Now the news is coming out that BP covered up an oil spill in the Caspian Sea in 2008. Guess what! The cause was probably the same cause as the Gulf spill in 2010. Had this problem been reported as it should have, then 11 oil rig workers might still be alive and the damage to the environment might have been avoided.
Is it time for BP to be responsible for its actions? Will the US charge anyone with a crime for covering up the 2008 blowout? I have no faith that our government will do anything about it.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Coping with Global Warming
I watched a video on Thorium Molten Salt reactors today and it seemed to me that this is part of the solution to our energy problem and to global warming. I have thought about terraforming the world's deserts and my first thought was to desalinate seawater to water the Sahara. I originally thought that solar power might be the best way to desalinate the water for the Sahara, but now I think thorium is the proper solution.
Thorium reactors are safer and thorium is plentiful, so we have a cheap energy source which will not produce greenhouse gases. Contrasted to conventional nuclear power plants, thorium leaves a solvable waste problem.
So we can build reactors on the African coast and produce clean water for agriculture which can be pumped to the Sahara. Over time the Sahara can be converted into a rich region with agriculture, forests and human habitation. With enough of the Sahara terraformed there will be additional water vapor entering the atmosphere and there will be increased rainfall which will amplify the effect and spread the good fortune.
As the Sahara is converted it seems to me that this increased biomass will help to fight the warming effects of the greenhouse gases. Ultimately we can change the destiny of earth from ecological disaster from global warming into abundance.
Will we conquer our ecological problems or continue to keep our heads stuck in the sand?
Thorium reactors are safer and thorium is plentiful, so we have a cheap energy source which will not produce greenhouse gases. Contrasted to conventional nuclear power plants, thorium leaves a solvable waste problem.
So we can build reactors on the African coast and produce clean water for agriculture which can be pumped to the Sahara. Over time the Sahara can be converted into a rich region with agriculture, forests and human habitation. With enough of the Sahara terraformed there will be additional water vapor entering the atmosphere and there will be increased rainfall which will amplify the effect and spread the good fortune.
As the Sahara is converted it seems to me that this increased biomass will help to fight the warming effects of the greenhouse gases. Ultimately we can change the destiny of earth from ecological disaster from global warming into abundance.
Will we conquer our ecological problems or continue to keep our heads stuck in the sand?
Friday, April 06, 2012
Heaven or Hell - Paradise or Oblivion
I want to recommend that you view the on-line film "Paradise or Oblivion". This video is produced by The Venus Project. The previous links are to the Venus Project main site which embeds the video.
The Venus Project is the brainchild of Jacques Fresco, who is a self-educated designer of a new world. Jacques was born in 1916 and observed the terrible conditions of the Great Depression and was sensible enough to recognize that this tremendous problem was not a result of a natural calamity, but rather the result of a failed economic system. We in the US still have essentially the same economic system and, from time to time, we experience recessions or depressions as a result.
It has been one of my recent thoughts that humankind is on the threshold of a dream. Our advanced technology has been decreasing the real need for people to work. Without going into too many details, we now produce our food by the work of about 1% of the population. Except for distribution systems and the need for money to buy the food, 99% of us could have free food.
Most of our products are being increasingly produced by automation. My prediction is that we could reach a point where practically all our manual labor needs could be served by machines. I view this as humans reaching a point where we could choose to have Heaven on Earth - or we could have Hell on Earth. The title of the Venus Project video is "Paradise or Oblivion" which is a paraphrasing of Heaven or Hell and the concept is the same as my own ideas. Jacques has spent about 75 years pursuing this topic, while I have spent only a few hours. I am convinced that a huge change for the better is possible and the "Paradise or Oblivion" video explains it better and in more detail than I can.
The major concept of the video is to establish a "Resource Based Economy", which means no money. Everything is freely available to everyone. I don't yet see how to make the transition, but the idea has great merit.
