So Much Magic

February 18, 2013

NOTE: Images in this archived article have been removed.

Image RemovedMaintaining the complexity of our civilization requires a consistent input of net energy and a stable climate. We’ve already experienced the first few years of a long emergency through economic stagnation and contraction, financial fraud and a lack of meaningful political momentum. Can we expect advances in technology to make a useful contribution to solving modern challenges or are we headed for a technological time out? Are we approaching a magic moment when those oppressed by debt refuse to pay?

In Extraenvironmentalist #56 we speak with James Howard Kunstler about his recent book, Too Much Magic: Wishful Thinking, Technology and the Fate of the Nation. Jim talks about how the magnitude of corruption in our financial system revealed since 2008 has been even greater than he could have imagined. We ask Jim about his views on the rapidly changing landscape of higher education and how to think about its future. Then, Duncan Crary tells us about his years of podcasting on the Kunstlercast and his new podcast A Small American City. Duncan tells us about life on the inland waterways of New York and about pioneering a new American way of life in the small towns abandoned over the second half of the 20th century.

Justin Ritchie

Justin is in Vancouver, BC where he reads books, researches energy, carbon and financial systems at the University of British Columbia Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability while occasionally walking in the forest.


Tags: finance, governance, technofix