Unless a solution is found to the problem of disposing of nuclear waste,
continued use of fission is causing an environmental disaster of large
proportions. In fact, because the cost of eliminating the radioactive waste
(or storing it for thousands of years) is not known, it is not known whether
nuclear fission has an energy yield of greater than one. It may well be the
case that the current generation is imposing on future generations an energy
cost (for storage of radioactive waste from nuclear fission) that far
exceeds the amount of energy that we are obtaining from nuclear fission.
Mankindıs current generation has clearly discounted the cost to future
generations to essentially zero, or it would not use nuclear fission until a
method was found for eliminating the radioactive waste.
Of course, this would not be the first time that a human generation has
totally disregarded the welfare of future generations. The present
generation of human beings is in the process of depleting all of the worldıs
natural gas and oil, and much of its coal. These fuels are obviously of high
value and are irreplaceable once they are gone they are gone forever. The
present generation does not care a whit about the fact that it is denying
them to all future generations, forever. The same is true of species that it
exterminates. They are gone forever.
The current generation of human beings is in the process of making the
planet totally uninhabitable for all future generations. The industrialized
human species economic man is morally bankrupt. It is ravaging the
planet, consuming all of its wealth as rapidly as it can, all in the
interest of making a fast buck, regardless of the consequences to other
species or even later generations of its own. It is a cancer on the planet,
devouring its bounty and beauty, destroying an exquisite balance of nature
that has lasted for eons, and leaving in its wake a ravaged planet infected
with radioactive and toxic waste, polluted lakes, rivers, and seas,
decimated forests, extinguished species, and a poisoned atmosphere.
Thomas:
My, my, he does wax eloquent - but is he right? It's a change of
perspective isn't it. If your focus is on cheap energy then his are the
ravings of an idiot who wants to curtail a vital civic need, ie cheap
energy. If your focus is economic and cheap energy is needed for industrial
growth, then his is a dangerous voice. But - what if his perspective is the
correct assessment? Then cheap energy and industrial growth become ills
equal to genocide or germ warfare. What if the correct viewpoint is
sustainability rather than growth. Then, we are following Hitler, following
policies that will exterminate the human race, rather than just the Jewish
race.
On FutureWork, our topic is work - which we, along with the rest of society
assume is essential for survival. But what if work is the path to no
survival? Are we then not philosophers arguing over how many needles can
fit on the head of a pin, without asking what the purpose of the argument
is? When we examine work, which surprisingly enough we do, in my opinion,
in the most eclectic of fashions, all sorts of presuppositions, myths,
assumptions, verities, facts and truths come to light before our collective
minds and various experiences and learnings. The Internet gives the
tradional and eccentric, the conventional and the doomsayer a forum for
discussion. Is this not futurework? As each of us read - and agree or not
with each posting, are we not retraining ourselves for some valuable but yet
unseen futurework? I believe we are.
Respectfully,
Thomas Lunde
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