Perhaps Japan’s emergent human systems are the beginning of a much larger global shift. Perhaps they signal the potential for–if not the actual arrival of–a next chapter of human evolution. If the world’s third largest economy actually manages to adapt to the reality of having 25% less energy this summer —might it be a signal that humans are now capable of scaling themselves and their lifestyles in relation to the limits of geologic material and force?

—Friends of the Pleistocene.

Setsuden poster

In context: Major Japanese buzzword: “Setsuden”