Do you want to know why Iran has a nuclear program? It’s called Peakoil, and it has global consequences (article from 2008/2009)

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[–]Canbot 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (3 children)

I did a research paper on peak oil when I was in grade school. 95ish. They were predicting peak oil by 2012 and no more oil by 2020. This wasn't just kooks making random predictions, this was the best science calculating how much oil exists, the rate of consumption and the increase in demand. Factoring in new oil finds that were accessible. As you can see oil is still plentiful.

Several factors make this a bullshit claim. First off, clearly fracking has made a huge difference. But even before fracking we were using "unprofitable" sources like Canadian oil sands and it was sustainable at $100 a barrel without destroying the economy etc. The Peak oil theories never factor in market forces that will simply make fuel more expensive while we transition to a different fuel source. On top of that we were already able to get to deeper oil pockets that were previously determined to be impossible. The Ocean floor is relatively unexplored for oil. It's there. It can be reached.

This claim also relies on the claim that we need oil to fuel cars. We don't. Cars can run on many fuel sources at a slightly higher cost. The end of oil would not be the end of civilization in any meaningful way.

Iran wants nukes because they need something to defend themselves with. That's it. Nukes would never give them the ability to conquer another nation, but it would give them the ability to kill the ruling class of another country. You can't defend the white house, the central bank, or the mansions of billionaires from nuclear attacks.

[–]jet199 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

I remember my school text books in the 90s saying much the same thing.

I really believe it was scaring kids with this sort of stuff which has lead to the amount of scientific denialism among millennials.

This is why I'm so against them doing the same to kids now.

[–]Canbot 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

The irony is that when I talked to my dad about it he just scoffed and said "there is always someone claiming the world is coming to an end and it is never true". I couldn't believe he had that opinion. I thought he was ignorant for ignoring science like that. Turns out he was right. Not just about peak oil but about the whole paradigm. There is always another bullshit doomsday claim. Over population, global cooling, global warming, nuclear winter, water shortages, running out of helium, Y2k, supervolcanos, blackbody asteroids, super bugs, financial meltdown, end of days, automation, AI, etc.

The most over used propaganda fear tool has got to be the doomesday clock. The one where they tell you that something can be happening for any amount of time without causing harm, but once it reaches the 11th hour shit gets real. It gets dangerous at the very last minute and by then it's too late to do anything about it. So they can literally take any every day occurrence and turn it into a massive threat that needs you do panic and do whatever they want you to do to save the world from this thing that has existed forever.