tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.comments2023-12-01T23:15:04.721-08:00The view from BrittanyDamien Perrotinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01509005954914591838noreply@blogger.comBlogger288125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-57563105889195118702014-03-13T00:06:50.499-07:002014-03-13T00:06:50.499-07:00In the middle of an electoral campain :-)
http://...In the middle of an electoral campain :-)<br /><br />http://changeonslaville.blogspace.fr/<br />http://changeonslaville.blogspace.fr/r111661/LES-CO-LISTIERS/<br /><br />Don't worry. I'll be backDamien Perrotinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01509005954914591838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-70583630113062365082014-03-12T08:53:07.358-07:002014-03-12T08:53:07.358-07:00Oh Damien! Where are you? Oh Damien! Where are you? Lizzyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15717169734104874358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-23818017638449628752013-10-29T04:50:43.626-07:002013-10-29T04:50:43.626-07:00Pour compléter le post lucide cidessus, ma convict...Pour compléter le post lucide cidessus, ma conviction en effet est que le peak oil (hélas pour l'environnement) est encore loin, et qu'entre temps l'homme aura le temps de saloper les derniers espaces encore vierges dans sa quête insatiable de l'or noir : il suffit de voir que le président équatorien vient d'autoriser la prospection dans le plus grand parc national du pays, que le Pole Nord (en attendant l'Antarctique) suscite de plus en plus de convoitises, que même un petit pays comme le Liban prospecte maintenant sur son territoire...On n'a pas fini de voir des marées noires, et le CO2 en dépit des voeux pieux va continuerà s'accroitre, sur fond d'explosion démographique. Je suis extremement pessimiste sur le long terme, tant pour l'homme que pour la planéte.Kampfbereithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07591360942227272708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-4472645230067795732013-10-27T02:46:14.151-07:002013-10-27T02:46:14.151-07:00Very interesting as always, Damien. Thank you. I l...Very interesting as always, Damien. Thank you. I look forward to reading you on the nascent revolt in western Brittany against the Parisian 'bobos'' eco tax. Interesting times coming in France and Europe and you help make some sense of it all. Germany is closing nuclear stations and Britain is going to build 4 more with money from France and possibly China. China is now buying more oil the US from Saudi Arabia. The US is fracking oil and gas in very substantial quantities and their petrochemical industries are wiping us out in Europe. Elsewhere European majors, Total, Shell and the Chinese oil companies are putting up 60% of the investment to Petrobas's 40% on the big Libra offshore field. So much for your much vaunted peak oil. We'll be long gone before it peaks. The only place oil output is really peaking is in Europe's North Sea and in our refusal to even look at shale oil, with our without fracking. Oil is sure to peak soon if you stop looking for it. I don’t think the oil companies are stopping and they will find, for better or for worse. For better means less oil-fuelled wars, less CO2 from gas than from Chinese and American coal-fired power stations and for worse means the necessary transition to renewable sources keeps being put off. Of course our dear Brittany is one of France's few nuclear-energy-free zones, with Paris, ('quelle surprise', as we anglo bobos say). In fact we seem to have nearly no power stations at all in the 4 départements of administrative Brittany. The bobos can just switch of the power if our peasants become too revolting! That'lls sure speed up grassroots energy tradition as we chop down the druids' remaining forests. <br />Keep up the good work. We don’t have to agree on everything.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-23457221414690549892013-10-24T19:42:12.998-07:002013-10-24T19:42:12.998-07:00Now I know why Roman Polanski likes to hang out o...Now I know why Roman Polanski likes to hang out over there.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-20798048955110565072013-10-01T05:30:59.875-07:002013-10-01T05:30:59.875-07:00is Bakunin spelt defirrently in French ?
