[Sunnybayes]

So at least here in the United States, here's the core of the problem.

Oil = cars + long commutes + huge suburbia = global warming] = social isolation [internet... not such a healthy way... you've got to actually be around people] = more TV watching = lack of exercise= depression = tones of other diseases [like obesity= expensive medical bill = more social isolation] = war in Iraq = helplessness = hard to take action for everyone = low productivity = damaged brains = continued stupidity

stress = rushed feeling = need to eat crap fast food at McDonalds = hate your job = more health problems = more criminal behavior = what Freelancer said here

Crime;
There have been a few researches that have shown there is a link between criminal behavior and nutritional habits. Often young criminals have a horrible diet of sugar and fast food that is messing up there brain chemistry. This inbalance means they are often tired, can't concentrate properly and have many health issue's as well. Also a few researchers found that bad eating habits often result in criminal behavior. I haven't studied this a lot but it seems to make sense. The people from the lower social class are often the ones who have horrendous eating habits (overweight, sickly and tired). While the more wealthy and healthy class often has decent to good eating habits. Note this is from personal experience.

From my personal experience = 10x harder to learn = harder to do transitions into new behaviors = harder to break habits = pain of transitions

Also from my personal experience, when I have been alone, I tend to feel "selfish", and after I've been around people then I feel much more like contributing. Like right now, I usually contribute lots to these forums after I've had an awesome night out, just seeing people. Its like it controls how much you feel like contributing.

Even what I've heard from a podcast on Lincoln's leadership style. He was such an awesome leader because he was "constantly among the troops", and that the other leaders had hard time taking action because they isolated themselves in their offices.

And did some more research and I found that exercise when you are not with other people does more harm than good because it causes stress when you exercise alone = rise in the stress hormone = [more weight gain, less effective brain, more accidental stupidity]

google search "social isolation"

Americans are far more socially isolated today than they were two decades ago, and a sharply growing number of people say they have no one in whom they can ...

From my experience, I've found that I can only hit the higher levels of conciousness only after I've been around tones of people, walking around (getting exercise by walking, I don't need to run) and having fun.

Second result:

Social Isolation Kills, But How and Why?
(1) provides another confirmation of the deleterious effects on health of social isolation, first recognized in epidemiologic research of the late 1970s and ...

Social disconnectedness, according to the study, is the other main cause for the increase of anxiety levels. Divorce rates are increasing; more people are living alone; and many people are finding it more difficult to trust other people. Twenge feels that the idea of individualism in American culture may be contributing to these changes: "Our greater autonomy may lead to increased challenges and excitement, but it also leads to greater isolation from others, more threats to our bodies and minds, and thus higher levels of free-floating anxiety."

Article about exercising alone:

...blablabla...

Moreover, individually housed runners showed higher levels of corticosterone in response to additional stress when compared to group-housed runners. Preventing the elevation in corticosterone levels in individually housed runners stimulated neurogenesis.

These results suggest that without social interaction, a normally beneficial experience can have negative effects on the brain.

Its also funny. What happened to Cuba when they were shut off from their oil supply?

Health Care and Education - National Priorities

Even though Cuba is a poor country, with a per capita Gross Domestic Product of only $3,000 per year (putting them in the bottom third of all nations), life expectancy is the same as in the U.S., and infant mortality is below that in the U.S. The literacy rate in Cuba is 97 percent, the same as in the U.S. Cuba's education system, as well as its medical system is free.

When Cubans suffered through their version of a peak oil crisis, they maintained their free medical system, one of the major factors that helped them to survive. Cubans repeatedly emphasize how proud they are of their system.

Before the Cuban Revolution in 1959, there was one doctor for every 2000 people. Now there is a doctor for every 167 people. Cuba also has an international medical school and trains doctors to work in other poor countries. Each year there are 20,000 Cuban doctors abroad doing this kind of work.

With meat scarce and fresh local vegetables in abundance since 1995, Cubans now eat a healthy, low-fat, nearly vegetarian, diet. They also have a healthier outdoor lifestyle and walking and bicycling have become much more common. "Before, Cubans didn't eat that many vegetables. Rice and beans and pork meat was the basic diet," Sanchez from the Foundation for Nature and Humanity said. "At some point necessity taught them, and now they demand [vegetables]."

Does anyone see a pattern here?