Forum:Has anyone else noticed...

How quickly our world is becoming similar to the Fallout world? I know, the dates on the time lines don't match up, nor do any of the events that have occurred. But take a look at what's happening in the world right now. Look at how many different places are becoming destabilized, the economy is slowly breaking down, the energy problems. We could very seriously be looking at real life resource wars in the not so distant future. An example would be this article that I read about the International Energy Agency releasing millions of barrels of oil from the strategic reserves.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/277230-oil-reserve-release-the-quickest-way-to-remove-incentive

I've seen several articles in the past few months(I will try to add the links later if I can find them again) that discuss similar issues. And I don't know about y'all, but I live in Texas; and if you don't watch the news, this whole damn state is burning to the ground literally. I'm not saying that's gonna cause a global breakdown, it just sucks. Maybe I'm over analyzing...But there really is a lot going on at the moment. The above article I posted mentions China's military build up. Mexico is becoming more and more destabilized every day to the point that I could see the US annexing Mexico by the end of 2013 if the Cartels don't take over first. Seeing as the Justice Department was found to be supplying the Cartels with weapons to further the chaos in an effort to make the US government place more pressure on Mexico, I'm gonna go with the ladder and say we're gonna see "The Cartel War" in the next 5 years.

Then there's the middle east. Civil unrest in multiple countries. We're still fighting a war that's been going on for more than 10 years; I'm not even sure who the hell we're exactly fighting anymore. Terrorist. I'm just saying in my mind, the world is going to hell in a hand basket. I'm seriously considering stocking up on primers and powder, pulling the tumbler out of storage and dusting of the reloading equipment. Am I paranoid or does anyone else see this? Dopesmylez 17:18, June 29, 2011 (UTC)


 * Maybe that's because the fallout world is based off of ours? The first games were intended to criticize society. Hugs Scar: "Say 'ello to my little friend!" 17:20, June 29, 2011 (UTC)

This I realize, but the time line skews from the 1950's. That was 60 years ago. I wouldn't really say the game criticizes society, it's "the future as imagined in traditional 1950s science fiction." I took that quote from the time line. So I would say it took the world in a different direction. I just think that it's interesting that we're going down a similar road to that of the Fallout world at this point in time. But really I guess I would just have to say Kudos to the original Black Ilse team for making a game that so accurately predicts the S*** hitting the fan. If it does I mean. Dopesmylez 17:26, June 29, 2011 (UTC)

Yeah but the developers of the games are people from now and are influenced by the news and current events. They deliberately include elements that are relevant so that we can identify with the game world. It's no big mystery why their are references to gas prices skyrocketing and international relationships straining till they break. That's stuff that is happening now and so the writers for Fallout felt like including it in the game story. Zac hemker 18:00, June 29, 2011 (UTC)

Yes, but look at how much of the time line was completed before Fo3 or New Vegas came out Zac. Quite a while before any of the current events I'm making reference to. Most of what I'm looking at are events that occurred in the last 6 or so years. More or less, I'm just looking at the correlation between the worlds collapse in Fallout, and how bad things have gotten since 2000.Dopesmylez 18:11, June 29, 2011 (UTC)

Yeah but we've had economic crisis before this one and there have always been tensions with other countries. There have been fuel shortages before and doubtless there will be again. This country's going through some rough times right now, that's for sure, but it's not the first time that these issues have arisen. I'm just saying that the things that are in the game's timeline are based off of past experiences in human history, not just American history either. I can understand what you're saying, I don't want to sound disparaging, I just think it is what it is. Fallout is a satire of human civilization and the fears and worries that plague us. It's the same reason that disaster movies are so popular: It's that fear that we all have on some level of a universal shift or reorganization of the status-quo. Fallout demonstrates how the world we know can be turned upside down by escalating events that are outside of our ability to control or influence. By using recent history and current events as inspiration, the writers are able to make it more relateable and immersive. I don't think the world is spiraling towards nuclear Armageddon just because the middle east is in an uproar or because we're paying $4 a gallon for gasoline. China has always been preparing for war to a greater or lesser degree, that's just what they do. There has been a fear of Communism since before the Cold War. I'm not gonna start worrying about the Fallout Universe becoming reality until we have nuclear powered cars and household robot servants. But after the Debacle in Japan, I think household nuclear energy is still a long ways off. Zac hemker 20:28, June 29, 2011 (UTC)

