Meeting on Thursday & Observation on life post-peak oil

Just a reminder, that the inaugrual Meetup of the Peak Oil Society will be taking place on this Thursday, 6 PM, at the Medford Starbucks on Route 112. So if, by chance, anyone who reads this blog lives in the local area, you are more than welcome to come out.

I read an obversation on the post peak oil world that was very interesting, and thought that I would share it. I forgot where I read it, it was probably Kunstler's blog. Anyway, what the poster said was that our younger generations (especially born in the 1980s and later; I was born in '79, so it's close enough) especially, throughout their lives, have been exposed to constant, continous visual stimuli. By that, he meant the television, cell phone, iPod, the video game console, the computer, etc. He then wondered, what would happen post-peak oil, where presumably, there would be a lot less visual stimuli, as modern techonology would be greatly compromised, that is, if it were operational at all. The reaction, this person and others chimed in, would be the relative equal of a drug addict denied his or her fix. There'd be anger, rage, depression, even acts of psychosis. I found this very interesting. In a PO world, fundamental elements of survival, such as food, heat, shelter, would be front and center in our minds, but at least initially, many of us would be dealing with the withdrawal of not having the visual stimuli that we are used to experiencing daily.

A few days before I read this debate, my cable modem was down for 6 to 7 hours. Although I found other things to do, I still kept looking at the modem to see if it got back online. So the non-presence of the Internet, even if only for a few hours, was still at the back of my mind. What kinds of effects would I experience if it were longer than that? A good remedy that was suggested, was for a period of time, say once a week for a day or so, try to go without technology. Go to a park or a place of nature and spend some time alone with your mind. You might be surprised at what you find in there.