Let's consider the automation of the food system. We currently are pretty efficient at food production. There is unfortunately a lot of wasted effort involved in the distribution system. Consider having an automated grocery "store" where you can select what you want and take it home without having people scanning prices and collecting money. This would also be true for all other "stores". You could go to a fast food store and have a machine make you a hamburger and fries for free. This would surely reduce the need for human labor.
The ultimate end of this process of automation is the elimination of the need for humans to work at tedious jobs. It isn't clear that we can eliminate all human labor in the near future, but I think that this is basically possible using robotics.
Let's assume that we achieve tremendous advances in automation and only 10% of the human population is required to work. Probably before then we would have reached a decision point: "Do we choose Heaven or Hell?" If we continue with a capitalist economy will we have 90% unemployment? I believe that the only rational decisions would be to reduce the work week or transform into a resource based economy. Doing so could produce Heaven or Paradise. Doing otherwise will result in more and deeper depressions accompanied by social upheaval, crime, violence and war.
A critical part of planning the future of life on earth is the recognition that humans must design the environment to allow sustainable habitation. We must live in harmony with nature. We must end pollution. We must restrict human population.
The future of Earth demands that human society evolve into a kinder, gentler, more cooperative society. We must learn to cooperate with people of all nations and the prosperity made possible by human ingenuity must be available to all.
The Venus Project is the brainchild of Jacques Fresco, who is a self-educated designer of a new world. Jacques was born in 1916 and observed the terrible conditions of the Great Depression and was sensible enough to recognize that this tremendous problem was not a result of a natural calamity, but rather the result of a failed economic system. We in the US still have essentially the same economic system and, from time to time, we experience recessions or depressions as a result.
It has been one of my recent thoughts that humankind is on the threshold of a dream. Our advanced technology has been decreasing the real need for people to work. Without going into too many details, we now produce our food by the work of about 1% of the population. Except for distribution systems and the need for money to buy the food, 99% of us could have free food.
Most of our products are being increasingly produced by automation. My prediction is that we could reach a point where practically all our manual labor needs could be served by machines. I view this as humans reaching a point where we could choose to have Heaven on Earth - or we could have Hell on Earth. The title of the Venus Project video is "Paradise or Oblivion" which is a paraphrasing of Heaven or Hell and the concept is the same as my own ideas. Jacques has spent about 75 years pursuing this topic, while I have spent only a few hours. I am convinced that a huge change for the better is possible and the "Paradise or Oblivion" video explains it better and in more detail than I can.
The major concept of the video is to establish a "Resource Based Economy", which means no money. Everything is freely available to everyone. I don't yet see how to make the transition, but the idea has great merit.
Let's consider the automation of the food system. We currently are pretty efficient at food production. There is unfortunately a lot of wasted effort involved in the distribution system. Consider having an automated grocery "store" where you can select what you want and take it home without having people scanning prices and collecting money. This would also be true for all other "stores". You could go to a fast food store and have a machine make you a hamburger and fries for free. This would surely reduce the need for human labor.
The ultimate end of this process of automation is the elimination of the need for humans to work at tedious jobs. It isn't clear that we can eliminate all human labor in the near future, but I think that this is basically possible using robotics.
Let's assume that we achieve tremendous advances in automation and only 10% of the human population is required to work. Probably before then we would have reached a decision point: "Do we choose Heaven or Hell?" If we continue with a capitalist economy will we have 90% unemployment? I believe that the only rational decisions would be to reduce the work week or transform into a resource based economy. Doing so could produce Heaven or Paradise. Doing otherwise will result in more and deeper depressions accompanied by social upheaval, crime, violence and war.
A critical part of planning the future of life on earth is the recognition that humans must design the environment to allow sustainable habitation. We must live in harmony with nature. We must end pollution. We must restrict human population.
The future of Earth demands that human society evolve into a kinder, gentler, more cooperative society. We must learn to cooperate with people of all nations and the prosperity made possible by human ingenuity must be available to all.
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