Enjoyed t...is Bakunin spelt defirrently in French ?<br />Enjoyed the article >Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-42751717189856307262013-09-25T05:45:28.996-07:002013-09-25T05:45:28.996-07:00Malthus opposed helping poor people, saying in sub...Malthus opposed helping poor people, saying in substance that they should starve to death so that their "better" might avoid scarcity. He was, for instance, a firm opponent of the poor laws. I frankly don't see how such views could not be morally abhorrentDamien Perrotinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01509005954914591838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-85528374102766712402013-09-25T03:22:23.912-07:002013-09-25T03:22:23.912-07:00An interesting take on socialism. What do you mean...An interesting take on socialism. What do you mean by Malthus's thesis being morally abhorrent? are you referring to where it logically needs or something elseThe Brotherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01916031848342573499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-39569374449377879622013-09-17T01:44:32.426-07:002013-09-17T01:44:32.426-07:00Well, supply side choices are certainly made by sm...Well, supply side choices are certainly made by small groups, but the general population still has the power to choose and can sometimes choose in the fringe. Dune and Lord of The Ring, which stand a serious chance to survive whatever the future has in stock (that's a near-certainty for LOTR).<br /><br />Besides, when the current elites will fall, they won't be replaced by anarchy, but by new elites, probably more diverse geographically and better adapted to the new circumstances. The cultural choices will then be made according to the new ideologies, which may be quite hostile to those which dominate our mental field, the same way the choices about what would survive of Roman culture was made not by stoic scholars but by Christian monks.<br /><br />Besides, the great pruning will take centuries to be completed, with probably a lot of dissensus, individual choices and polemics about what should be preserved and what should not.<br /><br />The result may surprise us. One more reason to be aware of what we do.Damien Perrotinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01509005954914591838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-31193866689475876732013-09-15T08:58:23.810-07:002013-09-15T08:58:23.810-07:00If I have read your post correctly, your basic the...If I have read your post correctly, your basic thesis is that declining resources will at some point in the future fail to support all aspects of our culture that are available to us now. I agree with that part of your thesis. The second part of your proposal seems to be that we will have choices about which parts of our culture we will support with our dwindling resources and which we will abandon and that we should choose wisely. Again, I agree that we should choose wisely. However, while we will be able to choose what to hang on to and what to let go of as individuals, we may not be able to choose wisely at the level of politics and industry. The choices at the level of politics and industry are made by a small subset of the larger population and are not necessarily wise. Should orderly governance and large industries collapse, individuals will make choices more or less based on instinct or past habit and the outcome of large number of individual decisions in aggregate will be unpredictable. In other words, we will not know the results of our decisions except in hindsight assuming that we will even have the luxury of hindsight. <br />For the most part, we seem to make decisions based on short term goals. We choose what seems to benefit us today and tomorrow because we do not know whether it will harm us in the future. In some cases, it may take us centuries to find out that we made the wrong decision. Wolfgang Brinckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08314364206955412017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-89938801568222793852013-07-26T19:01:59.148-07:002013-07-26T19:01:59.148-07:00Culture and identity are far more important than e...Culture and identity are far more important than ethnicity. They are also a lot more malleable and people change them. <br /><br />A tag line of one of the new parties here is "Keep Australia Australian", the parties lead by a Tamil from Sri Lanka. <br /><br />Incidentally; there's been an explosion of new political parties here, even through the ballot paper is a meter long they've ordered magnifying glasses to help people read it. Can't tell if that's a healthy sign or not.<br /><br />Immigration is odd in Australia, since apart from New Zealand barely any immigrants come from our neighbours (Indonesia and New Guinea). New Zealand immigrants (where most come from) is due to a free travel agreement.<br /><br />The majority come via plane, which could easily shut down, while the boats make up a tiny fraction of immigrants. It's more a political football rather than an actual issue.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07113030328290684028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-10626494622744457112013-05-14T00:35:24.174-07:002013-05-14T00:35:24.174-07:00Well, global warming, albeit quite real is less im...Well, global warming, albeit quite real is less important than resource depletion, which was the real focus of the Meadows report.<br /><br />As for Crichton : unimaginative writer and sloppy scientist.Damien Perrotinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01509005954914591838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-59838699824178879622013-05-13T04:05:42.910-07:002013-05-13T04:05:42.910-07:00Despite not agreeing with your views on climate ch...Despite not agreeing with your views on climate change I do enjoy reading your blog. I like the dry "matter of fact" style of writing.