Two very different Post Apocalyptic films are a part of my top 10 science fiction movies of all times. Both very different in nature, treatment and a view of how the world will be in the not so distant future.
One is Bladerunner. This is a dark, over populated future, where most people look Asian. It is technologically advanced and morally bankrupt. All societal and family ties seem to be dead. And it is very much a world where the fittest and richest survive. The world seems to be under complete cloud cover (or is it smog cover?). in this world technology seems to have advanced beyond a point where traditional fuel matters, cloning is the norm, and big brother is everywhere. It is a world which has begun colonizing other worlds. In that sense it is a much more hopeful future.
The other is Mad Max.(the original not the dreadful sequels) – A very different world from Bladerunner. A world where fuel has indeed run out. Technological advances have stopped, and society has disentegrated. It is a world where might is right. There are no rules except survival. The world is hot, dry and dusty. And its a world from which there is no escape.
Today when I read for the nth time the possibility of us running out of oil, – both scenarios flash before me. Which is the future? A world where the lack of oil doesn’t matter or a world where the technology infrasructure around us collapses because there is nothing left to fuel it.
The article is a sobering read. Just some extracts:
“About 944bn barrels of oil has so far been extracted, some 764bn remains extractable in known fields, or reserves, and a further 142bn of reserves are classed as ‘yet-to-find’, meaning what oil is expected to be discovered. If this is so, then the overall oil peak arrives next year,”
According to the IEA, demand rose faster in 2004 than in any year since 1976. China’s oil consumption, which accounted for a third of extra global demand last year, grew 17% and is expected to double over 15 years to more than 10m barrels a day – half the US’s present demand. India’s consumption is expected to rise by nearly 30% in the next five years. If world demand continues to grow at 2% a year, then almost 160m barrels a day will need to be extracted in 2035, twice as much as today
Somewhere, somehow Governments, manufacturers, scientists and citizens possibly have to come together to work out alternative fuels. Otherwise, every nation will start suffering a series of flash points from disgruntled citizens – who can’t cope with the increased oil price brought about by decrease in supply. And oil price hikes will have a domino effect on the price of everything under the sun.And these flash points will destablize societies. Much as the Soviet Union as a state was brought down by chronic shortage of essentials, so to would be the case of any other state. And for a nation like India with a predominantly young and aspirational population base – this kind of social upheaval would be dangerous.
It would be interesting to see a far reaching comprehensive policy decision on alternative fuel sources. Funding for institutes that research and develop new ways of fueling the world. Awards for companies – could be tax breaks – that produce fuel effiicient products and comply with fuel efficient processes. Penalties for companies that don’t. Tax breaks for consumers who buy electric cars. Additional taxes for those who buy gas guzzlers.