Source: Robert Putnam, The Upswing.

Most likely due to the end of the Vietnam War draft in 1973, and little need for deferment.

henry ford and rockefeller and howard hughes and henry kaiser didn’t talk like this!
it has to be worth something that the richest and most prominent businessman and engineer on earth talks like this
“By using an electromagnetic mass driver and lunar manufacturing, it is possible to put 500 to 1000 TW/year of AI satellites into deep space, meaningfully ascend the Kardashev scale and harness a non-trivial percentage of the Sun’s power.” — only elon ever. and casey. but casey is not successful yet. but can you imagine GM talking like this. actually they kinda did in the 50s. but modern technooptimism is so deterministic. this will happen. actually I take it back. the 50s said this will happen and it didn’t. (transatlantic tv host voice: in the year 1999 you will find it normal to commute to work in a personal gyrocopter) today we hedge. it is possible. it wouldn’t surprise me. it seems not unreasonable that. that is, if only you allocate sufficient capital. a deductive physics inevitability that as civilization scales this is the way things will evolve on decade time scales. on some timescale it WILL happen, there is no disputing the direction. but it can happen NOW with your money and your blood sweat and tears. an inevitability contingent on some conditions that I am working to make true and need your help with. (connection, all elon says feels like a massive invite). it is all extremely agentic. the 50s was framed as an inevitability. elons future is only if we nearly kill ourselves with our effort and passion this beautiful future will come to pass. providence vs covenant.
buying a tesla is to believe. (OTA updates as sacrament. evangelism) working at tesla is joining the clergy. working at spacex is becoming a warrior monk.

apple was proto this, but the theology was not super well developed. no soteriology, no escatology. but they had the prophet, the believers and the clergy, the “think different” creed.
there plenty of ibm or zaibatsu style company man stuff, but it isn’t the same. conformist. a proper religion is individual, particular. imo.
plenty of religious businesses (amway etc)
paternal pullman ford things (the opposite of the individuality in the good ones)
wework cargo cult

east india companies still genuinely so badass.

mahattan project obv comparison.

fucking badass
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_the_desert_bloom
interesting mormon/jewish parallels. Zion naming is not an accident.
and of course the temple emphasis.
the exodus
the wandering
the scattering and the reconcentrating
this is the place, moses and canaan
the desert of course has massive meaning in the old testament. a place of trial. no life aside from god. only by faith can you live. success will have been proof in gods blessing
water engineering irrigation and ag culture. both are world class. maybe by necessity but interesting
the creation of cities
and also nearly identical populations of 15m

I don’t care.
I respect the fire with which these movements burn. the nietzche/rand cluster is not entirely bankrupt. just terrifying in their conclusions.
becoming.

test note.
looks good.
no newline for somereason

image paste doesn’t work

The 1973 oil embargo offers striking parallels to modern energy crises. When OPEC members proclaimed an oil embargo in October 1973, targeting nations that supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War, they fundamentally altered the global economic order.

The Shock

Oil prices quadrupled almost overnight, jumping from $3 per barrel to nearly $12. The effects rippled through every sector of the economy:

• Gas stations ran dry across America
• Speed limits were lowered to conserve fuel
• The “energy crisis” entered the American vocabulary

Lasting Consequences

The embargo accelerated several long-term trends:

1. Energy independence became a political priority
2. Fuel efficiency standards were introduced for automobiles
3. Alternative energy research received its first significant government funding

The crisis demonstrated how dependent industrial economies had become on a single resource controlled by a small group of nations.

Nixon’s resignation in August 1974 came at a moment when multiple crises were converging. The Watergate scandal, while politically devastating, unfolded against a backdrop of economic turmoil and geopolitical realignment.

The Convergence

Several major events clustered around 1973-1974:

• The oil embargo (October 1973)
• The Saturday Night Massacre (October 1973)
• Nixon’s resignation (August 1974)
• The fall of Saigon (April 1975)

Was this timing coincidental, or did these crises feed into each other? The economic stress from the oil shock may have reduced Americans’ tolerance for political scandal.

A Weakened Presidency

By the time Ford took office, the presidency itself had been diminished. The combination of Vietnam, Watergate, and economic malaise created what would later be called the “crisis of confidence” that plagued the late 1970s.