Having grown up in USSR, I know there was in fact a huge difference. The economy wasn’t structured around consumption, goods were built to last. People weren’t spending their time constantly shopping and consuming things. The idea that USSR was destined to collapse is also pure nonsense. There were plenty of different ways it could’ve developed. USSR certainly didn’t collapse because it was running out of energy.
Again, I’m explaining to you that society is a conscious and intentional construct that we make. USSR could have made changes in a similar way China did to move in a different direction. As your own chart shows, there was no shortage of energy as output rebounded. The problems were political and with the nature of the way the economy was structured.
@yogthos@lemmy.ml Running out of energy is what was making everything fall apart. When the energy was growing, any kind of gap could be filled with more energy. But after it started declining, the gaps just got bigger. Yeah, they could have decided to become compassionate and think about how to live in a lower energy world, but they refused. And so the collapse, it was a combination of geopolitical factors, but it was also a refusal to adapt. China is smart. They have a very big rural promotion program. They can tell when someone is smart and knows what they’re talking about. I meet with the leading scientists on energy and resources around the world every month. You can check out the YouTube channel of my name if you want.
Having grown up in USSR, I know there was in fact a huge difference. The economy wasn’t structured around consumption, goods were built to last. People weren’t spending their time constantly shopping and consuming things. The idea that USSR was destined to collapse is also pure nonsense. There were plenty of different ways it could’ve developed. USSR certainly didn’t collapse because it was running out of energy.
@yogthos@lemmy.ml Here you can see the attached image. Gorbachev and Yeltsin were the result of the oil decline.
Again, I’m explaining to you that society is a conscious and intentional construct that we make. USSR could have made changes in a similar way China did to move in a different direction. As your own chart shows, there was no shortage of energy as output rebounded. The problems were political and with the nature of the way the economy was structured.
@yogthos@lemmy.ml Running out of energy is what was making everything fall apart. When the energy was growing, any kind of gap could be filled with more energy. But after it started declining, the gaps just got bigger. Yeah, they could have decided to become compassionate and think about how to live in a lower energy world, but they refused. And so the collapse, it was a combination of geopolitical factors, but it was also a refusal to adapt. China is smart. They have a very big rural promotion program. They can tell when someone is smart and knows what they’re talking about. I meet with the leading scientists on energy and resources around the world every month. You can check out the YouTube channel of my name if you want.
Except USSR didn’t run out of energy.