So I’d recommend seeing the movie Collapse. Its got me thinking a lot lately and I am trying to balance my ‘gut feeling’ that takes its prescriptions seriously, with a balanced and restrained skepticism. I do however think there is some truth in what the protagonist of the film advocates (”Michael Ruppert, a police officer turned independent reporter who predicted the current financial crisis in his self-published newsletter, From the Wilderness” – From IMDB) .

He describes what he considers to be the inevitable ‘collapse’ of government and economic stability as we know it now, and specifically in this country.   He bases this fear on the diminishing amount of oil (as we are probably past peak oil), a product  basically is used in everything from generic energy, to physical products we construct, to growing food and cultivating agriculture, and of course fueling transportation. He imagines the subsequent consequences of hyperinflation and the devaluing of our current conception of currency and goods exchange. While hes not advocating collapse into a bleak apocalypse of no hope (as in Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’), he is suggesting that there will be a very ‘bumpy’ transition period as the human race begins and embraces a new paradigm of existence and society. In this, one will have to act and change to survive.

NOW. I’m not sure how to decipher this doom scenario. I’m skeptical of my own intuition to trust this, but scientifically I think he’s making many verified assertions. It does not feel to me like the often very dubious chatter of the 9/11 conspiracy community and its brethren. And his recommendations make sense to a certain extent. I should be able to know how to protect myself, and how to grow food, and about first aid / homeopathic medicine.

I guess, I am also sympathetic to what he philosophically embraces and projects in how one should face challenge and life in crisis. He wants one to attack life with fervor, humility, spirit, a belief in one’s own survival, and passion for living.  I very much like this mindset. I also like his prescriptions for preparedness. They don’t seem as irrational as most conspiracy and future fear-mongering strikes me. I do not think wants you to build a bunker. He says get gold if you can, learn how to grow food and prepare your land to grow food among other things.  Think about how it might happen, and consider the science of the problem. Do not be afraid to accept bleak truths and prepare because of them. So I’m at a point where I’m considering an individual education and training of certain skills and knowledge I don’t have.

STILL. There is a suspect and silly side of the survival obsession. Watch the video above, I think it nails it down perfectly.  With this in mind however, denial is often silly as well. We have seen this first hand in the contemporary inability to accept and adapt to the climate change problem effectively, in a timely fashion, and with possibly extreme consequences because of it.

SO. Where am I at? Well – see the movie and tell me what you think. I’d like to have a conversation on this topic that is scientific, rational, and open-minded. I do think there is probably a way to have a balanced reaction while still accepting the validity of such a enormous and bleak assertion as possible. Perhaps this reasonable reaction is to carry on one’s normal life and actions, with hopes and future planning for the possibility of it being a very flawed projection. Nevertheless, it seems useful to develop skills that have utility in either way and an honest conceptual framework for the possibility of disaster, and a plan if that possibility materializes.

What do you think, do I sound like I’ve lost my grip?