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HANDJOB


                                             September  7, 2012
                                             September 14, 2013
James Howard Kunstler has written a
series of science fiction novels         NOWHERE_MAN
(though maybe "anti-science fiction"
novels would be more like it): the
"World Made By Hand" series.
                                                OPTIMISTIC_DOOM
   I have yet to read these, but I
   gather the idea is that after "peak
   oil", industrial civilization
   completely collapses, and we return
   to a labor intensive, homespun
   culture; A labor intensive world
   where women are pushed back into
   the role of household servants.
                                         http://kunstler.com/other-stuff/2840/
   He seems somewhat miffed that
   women are annoyed by this fantasy
   of his: He is very disappointed at
   their "failure of imagination".

   Myself, I think a man
   with a two-mode model of
   history stuck in his
   head-- if we can't do              Kunstler is convinced that a
   *this* any more, we're             radical reduction in our energy
   just going to have to go           supply is going to literally
   back to *that*--                   roll back the clock to
   shouldn't be accusing              horse-and-buggy days.
   other people of
   lack-of-imagination.                           Really: Cheap energy
                                                  may go, and yet our
        The obvious suspicion is that             knowledge will stay--
        Kunstler has an emotional                 a point Poul Anderson
        commitment to believing that              realized many years
        peak oil doom is imminent                 ago, when he wrote
        because he's a reactionary that           about a future where
        *wants* the clock rolled back.            people travel by sail
                                                  craft and yet retain
                                                  advanced electronics.

                                       (A friend of mine-- now retired
                                       and living on a sailboat in Baja
                                       Mexico-- argues that the
                                       sailing world is ahead of the
                                       curve on green technology: solar
                                       arrays are common, etc...)






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