[lutherquick]

Great, now metals are going to "peak".

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060120/ ... sesconcern

No surprise. It's part of exponential growth as Albert Bartlett explained.
"Everything" will peak.

Even the intelligence of humans has seamed to peak.
As if we can't think a little higher and avoid this exponential catastrophe.

Maybe the attention span of humans has reached it's limit. Maybe there is no way out of "peak everything".

Looks to me like humans will follow the DoDo bird and end up extinct.

[Sys1]

Not only metals, but also fresh water for example.

Something else : as uranium is a metal and currently at 37$, i'm asking myself is this one is subject to peak soon?

[TITAN]

The plateau of human intelligence began it's long steady decline in the early sixties...

[Sys1]

Is Einstein the peak in homo sapiens sapiens intelligence? Without this guy, the world of today would have been far different (no lasers, so no computers/cell phones/internet/satellites)

[waegari]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sys1', 'S')omething else : as uranium is a metal and currently at 37$, i'm asking myself is this one is subject to peak soon?

[joewp]

I know of one thing that hasn't peaked yet, and is probably going to rise steadily in the near future.

The human capacity for "wishful thinking".

[waegari]

And then there's a story in the Asia Times, arguing that there's even a chance of a shortage in scrap steel, because of China's economic development, for which the processing of scrap steel is essential.

The article ends on this note:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')ut the real question is, will there be enough scrap to sustain this sort of growth? Many have doubts, and point to a future where the demand for scrap steel will grow faster than the supply, which means supply will remain tight, which means prices for scrap will remain high.

[waegari]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joewp', 'I') know of one thing that hasn't peaked yet, and is probably going to rise steadily in the near future.

The human capacity for "wishful thinking".

[AmericanEmpire]

I say we'll hit peak suicide rates after the peak.

[threadbear]

The don't worry, be happy crowd. Guys, guys, guys. See why peak oil is so great? People have to cut back on everything and entertain themselves with their own bodies and minds. You put an Indian yogi in a completely empty room with just a little piece of string and he can amuse himself for hours! Now, peak string--THAT would be a problem!

[firasat]

Ultimately we will also get "peak human population" or peak "living standards" or both. All the other peaks will just be nature's way of correcting our unsustainable, human infestation of the planet. The growth of our species alone contributes to an average annual increase in oil conusmption of 1 million b/d. Why? because world population has been growing at around 80 million humans per year (150 new humans every minute). Each new human consumes oil directly or indirectly and 80 million new humans times the world per capita oil consumption of 4.7 barrels per human equates to 1 million b/d of increased oil consumption per year! But of course it doesn't stop at 1 million b/d per year because as well as increasing our species by 150 every minute each human on the planet aspires to greater affluence so that the pressure on per capita oil consumption is always upwards as well.
Over the next 25 years the world population is projected to increase by around 1.7 billion. If world per capita oil consumption remains at 4.7 barrels the world will have to increase its daily oil supply by 22 million b/d above what it is now! AND don't forget that 4.7 is just the world average. The oil per capita consumption of the USA is 5 times greater (±25) and the OECD average is 3 times greater (±15).

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('waegari', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sys1', 'S')omething else : as uranium is a metal and currently at 37$, i'm asking myself is this one is subject to peak soon?

[Omnitir]

But I bet we never approach peak doomerism…
People look so hard for problems, but often refuse to look at the feasibility of possible solutions.

From the article:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')If all nations were to use the same services enjoyed in developed nations, even the full extraction of metals from the Earth's crust and extensive recycling may not be enough to meet metal demands in the future

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Omnitir', 'A')nd in years to come advanced recycling techniques (such as that made possible with nanotechnology) will greatly extend mineral/metal resource supplies.

[Comp_Lex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Doly', '
')Nanotech? Sorry, isn't that still science-fiction?

[sameu]

my guess is that the laws of thermodynamics still stands
you don't get a free luch
you need x amount of energy to get somewhere, either way you'll have to put that amount of energy into your system to get there

[Comp_Lex]

Yes, but this all is relative if we can go to an another "bottle".

[Omnitir]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Doly', '
')Nanotech? Sorry, isn't that still science-fiction?

[Doly]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Omnitir', '
')Yes it takes plenty of energy, but it’s affordable – if fact far more so then many common industrial/commercial business ventures that take place every day.

[mermaid]

Soon we'll have to dig down all the massive waste-mountains to find old materials thrown away in the past, will be used again in the future, these waste-sites will be our next mines of "everything".