The following includes predictions that have a high probability of being true: students that I work with are being offered rather large amounts of money and signing bonuses to work for oil companies. I got in on the tail end of the last good old days in the early 80s and I never heard of a signing bonus. I heard that oil company recruiters walked up to students at their posters and offered them cars to work with them…and not bother to finish their thesis. One student that I trained will be earning 3x what I do now…counting signing bonus…and I’m sure that this student will not be paying $15,000 for health insurance like I am. Now I am going to tell the future…I am sure this will happen….it happened in the mid 1980s…the word will get out about the money being thrown around and geology departments will be flooded with students…a lot of whom would not have otherwise gone into earth science. By the time they get out…especially with Masters, there will be no jobs…The word will not get out through the geology departments when the companies stop hiring (or start laying off)…quite the opposite…departments will post articles that are out-of-date about jobs.

I am now tempted to give up research…at least apply for oil industry jobs and see what happens. I may decide as early as this weekend whether to apply or not…and see what happens. Seeing as I use the same or similar software to what they use, and understand faults and folds real well…and have certain other expertise…maybe I will be valuable…despite my great and advanced age. Hey…I’ll keep all the new young folk in line…no water fights in the halls…no setting beards on fire with flaming drinks, not talking to college buddies on the phone for 80% of the working hours (all true stories).

OK…now a little exaggeration…I know of one other well-known researcher who is going to the oil companies…maybe everyone will go….maybe college professors too…until I few old ones try and keep ahold of the accumulated earth science knowledge of 200 years against the flood of creationists. Creationists will take over the departments. They will “prove” that global warming is a natural cycle. The old ones will live in caves or special communities like in Fahrenheit 451…passing down the knowledge. Amateur scientists will take over the USGS and issue thousands of predictions, causing panic…
Sounds like fun. Hmmm.should I carpet my cubicle with mink or baby seal?
Chris…let’s keep me anonymous for this one..