is anyone else watching ABC's Earth 2100?

I don't get it. They are looking into the future but when they show people
talking there is no sound, Is this on purpose or is some thing wrong with the sound.
Seems to me they are not communicating very well.

edit to add there is background sound but no narration?

must be nation wide.

I want to hear what the scientists are saying.

What is the show meant to transmit? What's the agenda? I'm a bit confused as to the goal with this.

I guess we can watch this online soon with the narration included.

I've had the sound for all of it.

Its basically doomer porn discussed by leading scientists and thinkers across the backdrop of a narrative fiction over the next century.

Never thought of it that way.

We will either protect this planet or destroy it. Those of us who care will continue doing our bit. Nice to see Bob Woodruff.

but thats what I think it is, just a story. Defiantly a whole lot of environmentalist propaganda there.

I loved how they painted Texas as a "lawless" region, and New York as a relative paradise, well atleast until it all collapsed. :eyes:

That being said I have no problem with doing what I can to prepare myself and my family just incase.

with no energy revolution (that's about to happen), no development of greenhouse gas counteracting technologies, no ability to adjust whatsoever... it's just ridiculous.

The future never happens along a straight line. Never.

ABC devoted a couple of Prime Time hours to it and actually let the full weight of realism/cynicism seep through 'till the last 20 minutes. It could go down that way, or any of a million little variations on the theme. Of course, it could go right and we could sort this all out, but that would require a lot more leadership and sacrifice than we've seen in 60 years.

Here's my beef with the ending of the DoomWorld in 2100. I read a lot of science fiction, I find it a fascinating genre. Post-Collapse, Post-Apocalypse themes are common. Almost inevitably, the collapse of modern, technology driven society ends up in a reversion to the Middle Ages or worse. You know, the whole "after the 'lectricy went off, we built castles" sort of drivel. This always ignores the fact that what we have as a system of laws and government, from the village dogcatcher to the president himself originated in the 1700's. There was no electricity. No trains. No telegraphs. Nada. Yet, a democracy was formed, defended and thrived. So you are out in East Jesus, Ohio (pop. 342) when TEOTWAWKI happens in 2023. Does the town board just go "Poof" and disappear? No duly elected constable, no clerk to file papers and stuff with? There was in 1823. Does the county courthouse in Stumbleford 20 miles away (a days ride on horse, if your really slow) just close down? Sheriff walk off the job, assessor cease assessing, register of deeds burn the books and records for heat? The didn't in 1823. Remember, government goes UP.
My point is, when the whole thing comes down, we don't start from scratch. We've got the stuff written down, we know how to make penicillin from moldy bread and we know how to make a battery to power a telegraph. We have laws and courts and a Constitution. Last I checked, they don't need batteries.

...with a caveat.

In the opening half hour, they briefly touched upon the concept of Peak Oil and how it affects our society. Peak Oil is a fucking time bomb that is slowly starting to detonate right now. I don't think the producers at ABC realize this at all. They prognosticate life over the next 10 decades, and the real issue is, life over the next two decades, and the aftermath. They briefly touched on the idea of resource wars, that touch was between India and China over water in the year 2070. Entirely neglected the USA military dominance over the planet and its hegemonic lust at the Caspian Basin and other oil resources.

Bleh.

Any credibility it had with me kind of went away when Jim Kunstler popped up on the screen.

Jim Kunstler is a fucking prophet. Happy motoring! I really hope in 10 years you can find that delectably something (greek olives perhaps?) on your store shelf.

And Kunstler is a prophet in that his prophecies are consistently wrong and the deadlines always get pushed back. Also, prophets shouldn't get off on the doom they predict like Kunstler does.

The scientists / climatologists were the most interesting of all, so it's too bad you couldn't hear that part.

It's not perfect, but it's definitely good that this topic is on TV.

I know some here didn't but I did. I liked hearing what the scientists had to say, and it's not all cynicism. At the end they show a much more positive and hopeful outcome.

As far as the sound goes everything was fine for me here, the sound was fine, perhaps it was something with your TV or speakers?