On Future War

This about Futurism, tagged , , , was written by for on February 18, 2010 .18 Comments

This post is about the future of military technology and war strategy in a world of informatization, resource scarcity, and renewed ideological turbulence. Be forewarned: while some of what I write here corresponds to the conventional wisdom, some is well off the beaten tracks, and some will sound like it’s straight out of a sci-fi […]

Book Review: Donella Meadows et al. – Limits to Growth

This , about Futurism, tagged , , , , , was written by for , on February 16, 2010 .8 Comments

If I could recommend just one book to someone with a business-as-usual outlook, someone who believes human ingenuity and free markets will always bail us out of any resource scarcity or environmental problem, it would be Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update (henceforth LTG). After reading it, you may never look at the world in quite […]

China, The Last Superpower

This about Futurism, tagged , , , , , was written by for on February 7, 2010 .14 Comments

After two hundred years of global ascendancy, the West is in rapid relative decline to (re)emerging Asia, which is mounting a steady “Great Reconvergence”. Likewise, the legitimacy of today’s “neoliberal internationalist” order promoted by the West is being questioned by the more statist, neo-Westphalian visions of the leaders of the Rest, the so-called BRIC’s. This has already […]

Collapse Ethics: Anarchy or Coercion?

This about Futurism, tagged , , , , was written by for on February 4, 2010 .20 Comments

The reaction to my article on the “ecotechnic dictatorship” garnered a vigorous response on this blog, and more of a vitriolic one elsewhere (see below for a summary). So let’s ask the question outright. Suppose that all your observations and models indicated that business-as-usual would doom the global industrial system to collapse, causing the premature […]

Ecotechnic Dictatorship is Our Last Hope of Averting Collapse

This about Futurism, tagged , , , , , , was written by for on January 31, 2010 .40 Comments

As a follow-up to my article on the historical necessity of Green Communism, I would like to  1) refute some common myths and misconceptions about limits to growth-induced collapse, 2) clarify the concept of Green Communism, and 3) elucidate why the only realistic way to prevent collapse now is to force through a “sustainable retreat” […]

The Final Gambit: Geoengineering

This about Futurism, tagged , , was written by for on January 20, 2010 .6 Comments

It is very likely that efforts to prevent CO2 levels from soaring to 450ppm – the level we need to stop at to have any hope of limiting temperature rise to 2C or less – will fail. This will lead to a series of climatic “tipping points”, as Gaia’s stabilizing systems fail to check runaway […]

Green Communism

This about Futurism, tagged , , , , was written by for on January 4, 2010 .14 Comments

Thesis. The current capitalist-industrial System is incapable of surmounting the limits to growth on planet Earth because markets and technology, today’s salvation gospel, are no deus ex machina to the energy-and-pollution predicament of industrial civilization. Nor is this System in principle capable of preventing ecological overshoot because growth in physical throughput is the very basis of […]

The Deeper Meaning of Climategate

This about Futurism, tagged , , was written by for on December 1, 2009 .13 Comments

As someone who has stuck his neck out for the imminent reality of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) in both his real and online life, it would be fitting for me to comment on the Climatic Research Unit e-mail hacking incident (and as per usual, what was originally meant as a “comment” has blossomed into a […]

References: Peak Oil And Resource Depletion (up to 2010)

This about Futurism, tagged , , , , was written by for on November 30, 2009 .2 Comments

Although I have several articles on the threats posed to industrial civilization by runaway global warming and ecological degradation on Sublime Oblivion (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), I have yet to cover the Charybdis of resource depletion in as much detail (1, 2, 3, 4). As such, I have assembled many links to relevant […]

Europe, The Black Continent

This about Futurism, tagged , , was written by for on October 23, 2009 .No Comments

I am going to start off by looking at Europe, defined as the region under the influence of Western Christianity and/or the European Union (not Russia or Turkey, which will be covered in a later Eurasia Report). The Big Questions Demographic problems: aging, low fertility and Eurabia? The unsustainability of the modern welfare state? Cultural […]

Book Review: Vaclav Smil – Global Catastrophes and Trends

This about Futurism, tagged , , , , , was written by for , on September 28, 2009 .3 Comments

Smil, Vaclav – Global Catastrophes and Trends (2008) Category: futurism, climate change, geopolitics, catastrophes; Rating: 5/5 Summary: Google Books Vaclav Smil, an energy theorist and language connoisseur, brings his talents to bear on this idiosyncratic, incisive and balanced book on the global future. From the outset, he outlines his skepticism in universal theories of history […]

Documentary Review: BBC Global Dimming

This about Futurism, tagged , , was written by for , on June 28, 2009 .1 Comment

Not only is global warming a real and present threat that may yet in conjunction with impending energy shortages doom industrial civilization, it may have even been dangerously underestimated. “What have you been smoking!?,” you might say to me. Get off the doom train and enjoy the Sun. Unfortunately, we might not have much of […]