Quote from: RE on Sep 20, 2024, 02:26 AMAnecdotally I can tell you that during my years working with 1000s of kids, I observed a steady decline in their critical thinking ability.  Among the many things collapsing in our society, intelligence is one of the leaders.

RE

Critical thinking certainly might be more of a trained trait rather than directly related to intelligience maybe? I've always been smart, but critical thinking took practice, scientific experience, the ability to use it to find new things, practice and challenging into the status quo, before it really came to the fore.  Peak oil is a great example of critical thinking, combining disparate data, scientific experience and brainpower, to arrive at a future mind blowing conclusion, be it any of the claimed peak oils starting in 1919. 

The topic is settled at this point of course. The consequences have been mind blowing. I paid $2.45/gal yesterday to fill the Jeep, 6 years post global peak. 

This is important as I recently sold one of my EVs and replaced it with a run of the mill ICE machine. My economic budgeting will now have to account for an extra tank of full or so each month, and I was only able to do this knowing what post peak oil fuel prices in the US might be.

QuoteI paid $2.45/gal yesterday to fill the Jeep, 6 years post global peak.

Funny how gas prices are low every time we elect a president.  It is like somebody is turning a knob.

QuoteThese environmental factors could include changes in the education system and media environment, nutrition, reading less and being online more, Rogeberg said.

You-Tube shorts will put the cherry on top of the decline and everyone will be a drooling idiot within a few years.

But it won't matter.

Quote from: K-Dog on Sep 20, 2024, 09:55 AM

QuoteI paid $2.45/gal yesterday to fill the Jeep, 6 years post global peak.

Funny how gas prices are low every time we elect a president.  It is like somebody is turning a knob.

Good thing we know that neither President's nor parties have much to do with the market economics of supply and demand when it comes to gasoline. The one exception I can think of is emptying out SPR...and Biden already did that awhile back.

Maybe all those EVs are finally having the effect their supporters have been claiming over the years?

Quote from: K-Dog on Sep 20, 2024, 10:02 AM

QuoteThese environmental factors could include changes in the education system and media environment, nutrition, reading less and being online more, Rogeberg said.

You-Tube shorts will put the cherry on top of the decline and everyone will be a drooling idiot within a few years.

But it won't matter.

Did I see Art there in the picture for the next video in the collection?His About Art page is just wonderful! Art is Mr No Nonsense! I get his alerts for new articles every week or two, I always go through his publishing to see if he ever decided to back track his way out of his most famous ASPO statement in Washington back in 2011. Haven't seen it yet, but I do have hope. Watching him get humiliated by John Curtis when he misrepresented his work 10 years ago during a live presentation was quite an eye opener from Mr No Nonsense! Worth the price of admission all by itself that year.

I can't help but be amazed at academics who observe the depopulation phenomenon and think it's a Big Mystery.  "Why don't they have kids?"


According to them, we're richer and healthier than ever.     How do they measure that?  By what standard?  Why don't women want babies anymore?

They can't seem to grasp the inherent incompatibility between women working so they have enough money to be "richer" than ever and churning out kids at the same time.  How come they're not SuperMoms who can do it all, juggle a high paying professional career while waddling around in a maternity dress?

They also ignore the ever increasing number of WOKE LGBTQ trannies, fags, queers and lezzies who don't even do sex the way it works to make new little meat packages.  Watching Netflix teen movies, I get the impression at least 20% of typical HS seniors are operating DC these days.  No worries about Teen Pregnancy at least.

Anyhow, at least this analyst doesn't see it as an apocalyptic crisis like Elon Musk and the rest of the Natalist crowd.  Less people is a GOOD THING.  The only bad part is there's too many Old People.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/world/age-depopulation-surviving-world-gone-gray-nicholas-eberstadt

The Age of Depopulation

RE

Being unsure of what you are is a way to sidestep depression for a while.

About 5% of young adults in the U.S. say their gender is different from their sex assigned at birth

Is it an improvement?

No, obsession with self never is.  Biology has not changed.  This is collective insanity, there is no reasonable explanation better than that which does not involve pesticide poisoning or some such.

Not knowing who or what the fuck you are wastes precious time.  For which I have no time.  That is my choice.  If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.  But regarding the confused, live and let live.  Their life is their own.  I hope they find what they are looking for.

Quote from: K-Dog on Oct 12, 2024, 10:54 PMBeing unsure of what you are is a way to sidestep depression for a while.

No surprise here, this sociological demographic change corresponds directly to the increased acceptance of and popularization of alternative sexual relationships and lifestyles.

Back in the 50s on TV, even showing a married couple sleeping in the same bed was "risque".  Step by step, more things were depicted, and as the decades passed you got various "firsts".  The first queer couple, the first homosexual kiss etc etc until we reached the current norm, where every TV show and sit-com has to have a gay couple, a kid with two moms or a HS student agonizing over whether she wants to go to Prom with her Boyfriend or Girlfriend.  Everything is Acceptable, it's all Personal Choice and any negative reaction makes you Homophobic and Politically Incorrect.

Meanwhile, many typical male behaviors are now considered misogynistic and sometimes I wonder how any guy can approacj a female without violating some socialrule.  If you work with her, you worry you'll be accused of sexual harassment.  You can't be Macho, but at the same time you're supposed to have a Superhero physique.

