> I'm reading John Varley's Slow Apocalypse. The premise is > that all un-processed petroleum is destroyed by an act of > bio-terrorism. In the middle of it right now, but so far > it's scaring the spit out of me. > john
why? > You have a Zambian daughter, Dan? > Two. The eldest, Neli, came to the US about 10 years > ago. She is an > ecconomist who was a Brookings Institute fellow for a couple > of years, > concentrating on African development. She was always > second author on the > papers she wrote, with a big name as first author. She > was quietly upset > until she found out high government officials called > Brookings to complain > about the papers and talked with the big wig instead of > yelling at her. We > were in Zambia for two weeks in August, with 10 from the US > (including Neli > and her American husband) and 5 from Zambia and went all > over Zambia as one > big happy American-African family. We went to the home > villages of both of > Neli's parents. I got to dance in lion skins with the > village wariors at > her mom's village. very cool! > >I have no clue at what point civilization was > sustainable after the leap > from hunter gatherer to > >agriculture to industrial society. I suppose it > won't happen unless > humanity matures beyond greedy, > >pleasure seeking immediate gratification, self centered > behavior, and that > probably won't happen > >unless there is a singularity event. > Actually, most commodities (e.g. iron and copper) are used > less now. If we > can solve one of many problems (e.g. find a cheap way of > storing energy, > have a venture like Joule Technology work in synthetic > biofuels, have a way > to "poison" breeder reactor fuel output so it can't be used > for bombs, > develop mesoscopic physics to the point where solar cells > are practical) in > the next 250 years, we won't need to worry. If copper and iron are used less now, isn't that because we are using lighter metals and petrochemical products more? > >How were the European Greens responsible for keeping > Uganda poor, by > turning them away from nuclear? > Two ways: > 1) They have extremely strict and unreasonable standards for > imported food. > For example, its virtually impossible for US food products > to be sold there. > 2) They convinced Uganda that using fertilizer and > insecticides was bad. > That's why the crop yield is so low. Little grows and > the insects get most > of it. The US, on the other hand, uses insecticides in > cycles so it's hard > for the insects to develop immunity to several > insecticides...what is > superior for one is inferior for the other. And, > farmland is now adding > topsoil with fertilizer and advanced techniques, and > genetically modified > crops. If we could get corn to fix nitrogen better, > we'd be home free. > Dan M. and that is still the case? _______________________________________________ http://box535.bluehost.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
