The peak oil movement had another renaissance in the 2000s, but it went completely out of style about a decade ago. Most of the people who were aware of it like J.M. Greer, J.H. Kunstler and Dmitry Orlov, for example, just threw up their hands and stopped posting about it, because by that point no one outside of the subculture cared or intended to do anything about it. The “black pill” here, as I see it, is that we are just going to use it all up, whatever is accessible from the economic feasibility view anyway, and then suffer a traumatic economic disruption/contraction when it runs out.

Ever since Covid, by far the most money I have spent is on transport (gas) and food, apart from housing. Beyond that, most of my discretionary spending has been entirely on items that can be immediately used like clothes/outdoor wear, kitchen ware or books. I also try to buy whatever I can used, since there’s such an excess of unwanted stuff in consumer society that you usually can find things used. The next step would be more DIY projects for a range of things and accumulating hard skills instead of items, but I haven’t quite crossed that bridge yet. That would stand me in good stead for the future that’s actually coming, though.

The system has been broken for pretty much my entire adult life and I’m doing my part not to make the problems of our time worse.

I read Ages of Discord and it was very interesting. For example, he had kind of contrarian takes on the Great Depression (e.g. deflation was bad for the financial classes but actually helped the working and middle classes achieve broader prosperity). Which others would you recommend? A friend recommended Secular Cycles a long time ago but I haven’t got around to it yet.

I’m very sorry to hear that about Canada. I visited many times and it was not this bad, but it has been years. They sound like they are well into another stair-step down on the catabolic collapse curve. The USA is too, but not as obviously bad where I am, although the health care system is showing severe strain and will probably go into full blown collapse in a few years with the rate this is going. The Covid era was clearly the inflection point for this process.

Location: Upper Midwest, United States

A major climatic shift in late spring from the pattern of recent years. Since 2021, the pattern shifted as meteorological summer approached, with temperatures getting hotter, winds increasing, and drought setting in for the whole summer – this was repeated in '22 and '23. Now it is humid and stormy with the drought of the past years basically wiped out. I will continue to watch this trend.

Economically, the official story is that things are great. In reality, inflation clearly accelerated this year and leisure/hospitality seem much deader since about the end of last summer. Going out recently, establishments are quieter. It seems there’s a widening wealth gap because many people are still spending a lot while many others are pulling back.

Anecdotally, many complain of being unable to find work. But the mainstream says this is not happening.