Imagine yourself as a 10 or 11 year old boy or girl today, a typical age where kids get their first "Puppy Love" relationship and First Kiss.  Even though homosexuality had come out of the closet with the Stonewall riots in the late 60s, I don't think any boy I knew would have considered having a Boyfriend instead of a Girlfriend, I certainly didn't despite the fact my main circle of friends were other boys my age.  I didn't want to kiss any of them though, it never even crossed my mind.  Based on what I see on TV now, I think boys and girls who reach that age are being tacitly encouraged to put homosexual relationships on equal footing with heterosexual ones.  They're both OK, pick whichever you feel like.  In this environment, I'm kind of surprised it's only at 5% "non-binary".  I also can see why there are so many confused adolescents out there.

One thing is for sure, which is that this dynamic is a significant contributor to the cratering fertility rate globally.  To state the obvious but Politically Incorrect truth, Tranny Women aren't women.  They are just men with their reproductive organs amputated.  A non-binary woman can sport a butch haircut and buy a strap-on for sale on Temu, but that doesn't make her a man.  You CAN'T be whatever you want.  If you don't like the gender and equipment you were born with, you're free to get yourself surgically mutilated to have a different appearance, but it doesn't change your DNA and you are still a man or woman as you were at birth.  End of story.

RE

Personally I think this whole trans/gender argument is people making a mountain out of a molehill. If I identify as a man or woman what is it to you? If you want to identify as a K-Dog, be my guest, then I salute you. Be the K-Dog you always dreamed to be! Live and let live I say; there are far bigger things to worry about.

As for crating birth rates... I think there are a multitude of reasons why rates are so low but perhaps the biggest are the cost of living and by extension the cost of raising a child. For a lot of people it is a major struggle and because of this high cost a lot of people decide to forgo the whole thing. To compound the high cost of living is the fact job security is not what it once was. A lack of stability plus a uncertain future make people more hesitant to have children. I would also add that the dating market is rather more dysfunctional these days which probably contributes somewhat to the dismal rates. 

I definitely agree that the biggest factor is the cost and overall economics that forces women to work full time jobs in order for most couples to earn enough just to pay the rent.  Both parents with full time employment does not generally leave enough time to do all the tasks involved in raising a child.  Day care ends up eating away all the money, and who drives the older kids to activities?  Latchkey kids who raise themselves end up getting in trouble and hanging out with a bad crowd.

However, economics doesn't explain the statistics, and the exploding percentage of recent generations to  self identify as Lezzie-Gay-Bi-Tranny-Queers.  Back in Boomer years it was ~1% of the population.  Today it's >5%.  That's a 500% increase.  What do you attribute that to?  Also, based on media TV, its even bigger than that.  Every show has at least one or 2 main characters as some non-binary gender variant.

RE

Quote from: monsta666 on Oct 22, 2024, 02:49 PMI think there are a multitude of reasons why rates are so low but perhaps the biggest are the cost of living and by extension the cost of raising a child.

Sorry Monsta..I'm not allowed to reply to such a controversial point.

Quote from: RE on Oct 22, 2024, 08:40 PMI definitely agree that the biggest factor is the cost and overall economics that forces women to work full time jobs in order for most couples to earn enough just to pay the rent.  Both parents with full time employment does not generally leave enough time to do all the tasks involved in raising a child.  Day care ends up eating away all the money, and who drives the older kids to activities?  Latchkey kids who raise themselves end up getting in trouble and hanging out with a bad crowd.

RE

Good thing folks can decide early to be a nuclear family to not build up expenses requiring two incomes. Sort of like fire-fuel-charge...some people know how basic things like an internal combustion engine work and can plan get it started when it doesn't want to, and others have not a clue how to generate real world outcomes because they think knowing the theory is enough and don't know dick about practical applications?

Of course some can do both.

Quote from: TDoS on Oct 23, 2024, 03:44 PM

Quote from: monsta666 on Oct 22, 2024, 02:49 PMI think there are a multitude of reasons why rates are so low but perhaps the biggest are the cost of living and by extension the cost of raising a child.

Sorry Monsta..I'm not allowed to reply to such a controversial point.

You can reply.  The content of your reply will determine whether it stays up or gets removed and whether it results in a reply and further discussion or cooler time.  Your general inability to control your impulse to insult others and brag about yourself tends to result in the negative outcomes.  You bring it on yourself.

RE

Quote from: RE on Oct 22, 2024, 08:40 PMHowever, economics doesn't explain the statistics, and the exploding percentage of recent generations to  self identify as Lezzie-Gay-Bi-Tranny-Queers.  Back in Boomer years it was ~1% of the population.  Today it's >5%.  That's a 500% increase.  What do you attribute that to?  Also, based on media TV, its even bigger than that.  Every show has at least one or 2 main characters as some non-binary gender variant.

Being openly gay in the Middle East will get you the death sentence. Can you guess the number of people self identifying people as gay in that region? Almost 0%. What people say and what people do is two different things. When the stigma to identify as something other than heterosexual is less then more people will admit to alternative sexual orientations. I am guessing the true numbers is something in the region of 10% which is actually higher than the figure you quoted at 5%+.

Whatever the case, even if you run with my higher 10% figure this cannot explain the decline in birth rates which has gone down by over 50% since 1960 (in the US at least). Something else is at foot. My suggestion is those declines come from the increasing cost of childcare, less stable jobs and the lower social pressure to get married. These things factor higher than the rise in the LGBTQ community.

As a total horndog, I can't imagine how sexuality can get confused.


I admit total mystification.  I might be from another planet.

A smile on a dog.