<br /><br />You historical references and insights into human behaviour are always a delight to read. <br /><br />The airport would in my view be good for the area just in case the apocalypse is delayed. While waiting for the planet to heat up and the floods to arrive perhaps you could read michael crichton's 'state of fear'.<br /><br />SH.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-59285604600664837892013-05-11T23:15:55.548-07:002013-05-11T23:15:55.548-07:00Well, I am a Breton, so I don't consider "...Well, I am a Breton, so I don't consider "Grand Ouest" as a "we". In fact, I find the expression a tad insulting.<br /><br />And if you had had a look at the rest of this blog (and to the blogs it links to), you'd have seen I am of the opinion Industrial civilization will collapse as per the Club de Rome's predictions, so building an airport at this particular time is pretty much pointless.Damien Perrotinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01509005954914591838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-32877423076730532892013-05-11T22:53:05.844-07:002013-05-11T22:53:05.844-07:00Cutting down fences was pretty lame, but this kind...Cutting down fences was pretty lame, but this kind of things happens every day in radical politics. The emotional pay off is just too big, I suppose.<br /><br />As for the community having to be separate from us... well, it is true for the state which is an infrastructure, but we know which way the modern state is going. A real community must be inclusive. It is a source of rules, granted, but ideally, everybody has a part in the definition of these rules.<br /><br />That's the republican ideal at least.Damien Perrotinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01509005954914591838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-65706368386631695092013-05-11T15:21:18.999-07:002013-05-11T15:21:18.999-07:00What sort of future do you hold out for us in the ...What sort of future do you hold out for us in the Grand Ouest? First, so impoverished that we obviously dont need a single modern airport to serve a region of over 5 million people. We just continue to take the 3-4 hour train trip up to Roissy. Then its all going to turn into a flooded, nuclear contaminated forest. Wow, what are you smoking down there in 44? This is poor. Many regions of France (North, Lorraine, Centre) may be in advance decline but the Western half still shows sign of live, so if Paris want to pay for our airport then lets take it. Keeping nuclear out of Brittany was smart and right but it snot exactly clever having next to no power generation of some sort and only tiny, old airports flying charters and the odd Ryanair flight. Wake up again Brittany and that includes you in Loire Atlantique. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-43127522220609348252013-05-10T19:59:54.694-07:002013-05-10T19:59:54.694-07:00Cringed when I read the bit about cutting down fen...Cringed when I read the bit about cutting down fencing. You'd expect them to be a bit more intelligent, but I guess self-righteousness is a universal stupefier.<br /><br />Acting outside the community could be seen as the logical extent of seeing government as separate from everyone else. After all the community is a source of rules, restraints and such, therefore it must itself be separate from everyone. <br /><br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07113030328290684028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-81230242330821117322013-04-26T11:52:31.622-07:002013-04-26T11:52:31.622-07:00:-)
If the state is heavily enmeshed in the vario...:-)<br /><br />If the state is heavily enmeshed in the various extortionary and indebting schemes of the vampire squid, can it mount a sufficient "immune reaction" against the squid? That's what I don't understand...<br /><br />As for there being no global vampire squid, whatever do you mean? The closely interconnected machinations of the financial elites are transnational in character, and have been for some time. Or do you see it differently?verahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06823525858589365541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-10496283279836306032013-04-25T06:56:19.131-07:002013-04-25T06:56:19.131-07:00Well, a vampire squid which can be destroyed overn...Well, a vampire squid which can be destroyed overnight is no big deal.<br /><br />As for Napoleon, the guy was a military and political leader, not a banker. He created the Banque de France because he needed a stable currency for his (very political) empire. While the money he got from the venture certainly came handy, he did not need it (he was an emperor, remember) and he certainly had other priorities (such as marching armies all over Europe).<br /><br />The army and the police serve the state (or themselves in some case). If it is in the interest of the state to protect the banker's interests, they will do so. When it is no longer the case they will quickly remember that nobody is above the law, as the Russian oligarchs discovered after Putin's election.<br /><br />An there is no global vampire squidDamien Perrotinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01509005954914591838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-6905101207644314642013-04-24T07:21:27.443-07:002013-04-24T07:21:27.443-07:00Interesting indeed. I have two quibbles. First, ju...Interesting indeed. I have two quibbles. First, just because the power of a vampire squid can vanish overnight is not an argument showing it's after all not a vampire squid.