Decade Forecast: The Downsizing Of Pax Americana

This about Futurism, tagged , , , , , , , was written by for on May 14, 2011 .14 Comments

This is the first post in a series of three, in which I will analyze the major trends that will define the next ten years and their likely impacts on global regions. To put these forecasts into context, I must first describe the narrative through which I view the history of the post-WW2 era (the […]

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” […]

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 […]

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 […]

Shifting Winds: The End Of Pax Americana

This about Geopolitics, tagged , , , , , , was written by for on September 19, 2009 .18 Comments

Every once in a while, there occurs a major shift in the international arena. The First World War and its consequences were the seminal change of the last century, collapsing ancient empires and ushering in a new era of ethno-nationalist clashes, political radicalism and emerging powers challenging the established order of Versailles, forces that were […]