With my predictions you have till late 2043 to be prepared for a immenate nuclear war after about 80% of the fossil fuel areas are sucked dried after and during an international crisis where the UN collapses and alliances fall apart like NATO and the Eurpoean Union. A war between the most poerful nations of the world will ensue in Central Asia, eastern Russia, Alaska and the Artic for fossil fuels for trade(= $$$ for country). This crisis will ensue when most 3rd world countries are transistioning to 1st world statis. Nuclear armagadon is closer than you think even if people tell you it wont happen cause people are to scared at what they'll do to the Earth, bullshit, if the Earth is depleted of resources then they wont care what happens to it.--Zachattak471 06:23, July 4, 2011 (UTC)

The makers of fallout satirize american society both past and present without mercy, with a little bit of misanthropy thrown in there for kicks. The makers of fallout grew up in the oil age (like everyone else) and saw how t powerful interests in our industrial-capitalist society were bitterly fighting a transition to a more sustainable future, they simply projected that trend into the future. I don't feel like it was just observing the obvious though, the developers must have had some prophetic intuition somewhere in the back of their minds that somehow american society (as well as others...) would not reform in time, if at all. Our high oil prices aren't just caused by political problems as were led to believe, there are physical problems as well, the IEA stated that conventional oil had peaked in 2006 worldwide. Contrary to what we've been led to believe were close to  a peak in coal so we can't expect coal to make up the difference as the oil starts to dwindle. A lot of the civil unrest were seeing overseas is linked to high food prices which are being caused by high oil prices and on the home-front high oil prices are prone to bursting economic bubbles, it's kinda hard to run that infinite growth economy on a finite resource.

This was preventable and that the us government knew all along. In 1956 M.King Hubbert correctly predicted us oil would peak in 1970 and in his optimistic scenario for world oil production he predicted a world peak in 2005 which he predicted in the 70s. He testified before congress during the 70s, was well-known by the american public and even had supporters in the government. Jimmy Carter's energy staff believed that we would hit peak oil in 1985 so he put into place what is now known as the carter doctrine. The nice parts of the carter doctrine included nationwide energy conservation, setting vehicle standards for 50 mpg by 1995 and providing 20% of america's power through solar energy by 2000. The darkside was that the carter doctrine stated that it was necessary to use military force and whatever other means necessary to secure america's access to middle eastern oil. We'd helped set up brutal dictatorships in oil producing countries long before carter, but it's not a coincidence that us military involvement in the middle east has only grown over the last 30 years. Reagan came along and trashed Carter's renewable initiatives and energy conservation policies, but he and his cronies kept all the parts about using military force to secure oil...for the economy, of course. I don't want to imagine what's going to happen here in the us when the oil starts to rapidly run dry because we've made no other plans except for containing civil unrest at home. This is a government that runs secret prisons in places like uzbekistan where prisoners are raped with broken bottles, it's not hard to imagine an america where your local MP will be able to do that to anyone even on our own soil.

As far as drug wars in mexico goes... were behind it and were making a huge profit off it. Wachovia was caught smuggling close to 400 billion dollars in drug money, there's no doubt that CIA is in on it as well. The CIA and the big banks are inseparable and the CIA has an extensively documented record smuggling drugs that goes back decades. I think we'll leave mexico to itself, unless we need to take control of mexican oil, keep the drug cartels in business or keep mexico from total collapse. Either way there's a profit to be made.

Sorry to hear about the wildfires in your state OP I survived the godmode tornados that struck alabama- the damage was incredible, they brought in the national guard and citizens were subject to martial law- you could be arrested if you were out after sundown. The power was out for a week, we had to conserve water because they were afraid we would run out (they couldn't pump any more ground water because the power was out), only a few gas stations because of the power outages and lines were hours long.Most of the restaurants were closed, grocery stores were having serious problems, you couldn't get ice. It was scary stuff. I hope you and your family are ok, our planet's climate is getting to be a real bitch. --Boredintheusa 06:19, July 6, 2011 (UTC)