Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Virex]

Peak oil IS something to worry about because we rely on it so much. If the oil dries up we're going to be thrown back into the Dark Ages and while we may still be able to generate SOME green energy the majority of the world is going to be screwed.

It's not quite as pressing as you think though. While oil may be running out, there's still plenty of coal to go around, enough to fuel us for another century or so. If oil really becomes troublesome it's easy enough to convert coal to liquid fuels. Of course that does didly squat about the greenhouse effect...

oil is used for a lot more than just fuel, you'd be surprised to see how many products are derived from oil.

I can't realy name a product that could be made from oil that can't be made from syngas though and syngas can be made from coal and water.

[Doomchild-]

I can't realy name a product that could be made from oil that can't be made from syngas though and syngas can be made from coal and water.

just to name a few

[Max White]

just to name a few

Umm, nope. None there.

[aenri]

Too much doom and gloom. The oil won't ever run out, nor food, nor any other resource. Market takes care of that. As the resource becomes scarcer and scarer - the price rises. Therefore - alternatives are sought for and slowly overtake primary resource - because they're cheaper. It's the reason we will never experience sudden total shortage of oil/other resource. We will always find new and new sources for oil, and it is only economic unavaliability and lack of technology that prevents us from tapping into them.

As for food - we are not even using all of our arable land for food. Then there is mechanization, fertilization and other methods that increase crop yield by a great amount. They aren't used in the whole world at all. Because of technology we can also use land that couldn't be in past. So no, food/water is not a problem, even if we double our current population.

[KaelGotDwarves]

We have been killing each other for land, oil, food, and water control for ages, and you're saying that doubling our population isn't a problem?

Globalisation says something is going to give First things first, our humanity - then resources.

[Criptfeind]

We have been killing each other for land, oil, food, and water control for ages, and you're saying that doubling our population isn't a problem?

Well, as you point out, no not really. We have been killing ourselves for said resources for thousands of years, and yet we still have not hit a wall. Fighting over them is not really a indication of their scarcity, otherwise there would be like three people in the whole world.

Famine in a area does not necessarily mean that the area can not support more people.

[Max White]

I do find the idea that any one species could hit a critical mass where the entire planet can not support population growth. Or at least population growth with this level of luxury. I'm sure we could fit a lot more people in if we were all converted to farmers, builders, engineers and scientists. Maybe a few other supporting industries, but nothing for the fun of it.

[KaelGotDwarves]

We have hit a wall, actually.

With the agricultural and food revolution, we solidified our dominance as the species in charge of the planet.

With the industrial revolution, we created new means of creation, transportation, and distribution of those goods.

And yet with the information revolution, we can't stop ourselves from spreading and consuming - and the resources we're consuming at an exponential rate are on a timer.

[Max White]

Meh, all we need is a space revolution and we can go for a while longer.
Then we will need a military revolution to continue our conquest against the known universe, as we are bound to meet resistance.
Ending with the physics revolution, that promotes the human race to the rank of god.

I think we might be happy by then. Maybe.

[The Mechanical Man]

Meh. Change is inevitable. Whether it's in 50 years or 500 we're going to run out of resources eventually and probably experience a huge population decline during which I imagine there will be massive riots because of all the chaos, maybe wars over the remaining resources, etc. That will probably be followed by a dark age where the remaining people won't have the means to produce modern products and goods. Either way it's obvious that our current growth is unsustainable.

[scriver]

There hasn't been a war in (western and most of eastern) Europe in 60 years, there hasn't been a war in china for 60 years. Both those areas were rather common for war before, when they had less people and more resources than they do now..

I'd like to point out that Europe has never had as much resources available as over the last century. If we hadn't, we wouldn't have enjoyed the kind of standards of living we have today.

As for food - we are not even using all of our arable land for food.

Yet we are already using so much that we are driving other animal species into extinction. Do we really want to use more?

[Grakelin]

Us or them.


Eugenically speaking, humans are the better species, bro.

[Il Palazzo]

I wish more people played Fate of the World(link to it's website). While one could, perhaps even should, try and contest the accuracy of the model used in this simulation, there's no denying that it's a very enlightening piece of sowtware. Helps people understand what are they talking about merely by showing the multitude of interconnected factors in play, so that instead of swinging between doom peaching and blind optimism we could make our opinions more informed.

[kaijyuu]

Necessity is the mother of invention.


We'll figure out renewable resources when we have to (and unfortunately not sooner because people are short sighted). Sure there will be some strife, but not another dark ages.

[scriver]

Us or them.


Eugenically speaking, humans are the better species, bro.

Unfortunately, we're not. That's ego-centrism speaking.