Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst

We would all like to believe that the future of humanity on this planet is destined to be happy, prosperous, and long-lived. And, according to Ed Ring in "Humanity's Prosperous Destiny," that is exactly what we should expect.

Humanity is destined within a tantalizingly few decades to achieve a level of prosperity that can scarcely be imagined today. The ongoing conflicts of nations, continued destruction of the environment, heartbreaking poverty, ruthless injustice - these all constitute a dark fog of tribulations that can appear inpenetrable. But this fog that can seem so thick and toxic is actually disappearing with breathtaking speed. _More at Ecoworld

Very commendable in its optimism. I recommend reading the entire piece. It is well reasoned and documented.

While we are waiting for prosperity, the singularity, the next level, etc., we may want to make ourselves better able to deal with some of the intervening crises that may crop up. Living through the era of Putin, Obama, and Pelosi -- and reaching the age of prosperity on the other side -- will not be easy.

How will we get our basic services if society is falling down around us? Fortunately, Ed Ring provides us with information about some sophisticated tools that may come in handy, should any of us want to build "alternative communities" with minimal vital links to mainstream utility services. He starts with "energy from waste" and "making your own clean water from wastewater."

By showing how small, semi self-sufficient communities might provide their own power and wastewater services economically, Ed begins to show us how more functional self-assembling groups of people can sever most of their ties to the much larger, more dysfunctional population. There is much more at EcoWorld, on many topics dealing with improving one's world.

For the more "nitty-gritty" of dealing with the proximate hard times that may be coming, I recommend The Survival Blog(TSB). The archives of TSB are full of helpful tips and personal anecdotes that can save you a world of trouble. If the feces ever makes contact with the rapidly rotating metal blades, you will want to be able to separate yourselves from the masses of helpless pychologically neotenous whiners who populate much of the western world. Start preparing now to learn how that can be done. Here is another good information source.

The combined credit and commodities collapse of this past summer and fall were only the first in a series of economic problems coming down the pipe. It was natural that the voters of the US would choose a new face in the hope that newer ideas might be better ideas. Natural, but very stupid. Of course, a President McCain would have been at least 70% as bad as a President Obama will be, in terms of bad decision making. That 30% difference might have been most important, however.

That points out a huge part of the problem with humans -- they tend to rely on their leaders and bureaucratic structures in a most delusional manner. The self-reliance of the old pioneers is in short supply. That is obvious by how easily political scam artists get away with corruption and cheating. The media is in on the scam, of course, but with all the "new media" tools humans have, there is no reason they should still be so dependent on "old media" scam artists.