[Carlhole]

Everyone can see how virtually every Science/Technology thread gets trashed on PeakOil.com. The doom crowd mostly cries, "PO Doom is inevitable; get that unrealistic crap (Science & Technology) off our computer screens; it's dangerous and misleading"!

But Science & Technology is the primary way that human society deals with problems and crises. Therefore, it is interesting to watch the scientific response to our energy/GW problems. And we are indeed seeing a growing stream of stories related to various energy/climate innovations and studies. This is a process where some discoveries will prove extremely useful and beneficial, while others will fall by the wayside. This is all normal and natural.

Doomers, however, want human beings to act in ways that are totally contrary to their nature. It's just ridiculous to expect humanity to NOT use Sci/Tech - because this of way solving problems is the MAIN feature of people. Doomers, in effect, are demanding that people NOT BE people. That's nonsense.

The only way that people will ever act like doomers want them to act is if peak oil becomes an indisputable reality NOW - and this reality totally overwhelms any inventive, innovative or adaptive ways of dealing with it. But this hasn't happened at all; it isn't happening. At this point, the certainty of PO apocalypse is merely a belief. Few people are worried about any apocalypse outside of sites like this one. There are many, many ideas and options for powering our global civilization. And they are being explored in earnest now. In the meantime, Oil & Gas isn't going away anytime soon.

You can never accurately predict the future. The world is simply too chaotic a place. Anything can happen. We are definitely NOT at the End of All Knowledge (another ridiculous assumption that doomers would have you believe). So while you cannot accurately predict PO doom; you also cannot accurately predict something like The Technological Singularity. You can only look at current trends. And one of the most interesting, accelerating trends to watch is Sci/Tech.

I'd like to be able to post threads along Sci/Tech lines without having every single one of them attacked. Human Beings are what they are. They will do what they have evolved to do. There's no point in attacking human Sci/Tech. It's bound to happen.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', '[')b]I'd like to be able to post threads along Sci/Tech lines without having every single one of them attacked. Human Beings are what they are. They will do what they have evolved to do. There's no point in attacking human Sci/Tech. It's bound to happen.

[cipi604]

There are some doomers, like me for example, that are not afraid of technology, they understand it, they use it, they like it, they need it on a daily basis. It is this thing, called knowledge, that makes me a doomer.
Technology ain't magic, and the peak oil event ain't just a bad dream. Limits apply no matter what.

[Carlhole]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cipi604', 'T')here are some doomers, like me for example, that are not afraid of technology, they understand it, they use it, they like it, they need it on a daily basis. It is this thing, called knowledge, that makes me a doomer.
Technology ain't magic, and the peak oil event ain't just a bad dream. Limits apply no matter what.

[Oakley]

I think of technology as being knowledge applied to resources. For a considerable part of human history there were large quantities of resources, but there was not knowledge of how to exploit them, hence we did not have technology. If you have knowledge but inadequate resources upon which to apply this knowledge, you don't have technology; you just have knowledge, and even that knowledge will disappear from disuse.

So it is a fantasy to think that technology is some magic that will bail us out. It does not exist absent resources. Technology has been a function of energy.

We do have a considerable amount of knowledge of energy that leads to a reasonable estimate that we will be forced to live in the future on progressively smaller and smaller quantities of energy; unless there is some dramatic new discovery of energy, I think these estimates should materialize and economic contraction is more likely than a continuation of economic expansion.

[Pops]

I searched "fusion" on po.com and got 3256 hits - 70 posts by Carlhole - is it working yet, carl?

I think the whole point of a site like po - and it's attraction to it's small group, is that 99% of the population believes, just like you carl, that the road goes on forever and the party never ends. They believe in Better Living Through Chemistry; Always Low Prices; You're In Good Hands and I'm Worth It. This site is for the few who, I guess, wonder what might happen if the PR is just spin. I read most of the tech articles, I post tech articles in the news most every day - mostly stuff about tech that's made it beyond the lab to the real world though...

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”


I spent some time digging these up last year so I'm gonna recycle them just for you carl:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')"By 2000, the machines will be producing so much that everyone in the U.S. will, in effect, be independently wealthy."

[Pops]

Wait a minute, the edible underwear thing did come true I think...

[Xenophobe]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', 'E')veryone can see how virtually every Science/Technology thread gets trashed on PeakOil.com. The doom crowd mostly cries, "PO Doom is inevitable; get that unrealistic crap (Science & Technology) off our computer screens; it's dangerous and misleading"! ,

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'W')ait a minute, the edible underwear thing did come true I think...

[ian807]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'W')ait a minute, the edible underwear thing did come true I think...

[diemos]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', 'A')nything can happen.

[Xenophobe]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('diemos', ' ') Assuming that the laws of physics are optional or revocable is the main cornucopian fallacy.

[Carlhole]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'i')s it working yet, carl?

[Carlhole]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Xenophobe', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('diemos', ' ') Assuming that the laws of physics are optional or revocable is the main cornucopian fallacy.

[Quinny]

I hope for some scientific discovery to power us to the future, but am not optimistic about it's imminent arrival. The maths just don't stack up.

I seem to recall a discussion on here about 'peak science' with some interesting points about decline in number of patent applications etc. Unfortunately my forum search option seems to have disappeared. Anyone recall this thread?

[Xenophobe]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', '
')There's a whole variety of things that are being researched heavily now in the energy field. Some of these things are really ingenius. To be a doomer, you have to believe that none of this burgeoning research will produce much of anything at all.

[Poordogabone]

I agree with the post by "oakley".
When I speak about the incoming situation regarding po, I often hear that technology will save the day.
People seemed to confuse energy with technology, 95% of the energy that we use to run the world comes from non renewable sources, technology actually helps to accelerate the depletion of these resources. There is simply no pie in the sky out there to replace this incredible abundant, convenient, cheap and concentrated form of energy.We can get very good at using renewable forms of energy but it will always be expensive, inconvenient, cumbersome, in some cases unscalable and mostly a drop in the bucket when compare with the free lunch that we are used to. Technology is wonderful, I'm all for it but it won't save the day when it comes to energy depletion.

[Carlhole]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Poordogabone', 'T')here is simply no pie in the sky out there to replace this incredible abundant, convenient, cheap and concentrated form of energy.

[EnergyUnlimited]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', '
')I'd like to be able to post threads along Sci/Tech lines without having every single one of them attacked. Human Beings are what they are. They will do what they have evolved to do.

[Carlhole]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', '
')I'd like to be able to post threads along Sci/Tech lines without having every single one of them attacked. Human Beings are what they are. They will do what they have evolved to do.