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Articles, Essays & Websites
Ideas, solutions, and people

  The power of accurate observation is frequently
called cynicism by those who don't have it. 
                                                        - George Bernard Shaw

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
                                               - Arthur Schopenhauer




Moving 0ff-the-grid
Unplugging from the grid and the rat race

Inspirational examples of people who have moved their homes and livelihoods off-grid.

Moving Off-the-Grid



Collapse of Civilizations
A collection of cautionary tales

Our culture is like an algae bloom. We are consuming all available resources and then we are going to drown in our own waste. And while some spiral down in a fetishistic orgy of conspicuous consumption others die for want of food & water, never mind education and medication.
                                                           - Sam Webster, M.Div

The articles and essays in the Collapse Section are offered not to disturb but rather as cautionary tales about what has happened in the past every time a society refused to heed the warning signs of resource depletion and environmental degradation. Both loom threateningly on the horizon for us.




Collapse of Societies

All civilizations come to an end eventually. The reasons can be resource depletion (i.e., Peak Oil), environmental degradation, or what is called "complexity", wherein the returns from maintaining the society diminish to the point where it's no longer worth the effort.

Civilization: A Second Look

This is an interesting series of essays on the downside of being a member of civilization. They are highly recommended for the fresh perspective they provide on what conditions might be like if there is collapse. If energy descent does revert life back to a simpler and less intense level, it maybe be for the better.

Parallel Social Networks

Due to growing concerns over energy descent, people have begun exploring alternative means of ensuring their survival if a collapse does occurs. This group of articles introduces the concept rhizome networks which can serve to replace our present top-down hierarchical modes of organization. Some of the essays cover the emergent interest in tribalism.


After-Culture: an Anthropology of the Future

An artistic vision of life approximately fifty to 100 years from now.



Memes
Powerful, contagious, and self-replicating ideas

Memes are contagious ideas, all competing for a share of our mind in a kind of Darwinian selection. As memes evolve, they become better and better at distracting and diverting us from whatever we'd really like to be doing with our lives. They are a kind of Drug of the Mind. Confused? Blame it on memes.
                                                                            - Richard Brodie

For society to adjust successfully to a different way of life in the power descent, it will require a new set of memes for the right way to live. Old memes such as "Neverending growth is the highest good" and "Social status is derived from the quantity one's material possessions" will need to be replaced with memes that promote sustainable lifestyles. It's becoming increasingly apparent that these old memes no longer serve us. The looming crisis which can be triggered by either energy descent, global warming, or both, presents us with an extraordinary opportunity to consciously create and adopt a new set of memes to live by.

Articles on memes.



Let us know about other writings which should be included here. Click to email a link.



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