Oil Industry
The background radiation levels were high enough that no one wanted to risk personnel to go and put out the oil-well fires that now burned across the Middle East. The fires, coupled with the loss in production infrastructure, crippled OPEC in particular and the oil industry at large.
Humans can be so irrational sometimes. They overreact to things and then can’t handle the consequences of their actions. I am intrigued in that they can have such small, uncalculating minds sometimes, yet they are also capable of so much in terms of creativity—though often they are only trying to find creative ways to destroy one another. A fascinating species, to say the least. Take, for example, one of the pivotal events in the collapse leading to World War III.
Several of my previous entries have made mention to the Founders. This term, as used in the academic circles of Glaucus, refers to the original men and women who joined the Foundation before the War. The list includes notable greats such as the geneticists James Watson and Craig Venter, roboticists Victor Scheinman and Hans Moravec, neuroscientist and political theorist Nayef Al-Rodhan, and many others. In the disastrous political turmoil leading up to the war they all accepted the refuge the Foundation offered. As a result of their extensive recruitment, when the War came and society collapsed, the seeds of civilization, science and technology were preserved in the Foundation.
I previously wrote that it was unclear when our organization switched names from The Foundation to Minerva. That may have been a little premature. It has been known for some time that before the War, they went by the former name, and that in most of the early records after the Long Winter use the latter. The archiving of several dozen notebooks, memos and journals belonging to various researchers of little influence, while not adding much to the body of scientific knowledge, have revealed some important facts about the development of the organization we now know as Minerva.
Being a product of the traditions and mentality of Glaucus, it should be of no surprise to anyone that I find its history fascinating. While today Minerva has three Branches, Glaucus is, in essence, a continuation of the original Foundation. As an organization it holds to the ideals and principles espoused by the Founders, always seeking to further the scientific and technological knowledge of the human race, without regards to politics. While the reality of this post-War world requires a military and political presence, Glaucus continues to conduct as pure of research as possible.