Thank you.
http://c-realm.blogspot.com/
Reinventing Reality C-Realm Special
KMO welcomes Daniel Pinchbeck and Dmitry Orlov to the program to
discuss their visions of the challenges and opportunities that pesent
themselves in this liminal moment in human history. Might our economic
system be on the verge of collapse? Would that necessarily be a bad
thing? How might we reinvent ourselves and our society as we search for
a new guiding communal myth? Later, KMO talks with Corey Call about
the upcoming Coalessence Festival in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
Reality Sandwich:
http://www.realitysandwhich.com
Club Orlov:
http://cluborlov.blogspot.com
Coalessence Festival:
http://www.coalessencefest.com
Crossing the Event Horizon by Nassim Haramein
More links to come.
Episode 98: Beyond Civilized & Primitive
First, Dmitry Orlov, author of Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects, details the Collapse Party Platform: a list of initiatives that acknowledge the danger of collapse and, if implemented, would make near-future America a more livable place than the destination that political business-as-usual will produce. After that, Ran Prieur shines a harsh but instructive light of reality on a few cherished neo-primitivist fantasies.
Ran makes multiple references to 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann and describes it as a major influence on the ideas that he articulated in his essay, "Beyond Civilized and Primitive."
Episode 96: Kollapsnik & the Ripping Yarn
KMO talks first with James Howard Kunstler about his new novel, World Made By Hand. Next he speaks with Dmitry Orlov about the 5 stages of collapse and about his book, Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects, which has just been released. KMO closes the podcast with a reading on the difference between "breakdown" and "collapse" from Thomas Homer-Dixon's excellent book, The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization.
Dmitry Orlov mentioned two books during our conversation which figured prominently in the formation of his thoughts on collapse:
The Mountain People by Colin M. Turnbull
The Collapse of Complex Societies by Joseph Tainter
"C" stands for consciousness
Episode 72: The Long Emergency
KMO welcomes author Dmitry Orlov back to the program for a discussion of keeping people fed in times of turmoil and for a reading from Orlov’s soon-to-be-published book, Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects
. After that, James H. Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century
, drops by to talk about the fate of surburbia in the post-petroleum era.Dmitry Orlov appeared in C-Realm Podcast episodes twenty and twenty one.
Toward the end of this episode, I make reference to an interview that I heard with Michael Tsarion on Red Ice Radio.
Also, toward the end of the program, I read a passage from American Vulgar: The Politics of Manipulation Versus the Culture of Awareness
by Robert Grudin about physical and spiritual survival.I took the Terence McKenna clip that I played between the interviews with Dmitry Orlov and James H. Kunstler from Episode 119 of Lorenzo's Psychedelic Salon: "A Crisis in Consciousness." (No links because that page seems to be broken at the moment.)
I don't know how much of a response this sort of thing calls for. But,
since I am too tired to do anything actually creative, I might as well
ramble on a bit about this.
I have a question about the phrase "Peak Oil fantasies." I suppose
it's fine in the sense of fantasizing about what happens after the
economy crashes. I am more of an observer who draws analogies than a
fantasist, and I would like to guide the imagination of those who do
have to resort to fantasy to see the future, rather than to the past.
The other way to take it is to mean that Peak Oil is a fantasy. That's
more a question of figuring out whether or not global conventional oil
production peaked in 2005, and, if it did, figuring out if and for how
long non-conventional sources can cover the shortfall. I have to go by
what other people say, but maybe it did, and maybe the other stuff
won't hold up for very long. Do your own research.
Now, I wholeheartedly agree that just quietly preparing to watch a lot
of people die once their life support system goes on the blink is
monstrous. Those who see it coming have to do their best to raise an
alarm, no matter how belated or ineffectual, but they should certainly
stop just short of sounding like they are crazy, because that won't do
anyone any good.
Finally, I have a word of admonishment for those who go around saying
"We must do something!" When you say "We" in this context, I expect to
see a list - names, addresses, phone numbers, skill sets and
availability/allocation. When you say "do" - I want to see a Gantt
chart with dependencies and milestones. When you say "something" - I
want to see a list of deliverables. And I want to see a budget for the
whole thing, and an environmental impact statement. Got it? If not -
then go eat lunch.
Another non-starter I often run into is the strange notion that in
order to point out a problem (say, suburban drivers stranded and
starving due to lack of gas) one must also propose a solution to it.
It is not stipulated anywhere that all problems must have solutions. I
think the knee-jerk reaction of trying to solve every problem that
comes along is somehow instilled in college students, especially in
the sciences and engineering. Often, it is counterproductive to try
solving a problem without addressing its root causes (suburban sprawl,
car-dependence) because it helps perpetuate them, making the eventual
catastrophe even worse.
Underlying all of this nonsense is the notion that you can do anything
through diligence and hard work. My reading of history is that with
diligence and hard work you can pick a lot of cotton. But to strike
gold - like the Spaniards did in the Americas - requires viciousness
and dumb luck. The viciousness is never in short supply, but the luck
often is, and, without the luck, the viciousness is useless. And since
there is only so much luck to go around, on this Christmas eve, we
should all try to be a bit less vicious.
How's that for a Christmas encyclical?
-Dmitry
Dmitry Orlov is the author of the forthcoming Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects
.I interviewed Dmitry for episodes 20 and 21 of the C-Realm Podcast.
Due to evil vibrations in the technomagic field, you need to click on the link below to either download or stream this most recent episode of the C-Realm Podcast.
Link: http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/ent
In this 21st episode, we conclude the talk with Dmitry Orlov which includes a rough detour through singularitarian meme-space. After that we hear from Australian science writer Margaret Wertheim and talk about our evolving notions of space.
( Click here for more info. )
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autopope (whom I heard on NPR over the weekend)Article: Closing the 'Collapse Gap': the USSR was better prepared for peak oil than the US by Dmitry Orlov
Author, Dmitry Orlov, explains why economic and political collapse will hurt the residents of the US much worse than it affected the residents of the former Soviet Union.
Excerpt:
It is traumatic to go from having a big retirement fund to having no retirement fund because of a market crash. It is also traumatic to go from a high income to little or no income. If, on top of that, you have kept yourself incredibly busy, and suddenly have nothing to do, then you will really be in rough shape.
Economic collapse is about the worst possible time for someone to suffer a nervous breakdown, yet this is what often happens. The people who are most at risk psychologically are successful middle-aged men. When their career is suddenly over, their savings are gone, and their property worthless, much of their sense of self-worth is gone as well. They tend to drink themselves to death and commit suicide in disproportionate numbers. Since they tend to be the most experienced and capable people, this is a staggering loss to society.
If the economy, and your place within it, is really important to you, you will be really hurt when it goes away. You can cultivate an attitude of studied indifference, but it has to be more than just a conceit. You have to develop the lifestyle and the habits and the physical stamina to back it up. It takes a lot of creativity and effort to put together a fulfilling existence on the margins of society. After the collapse, these margins may turn out to be some of the best places to live.
- Mood:
hopeful
