5 ms·

I feel like I'm living in bizarro land. The lesson from a society that lives on the edge of over-consumption is ... more abundance? We need a name for this ide

I feel like I'm living in bizarro land. The lesson from a society that lives on the edge of over-consumption is ... more abundance? We need a name for this ideology, the Mad Max mentality? It legitimately reminds me of those monster trucks driving through the climate change wasted landscape with people spitting what little gasoline they have left into the engine. shiny and chrome!

zwieback 5y ago
I don't think he's advocating over-consumption. The point is that if your policy goal is to re-distribute wealth you have to consider that your policies also have to make sure that the global supply chain is working smoothly. Otherwise the currently already disadvantaged groups are hit hardest. I can easily pay extra or wait out the shortages but if you're just scraping by it's much harder to survive if the shelves are empty.
- akkartik 5y ago
  You're making a great point that I didn't find in OP. It muddies the waters to conflate holiday shopping with paper towel shortages.
Tade0 5y ago
This is what always kills my suspension of disbelief - the idea that somehow gasoline would be available in a post-apocalyptic world. One zombie pulp fiction author - by the name of Jonathan Maberry - got it right though. In his work they drive quads fueled by ethanol.
- whatshisface 5y ago
  If it helps, there's still a functioning oil refinery run in the Mad Max universe. It's basically declared by fiat that exactly those parts of civilization remain that are necessary to run war vechicles and make bullets. I think it was about answering the question, "what would happen if we only had the parts of modernity we didn't like."
  - FooBarBizBazz 5y ago
    Check out "pirate" oil refineries. They don't need to be very high tech: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3A-tLtqM8YU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3A-tLtqM8YU
beaner 5y ago
The whole point of the article is that there is now scarcity of what was previously bountiful.

zwieback 5y ago

I don't think he's advocating over-consumption. The point is that if your policy goal is to re-distribute wealth you have to consider that your policies also have to make sure that the global supply chain is working smoothly. Otherwise the currently already disadvantaged groups are hit hardest. I can easily pay extra or wait out the shortages but if you're just scraping by it's much harder to survive if the shelves are empty.

akkartik 5y ago
You're making a great point that I didn't find in OP. It muddies the waters to conflate holiday shopping with paper towel shortages.

Tade0 5y ago

This is what always kills my suspension of disbelief - the idea that somehow gasoline would be available in a post-apocalyptic world. One zombie pulp fiction author - by the name of Jonathan Maberry - got it right though. In his work they drive quads fueled by ethanol.

whatshisface 5y ago
If it helps, there's still a functioning oil refinery run in the Mad Max universe. It's basically declared by fiat that exactly those parts of civilization remain that are necessary to run war vechicles and make bullets. I think it was about answering the question, "what would happen if we only had the parts of modernity we didn't like."
- FooBarBizBazz 5y ago
  Check out "pirate" oil refineries. They don't need to be very high tech: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3A-tLtqM8YU https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3A-tLtqM8YU

beaner 5y ago

The whole point of the article is that there is now scarcity of what was previously bountiful.