[wisconsin_cur]

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Doomer Level approaching 10

[eastbay]

I too believe the time of Maitreya is getting close. I have all of my bets for a dignified survival and renaissance of humanity in buddhism, science, ecology and some philosophies.

I agree with you on all of that zensui, except for the part about science. Hopefully the application of science will be washed away forever, and pursued only as a complex academic study.

[sciencegirl]

We are so stupid as a species sometimes. Houses because they are made of wood will not last more then 200 years at best. If we built homes from stone and concrete and limited the population it would have been so much better. The home would last thousands of years and have very good buffer against heat and cold.

With dwindling resources I would hope all the governments of the world get together and have a unified plan to control population and change how we do things. Since we are all greedy and self centered this will not happen, more likely we will horde our resources and start launching nukes to get what we want. So either way, the population will drop.

My opinion is that we will not go back to the stone age. Our books in the library's across the world will last for thousands of years. We will still have technology, solar, wind, and with research fusion. It is just that in the future we will start with a lower population and the energy we get from renewable resources only be available to a lower population.

Fusion power is promising but not available at present. Also from what I read the government is stretching a ribbon from earth to space as a way to transport stuff to space easier and cheaper. This may sound like science fiction but would it not be possible to send thousands of reflective mirrors in space to redirect the sunlight to a single point on earth and use that as a massive energy source. That is one idea I have, but don't flame me for it as I really have not given that one much thought yet.

One article on ribbon to space

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20021005/bob9.asp

Mirrors in space (an article)

http://peakoildebunked.blogspot.com/200 ... rrors.html

also: Space Elevator 1000 foot climb test

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjcaQT_ssE4

Also here is another good way to generate electricity (Humans are such clever beings)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-EvV90MeDY

[TheDude]

Space elevator construction estimates are as "low" as 15 billion USD. Drop in the frickin' bucket, right? Just move an asteroid into LEO, and build 50 miles of nanotube cable. Voila! So now we're in orbit at 10$/lb, now what?

We'll put that one on hold for more mundane concerns like mass transit. Read some of the solar thermal topics in the Energy Tech forum, I think the smaller scale projects like Asura's or SPS (Stirling Power Systems) are more sensible than towers, which of their nature are massive endeavors, with long construction times. It's why I'm also beginning to agree that massive solar/wind will likely sprint ahead of nuclear buildups, even though you can't beat a splitting atom for EROEI.