tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post3941444013739171269..comments2024-02-20T13:32:06.704-05:00Comments on Resource Insights: The trouble with infrastructureKurt Cobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05330759091950742285noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-28754130624701302022017-05-17T03:55:06.685-04:002017-05-17T03:55:06.685-04:00Trump should divert the planned 54bn dollar increa...Trump should divert the planned 54bn dollar increase in military spending to infrastructure. Don19https://www.blogger.com/profile/05955676272366296870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-38180084365641339902017-05-15T12:03:06.550-04:002017-05-15T12:03:06.550-04:00we are locked into the certainty that we can go on...<br />we are locked into the certainty that we can go on draining the biosphere of everything we need to support our comfortable existence<br /><br />that's really the meaning behind this article.<br /><br />the means to support ourselves is draining away, and most of us cant accept that it is--instead we expect everything to be 'fixed' not realising that the ultimate price for that is paid in energy.<br /><br />not the cheap energy our infrastructure was built with, but expensive energy which is all we have now<br /><br />https://extranewsfeed.com/an-infinity-of-futility-819630ea935fAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13471954030647552113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-24438886829395180142017-05-15T09:12:12.825-04:002017-05-15T09:12:12.825-04:00The burdensome infrastructure argument is essentia...The burdensome infrastructure argument is essentially made by Joseph Tainter in his book <i>The Collapse of Complex Societies</i>. It is worth a read: https://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Complex-Societies-Studies-Archaeology/dp/052138673X<br /><br />I argue that this argument focuses too heavily on a single cause as the straw breaking the camel's back: remember the entire hay bale on the poor creature's back that was there first. If a society and economy are functioning well, they can support a complex and burdensome infrastructure, but if they are facing other problems in addition to infrastructure decay, it can become a major factor leading to decline. (See more here https://www.amazon.com/Why-Did-Ancient-Civilizations-Fail/dp/1629582832/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494853811&sr=8-1&keywords=why+did+ancient+civilizations+fail)<br /><br />Interesting article!<br />lowtechinstitutehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07022961792124360521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-62210284442216997772017-05-14T23:24:42.349-04:002017-05-14T23:24:42.349-04:00Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns has been hammering aw...Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns has been hammering away at the infrastructure cult that holds sway in the U.S.; I think you would enjoy browsing his site. https://www.strongtowns.org/the-growth-ponzi-scheme/gwbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03479656625355678791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-88437480841812965962017-05-14T14:31:03.815-04:002017-05-14T14:31:03.815-04:00I can't help but think of scenes from the dyst...I can't help but think of scenes from the dystopian film "Brazil" by Terry Gilliam with amazing scenes of dysfunctional infrastructure falling apart. From then on I'd see the third world though the lens of this film as a "falling apartness" seemed part and parcel of what being a poor nation meant. But now we too are becoming "Brazil". With an excess abundance of oil gone, the stagnant peak since 2005 has manifested itself as increasing infrastructure decay and poverty. It's as if civilization had cancer but didn't know it because the rusty pipes and rebar are mostly visible in poverty-stricken areas most of us never see.energyskeptichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16746681628705632150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861605.post-37141147796917222952017-05-14T12:24:33.284-04:002017-05-14T12:24:33.284-04:00This is a collapse, but perhaps not a rapid one.
...<i>This is a collapse, but perhaps not a rapid one.</i><br /><br />Perhaps, but a slow grinding collapse should not be assumed. <i>Limits to Growth</i> did not take into account the world financial system, only physical processes. It is probable that the global market economy cannot tolerate continuous recession without being subject to rapid failure from a debt default and deflation feedback cycle. If so, supply chains could whither virtually overnight. Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01251330546889158364noreply@blogger.com