Kiwi Mindset

Can´t help quoting this conversation between "Kel" and John Michael Greer from the discussion thread below JMG´s current posting "A Prayer for Nonbelivers". It contains some interesting speculations about Bill Gates and New Zealand, and the eventual fate of rich zillionaries. Let´s just say they aren´t talking about *endo*cannibalism...

[Kel´s comment]

"JMG, you’ve mentioned before you believe there may be “islands” in a declining world where things remain similar to what they are now for a long time. I’m curious, do you think there could be “islands” where technology actually still advances significantly for generations? I wouldn’t think this necessarily conflicts with your overall thesis.

For instance, in the area where I have the most knowledge, biotechnology, there are quite a few advances already in the pipeline for the next decade that will likely add healthy years onto the average lifespan (gene therapies, senolytics, etc). One could imagine a minority of the world population going into an accelerating future while the rest of the world still declines/stagnates. Possible?"

[JMG´s comment]

"Kel, the detail that gets left out of such models is how much of modern technology depends on imports of nonrenewable resources from all over the world. To manage further technological progress, the “islands” you’ve imagined would have to maintain military control over resource-rich sections of the planet, and keep extracting those resources for the advantage of a few while the many do without. That’s not a recipe that keeps well, not least because targeting the resource flows would be an obvious route to power for demagogues and ambitious generals everywhere else on the planet.

That said, I expect it to be tried — New Zealand is very clearly being set up as the elite refuge where the rich expect to keep their cozy lifestyles while the rest of the planet crashes and burns. Attacks on vulnerable resource flows would be one of many ways for the rest of humanity to strike back, as of course they will. There’s a certain macabre interest in wondering whether Mark Zuckerberg will dine on Bill Gates or vice versa once protein supplies drop to the point that cannibalism comes into fashion…"