Chapter 15

This passage from Chapter 15 reminds me of the book Earth Abides that I briefly mentioned earlier:

"Putting the worst first: two-thirds of everybody dies. The complex web of fertilizer, fuel and machinery that makes agriculture possible in many parts of the world, and delivers the bounty of the ‘‘breadbaskets’’ to where enough food can’t be raised, falls apart. Cue the four horsemen. Without cheap energy, starvation, disease, and war are the inevitable results for most of the world’s population."

But what would wipe out 2/3 of the world's population? Worldwide floods? Huge solar flares? Aliens? The moon crashing into the planet? Drought? Illness? Nuclear war? Divine intervention? It's hard to imagine other than in the Hollywood block busters like Deep Impact and Independance Day and so forth.

And then agian, if the world becan in chaos and it ends in chaos, wouldn't it begin again?

I don't see the point in worrying that much about the future and the possible end of the world. I guess God wants to slam the moon into us or something like that then there really isn't anything that we can do about it. We can manage our own behavor and our role as "stewards" of the planet but we don't have control over a lot of big stuff.

Sumner writes that:

"Short version: The technical networks that make our lives possible
are complex, fragile and utterly dependent on cheap energy. The
social networks that make our lives possible are complex, fragile
and utterly dependent on cheap energy. Cheap energy is going to
end. Soon."

But we are getting lots of new ways to make energy (wind, water, hydrogen, bio fuel, and more). And I don't see how my relationship with my family and close friends is "utterly dependant" on cheap energy. I'm sure that if I had to convert to horseback, I'd still stay in touch with them even though it would be more difficult. Life would be different, that's for sure, but life would still go on.