper due to aggression from Western Europe:
https://www.dasgelbeforum.net/index.php?id=684189
„The time for announcements is just ending –
There will be one final, unambiguously clear “announcement”,
which has already been announced in the international Russian media for May 9th.
This will only be followed by short-term , concrete warnings about increasingly intense, precisely targeted, dynamic physical strikes.
Because this won’t be a war—it will be a brawl with a predetermined outcome and winner. (This is one of the reasons for the long delay…)
Because there will be no further major military power on this planet, certainly not a ‘European’ one led by megalomaniacal and megalomaniacal, crazy German (though there are others, and the agitators in the background) would-be Hitler heirs.
The threshold for a “return” has passed with the “last unambiguous clear statement”; in the meantime, ALL of Russia’s red lines have been crossed.
Because Russia now faces an existential threat from a militarily active(!) aggressive(!) bloc of enemies.
Only a historically short period of time will remain until the “shutdown” of Western Europe, the sending of this part of ‘Western’ civilization into a struggle with itself for the bare survival of the people who will then only be living in it.
The Ukraine “war” has thus become history, with the exception of final, orderly elimination and cleansing actions on the territory of the then-dissolved SMO.
From a tactical and strategic point of view, the Russian armed forces are therefore suddenly “only” facing the European part of our democratic West.
For the USA, based on Russian indications and wise foresight , has clearly signaled its, at least provisional, strategic restraint with the declaration of a troop reduction, which was completely misunderstood and infantilely misinterpreted by the Western Europeans.
They will therefore closely follow and analyze the actions of the extremely annoyed
Russian bear – but nothing more.
The American troops remaining in Europe during this phase will, so to speak, act more or less as neutral election observers –
they will experience the consequences of the election, which has impacted Western Europe militarily, firsthand and directly,
and if necessary, “as required,” in the interests of perfidious Albion, they will be able to exert some influence on individual aspects.
Nothing more, but also nothing less.
Summary of the process:
– The very last, unambiguous announcement: Putin’s speech on May 9, 2026 (the biggest imaginable one!)
– Meeting of Xi with Trump (meeting of the geopolitical “referees” / frame-setters)
– Waiting for the right moment to shoot off, no, ON the bow of Western Europe.
Anyone who wants to see how a pile of chickens scatters when an angry bear suddenly sticks its paw into the coop –
have lots of fun with it!”
MausS
el mar, given CACTUS forces do you think western Europe will succeed in building up their militaries enough to attack Russia?
No, we are in decline. There is a shortage of money everywhere. Costs are rising and revenues are falling, which is largely due to the energy crisis of our own making. We are at the mercy of America, and in my opinion, the hostility toward Russia is being orchestrated for geopolitical reasons by the powers pulling the strings behind the scenes in the U.S. and Israel.
We cannot go to war, but we can continue to provoke under the umbrella of NATO and facilitate drone strikes. It is possible that we will soon get a few slaps in the face from Russia as a result.
Something hardly anyone is aware of. If Germany, as the EU’s paymaster, fails and all EU member states fall into decline, conflicts within the EU will flare up again. In my opinion, the EU will fall apart.
Thanks.
I think the EU was created primarily as a means for small European countries to pool assets and risks so they can borrow more money to prop up their lifestyles.
This works when growth is possible and debt limits have not been
reached.
When growth stops, I imagine the EU will unravel back to small states fighting with each other.
Interesting. Awareness of coming famine and scarcity caused by the Iran war is spreading out of the doomer community.
Really good interview.
New video from a channel (I think) Christ told us about a while ago.
She discusses the fossil fuel dependency of small farms which she recently started working for.
Seems to know what she’s talking about. Very good primer for people unfamiliar with farming.
Part one was yesterday and is worth watching. I’ll watch this tonight.
ps. Forget about paqnation, you just accidentally created my new handle name. From this point on I will be known as Christ.😂
Yes that’s brilliant 😂🤣
LOL, I was kidding at first. But its official, paqnation’s dead.
😂 😂 😂
So good. 😀
Oh just great. My little brother turns 50 (yes, everyone, he’s officially a half-century just a few days ago and apparently his ego wasn’t big enough to tell us that so we could all wish him a happy birthday!) and suddenly he thinks he’s JC. Maybe an unfortunate side effect of severe TDS is that one starts to pick up some traits of the person one loathes? Don’t ask me to explain where the entity previously known as paqnation gets this from, hate to burst any preconceptions but we’re actually not really genetically related.
Here’s a case where an American saying beats out Aussie slang–and so appropriate to exclaim here “Jesus H Christ in a Chicken Basket!” Hey little brother, don’t expect me to be calling you Christ when I get to speak to you for the first time and sort you out good and proper.
And another thing–I can’t stand that my post is labeled as a reply to Christ! As if I am praying to him now! Oooooh, he needs a good spanking! (50 slaps!)
LOL. I’ve got another bonus for you. The value of getting a thumbs up from me just went through the roof. Instead of a regular old Joe Schmo “like”, you get an actual blessing from Christ himself.😂
Sweet Jesus, please forgive me for my spelling mistake.
You are forgiven my son. And because you are responsible for this happy accident, just know this:
You got a friend in Jesus
So you know that when you die
I’m gonna set you up
with the spirit in the sky
this is too good! Please bless me Christ Almighty 🤣
Ask and ye shall receive.
LOL, good lord! With one innocent keystroke typo, Rob created a Frankenstein monster.
There is a saying in this country, that explains a lot about calling BS on something else.
It goes like this.. Jesus F@#$%^g ChrisT…
I put the capital T in as it’s appropriate for your new name and does separate you from the guy from a couple of thousand years ago…
LOL. Too late. My cult followers demand the small t. And they like the fire pic being right next to it for the subliminal messaging. 😂
I am assuming you want us to pronounce it like Kristy.
