Almost every movie or show I've watched since I was a kid featured a cool shoot from the hip maverick that didn't have time to do that nerd shit like making ethical safe choices or pondering over the legitimacy of some grand conspiracy. They never needed too. They all live in a world where grand conspiracy's existed.
30 years later my generation grew up and have a lot of media stored right next to actual memories. So egg heads are evil spineless nerds that work for evil faceless organization. The real hero's are the guys that shoot first ask questions later.
Democracy. Everyone gets a vote, which leads people to think everyone's opinion is equal.
Insecurity. People don't like feeling shit about themselves. It's easier to find excuses to hate someone you suspect is better than you, than accept the sad truth that you're less than them. We're all narcissists to a degree.
A lot of people fluctuate between narcissism and self-loathing.
It’s so much easier to sound completely sure of yourself and like you’re obviously right when you don’t know all the details. It’s profoundly easy to preach from mount stupid. Detail takes nuance, it comes with changing perspectives. It’s difficult and uncomfortable and requires humility. None of that is cool.
Ignorance is bliss. You can't be depressed about what you know you won't be able to or can't achieve if you don't know it. It's even better when you don't know that you don't know it.
When planes and distances get larger, hydrogen starts to make more and more sense. But I guess we won't get that far and planes will stay with biofuel and synfuel.
Superconducting maglev trains can currently go about 70% the cruising speed of a 737, and could take you directly into a city center rather than an airport on the outskirts.
Also, price isn't only a function of supply and demand. We also choose to subsidize fossil fuels with public funds, to make them artificially cheaper.
In figure 1 [4] we show the future energy reserves in billions of oil equivalent, Btoe, as a function of year. While we obliviously use up fossil fuels without taking stock of about what future reserves look like, we should take note of the endpoints shown here. These endpoints are dangerously close: Since our society is so dependent on fossil fuels, it therefore is extremely important for us to know when these fuels will run out according to [4]:
Oil will end by 2052 – 30 years time
Gas will end by 2060 – 40 years time
Coal will last till 2090 – 70 years time
However, according to BP [5], earth has 53 years of oil reserves left at current rate of consumption.
I always take these with a grain of salt. In the 80s we were going to run out in 2000, then in 2000 it was 2010 and now it gets pushed back further and further.
We absolutely need to ditch fossil fuels asap and electrify everything we can and power that with nuclear and renewables, but "we will run out of oil Soon ^TM feels a lot like "the sky is falling".
A lot of that extended when we discovered fracking. The industry will keep finding new and more expensive ways to locate and abuse natural oil and gas. I don’t think the world will “run out”, but it will certainly be too expensive for the majority of society. But that’s effectively the same.
When I’m depressed, I think of it like …. We won’t run out, it just gets harder and more expensive to get, BUT we’ve already passed the point where we could recover in the event of civilization-wide catastrophe. We no longer have sufficient recoverable (as a less advanced society) energy sources to rebuild. If we fuck up now, that’s it for humanity
I think framing it as fossil fuels will run out in our lifetime, or the lifetime of the next generation stresses the urgency of the situation, and makes it more relatable than saying “fossil fuels will run out by year 20XX”. It feels harder to ignore that way.
Another thing to think of is what it will look like as people grab at those last remaining drops. We already see it in loosening of restrictions to allow fracking, and moving villages and farms to scrape coal out of weaker and weaker deposits. The costs (not paid) of gathering this fuel will only increase and it's already more than many are willing to tolerate, so the exact date of running out doesn't matter at all.
What happens when we run out of fossil fuels? I understand fossil fuels are causing climate change/carbon issues. So why not just good riddance? Maybe I'm having a 'shower moment', but I think the change would force us to move to cleaner energy. Is there any intrinsic value to having pockets of sludge in the earth?
What will happen, is 1000 more years of already changed climate, so that one's not going back all that easily.
Shutting down all fossil fuel use right now, would leave the world with a deficit of energy, meaning daily blackouts for starters, and a fleet of non-functioning cars, trucks, trains, ships, and planes, with some industries getting severely crippled (cement, steel, aluminum production, or anything using electroplating processes).
We're already being forced to move to cleaner energy sources, because the high quality carbon and oil deposits are already gone; what's left, is low quality stuff that's more expensive to extract and less energy efficient. So a switch to renewables and nuclear it is for the foreseeable future.
Is there any intrinsic value to having pockets of sludge in the earth?
Other than not having it floating all around... not really. It's likely going to get extracted until it stops being profitable, which is for a long time.
I hate to spoil your fun, but these dates are always some what wanky.
When my grandpa was in school, they told him that there ist still enough cpal for 40 years. When my dad whas in school tey told him that there is still enough coal for 50 Years. My elementry school teacher told me the same. If ypu look it up today, you will find that the coal reserves last for another 80 to 150 years.
Resources dont run out. They get more expensive as the reserves dwindel leading to the developement of alternatives.
You can throw up all over the place for all the difference it makes. Sure, there are benefits that sound great, but the reality is they don’t exist. I think India has the biggest investment in trying to figure it out, but it’s not there yet and may never be
What do you mean, thorium is far more common than uranium and require less processing to be used. Plus, it isn't always active like uranium, meaning it can be controlled a little better. It's worth looking into.