<br /><br />Second... it seems to me, on the basis of your post, that Napoleon used three tactics:<br />1. he created his own vampire squid<br />2. he played by new rules<br />3. he made sure he had leverage<br /><br />As long as the bankers and financiers have governments under their thumb, they don't need to finance an army. Currently, the army and police serve their interests (and enforce the set of rules that serve them). <br /><br />I like the story twist showing that a particular vampire squid can be vanquished practically overnight. But what about the global vampire squid, the übersquid, as it were?verahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06823525858589365541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-59904965534202424932013-04-22T07:13:27.161-07:002013-04-22T07:13:27.161-07:00Banks owe their influence to their ability to mani...Banks owe their influence to their ability to manipulate a specific set of symbols, that is money, but of course, money is worth exactly what we collectively decide it is worth - just ask some guy from Zimbabwe. And yes, describing them as invincible will strengthen the... while picturing you as a fearless freedom fighter fighting against impossible odd, which is often the whole point.<br /><br />As for the left abandoning the proto-communautarianism, it is in part a result of the middle class taking over. Upper middle class has a vested interest in marginalizing working class ethos and culture Damien Perrotinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01509005954914591838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-80968027103134854362013-04-19T02:58:38.891-07:002013-04-19T02:58:38.891-07:00The radicals who portray banks and other such thin...The radicals who portray banks and other such things as invincible while calling them evil always sounded stupid to me.<br /><br />After all, if their power is mental in nature, then calling them invincible just strengthens them and works against your cause.<br /><br />Thinking about it, its a weird turn for the left away from its traditional roots to anti-authoritarianism and individuality. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07113030328290684028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-42234462999510049282013-03-09T07:55:29.780-08:002013-03-09T07:55:29.780-08:00"there always will be someone to document or ..."there always will be someone to document or perpetuate the technological and societal skills of some half-forgotten tribe. Whether it will be enough, however, is quite another matter as it means preserving a knowledge which will be quite irrelevant to our everyday life until quite late in the game. This implies a serious amount of geekery and self-marginalization and definitely won't get you money or influence."<br />ha, ha, well said, especially the part about no money or influence. I became interested in Eskimo and Aleut kayak construction a few decades ago and wrote a book about how to build an Aleut Kayak. This book had eventually gotten me invited to the Aleutian islands to teach kayak building there. The curious thing is that there really isn't much interest among young people in the Aleutians for learning their own technology which more or less stopped being practiced by 1950 after WWII. Young people see their own culture's technology as irrelevant in the petroleum fueled economy that they are living in now. However, for whatever reason, there is a fair amount of interest in ancient kayak technology among modern-day recreational kayakers. I doubt that very many of them see themselves as preserving a technology that might be useful in a petroleum starved future, but whatever their interest, it is preserving a technology in a subset of the population. <br />An interesting trend in many of the native communities of Alaska is an attempt to teach young people subsistence food gathering skills. This often puts native groups into direct conflict with state and federal game and fish regulations but the trend is significant because it signals recognition among the native groups that their culture and local survival skills are worth preserving in spite of the fact that these skills are marginalized by the mainstream petroleum intensive culture.<br />Wolfgang Brinckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08314364206955412017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-12540692020560655662013-03-09T02:42:07.945-08:002013-03-09T02:42:07.945-08:00They certainly look ahead of their French equivale...They certainly look ahead of their French equivalent (the MODEM) and they see the way to go.<br /><br />Wetherthey can really change things is another matter, however. If they try at anything but the most local level (and even then), expect heavy resistance from a lot of vested interestsDamien Perrotinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01509005954914591838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1437377958282996862.post-77663235876471681082013-03-08T07:18:40.138-08:002013-03-08T07:18:40.138-08:00Thanks Lizzy.
I do also hope that basic medicine ...Thanks Lizzy.<br /><br />I do also hope that basic medicine will be retained. It is certainly not energy intensive and basic hygiene, vaccination and quarantining diseased people can go a long way.<br /><br />As for white people dying out in sunny, I'd say it depends why you mean by "white" and by "dying out". There is no sharp division of skin color but a continuum which gets diversely interpreted depending from the society. Most Frenchmen don't see Berbers as "white", but they themselves consider they are white.<br /><br />Skin color seems to change relatively quickly at the population level. The first human European were dark-skinned when they left Africa (the first European were light-skinned, but they were not, strictly speaking, human) yet they became white at the population level quickly enough. The same is true for populations of North-Asia.<br /><br />White skin genes will probably be weeded out of the gene pool in tropical areas, but that does not mean the light-skinned people of today will leave no descendants. They will just become darker-skinned, through natural selection or intermarriages.<br /><br />Can take some time however.<br /><br />Besides, you can get vitamin D from fishesDamien Perrotinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01509005954914591838noreply@blogger.com