I don’t mind. But just know that it’s risky business. The punishment for mocking thy Lord’s name is H-E-double hockey sticks.😂
el mar,
Your country Germany is collapsing because people aren’t having babies, not because it has no oil and gas and burned its bridges (and pipelines) with Russia.
All you need to do is have more sex. 🙁
I find it interesting that as soon as population starts to decline in a few countries, we start getting flooded with pro-natalist propaganda, even though we in severe overshoot and are adding 80 million people (roughly the population of Germany) every year.
MORT is amazing. That’s why I started this site. 🙂
I think the main contributing factor to population decline is that in many developed countries young people want to live in a handful of urban population centers that are incredibly expensive and very inconvenient to have children in. I have cousins who are around my age who make half as much as I do, but live in the midwest where after adjusting for cost of living they have an arguably higher quality of life (I’ve always found it depressing there, but they have huge houses and new cars). It is inarguably easier to have kids there though, with larger properties, more tightly bound communities & families that can provide lower cost childcare, babysitting, etc.
There’s a values component as well, many people in the midwest are more religious or traditional, but i think this is sort of an specious cover for another reason, which is that there’s not as much to do there and having a large family occupies their time. They really do enjoy being parents, and it’s relatively easy to do it there. Compare that to large cities where people are have more demanding jobs, smaller houses or apartments, more things to do in their free time, and its no wonder they put off having kids. My cousins though don’t have nearly as much to do, it’s a 3 hour drive to the nearest medium sized city, so after getting married they mostly just hang out at home or with their friends who all have kids of their own, which in turn encourages them to have kids.
I suspect you’re right Felix.
Many wise people have said if you want to understand something start by following the money.
A interesting comparison from old days before contraceptives. Cities was a population sink. Historically, cities acted as population “sinks,” where death rates exceeded birth rates due to disease, poor sanitation, and malnutrition, requiring constant migration from rural areas to maintain population levels. This trend lasted until the late 18th to mid-19th century, when improved sanitation and nutrition allowed cities to sustain their own growth
Rob, you’re right. We should have more sex in Germany.
Sorry, I didn’t get out of bed on time today and I’m running a little late!
I like #15 because it combines MORT and CACTUS which are the cores of this site.
Here’s my #15A edit:
Mind Over Reality Transition
Created our overshoot position
Denied from the start
With no way to depart
From our CACTUS destination
Very good! I like that it brings in Overshoot as well. More precise and tells a bigger story.
#15A Another variation:
Mind Over Reality Transition
Kickstarted our overshoot condition
Denied from the start
With no way to depart
From our fated CACTUS fruition
And one more new one:
Denial is the name of the game
Everywhere we look it’s the same
The planet is trashed
While we all worship cash
It’s true, the whole world is insane
LOL, take a wild guess who wrote that?
https://indi.ca/how-white-empire-theory-explains-american-foreign-policy/
My big picture reality awareness got me to see that it’s incorrect and narrow-minded. Yes, IMO, whiteness is at the top when it comes to being despicable, atrocities, evil, etc… but it’s probably more about it being the most recent (last 500 years) history so we have more details than prior. And besides, it’s still just the blob doing what the blob does best… Steady Blobbin’
ps. Haven’t listened to that song in 20 years. This lyric had me cracking up:
Fuck PacTel, moved to Sky Pager
LOL,1990s pager culture wars… the good old days.
LOL I guessed Indi without looking at your link. He’s the king of righteous rants. I wish he would drop by here and widen his awareness of reality.
You’ve inspired me to add some Ice Cube to the music library I’m building for the day the internet goes down for good.
I’ve been listening to him since I posted this. Get the early stuff. By far his best work.
AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted (1990)
Kill at Will (1990)
Death Certificate (1991)
The Predator (1992)
Lethal Injection (1993)
Done, plus his Greatest Hits album.
I knew immdiately who it was 😉
I nod my head along with what he says, and felt that sting or shame of whiteness from a young age, but I think your analysis is correct, it’s just the most recent incarnation of the blob, though I still hold onto something that cannot condemn the whole human species outright, just what happens when we get into groups.
I have lost audio on my laptop, something that has happened before and corrected itself, but it’s been a few days now and I can only listen to something if I cast it to the TV or put my buds in. In the past I leave it off few a a couple of days, then turn it back on and the internal speakers are restored. So if I am offline for a bit, you know that’s the reason. Which is silly and superstitions reason, but it worked before!
Sorry if I sound like your internet service provider help desk, but have you tried restarting your computer?
Also double check the system volume to make sure you did not accidentally turn it down, and check the mute button to make sure you did not accidentally press it.
ha ha – that’s ok Rob, I worked in that job for a while (hard to believe now) helping people with their computer problems, in the early 2000s. Yes turning it off and on again (restart and complete shut donw), is the only thing that has fixed it in the past. It’s not on mute, and the sound works fine with my buds in, it’s just the internal audio that gets stuck somehow. Nothing else I have tried in the past has fixed it, other than not using it for a few days. I have got it sitting on a cooling rack on my lap, on a book, Gaia’s trick for it not overheating. The battery is also now kaput, and only works when plugged in. I really should replace it, but i keep hoping it will last long ‘enough’.
put the buds in = great song, havin’ a chair groove…
Sky pager = ha ha, I also worked in a paging centre for a while, and i had to read back the paging messages to people to confirm I heard what they said, then type it in and send it off to the person with the pager.
There once was a system that grew
On old sunlight’s stores it withdrew
Yet growth couldn’t last
Once the limits were passed
And collapse came much sooner than due
Suggestion..
On old sunlight’s stores we went through
I like it, good idea!