Slower economic growth needs to be engineered?

Discussion in 'Economics' started by Ivanovich, Apr 20, 2010.


  1. LOL!....Oh boy!

    Yeah, I guess.

    And we wonder why we're falling behind as a country.

    Actually, dark matter and dark energy are not forms of technology you nitwit. As well, they do exist and have so since the first milli second of the universe. But, no, I do not know how the solving of the puzzle will evolve nor do you. Which, of course, was my point all along.
     
    #31     Apr 20, 2010
  2. Can I get my car to run on this "dark matter" you speak so highly of?

    Would the guy at the local gas station understand if I told him to "fill 'er up with dark matter!"

    Please help me understand.
     
    #32     Apr 20, 2010
  3. What does dark matter have to do with the resources we have access to?
     
    #33     Apr 20, 2010
  4. Good question.

    The answer is that we don't know. Afterall dark energy makes up most all the energy in the universe. Could it be harnessed? What is it made of? How could it be used? Hell, if it can move entire galaxies it ought to be able to move a 3000lb car, right?:) What about dark matter? It's 74% of everything in the known universe. What is it? Whats is made of? What can be done with it?

    We are just at the very begginging of even tackling these issue's, but the knowledge gained just in the last 10 years is staggering.

    Will any of this come to pass in our lifetime? Probably not, but to think we are not going to learn much more about our "system" and that what we learn won't cause profound changes in just about every aspect of life is just a function of ignorance. Look it up. It's pretty cool stuff.
     
    #34     Apr 20, 2010
  5. 377OHMS

    377OHMS

    I can't put it any better than this. It is the truth.

    Once the people realize they can vote themselves bread and circuses it is all over.

    I'm going to vote, of course, but my gut tells me that its already a done deal. The left figured out a way to game the system and create a perpetual supply of loyal voters using handouts. So much for democracy. Next!

    They are about to impose harsh regulations regarding the use of salt in prepared foods. Salt. Something tells me they are going to get around to looking at guns at some point, y'know, in the interest of public... health.
     
    #35     Apr 20, 2010
  6. bkveen3

    bkveen3

    Its called warp speed man.

    hahaha.... but in all seriousness, we can't assume that all distances in space are linear.
     
    #36     Apr 20, 2010
  7. Population growth peaked quite some time ago now. For the planet as a whole, it peaked in the years 1965-1970, and has been dropping ever since.

    Urbanization has been an enormous driver for lower birthrates, and the third world has been urbanizing at an astounding rate. If you want to digger deeper, this would be a decent start...

    http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009107.html
    http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007830.html

    There are a couple of terrific TedTalks on this subject, but I can't seem to locate them at the moment.

    Cheers.
     
    #37     Apr 20, 2010
  8. #38     Apr 20, 2010
  9. achilles28

    achilles28

    That chart is fluff. Sorry. Those estimates are based on existing reserves. New discoveries are made all the time.
     
    #39     Apr 21, 2010
  10. achilles28

    achilles28

    Humans are analogous to a colony of microbes living on the skin of an apple. The amount of resources we consume is absolutely tiny in comparison to the size of usable earth.

    What percentage of the earths surface has been explored for natural resources? What about the sea bed? How about ultra-deep drilling and mining technologies?

    Why should predictions of resource exhaustion scare us, when most - if not all - fail to consider new discoveries? Aren't new, significant discoveries being made all the time? Here's one:
    http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62940520100310

    What about artificial scarcity? Over the past 20 years, oil companies have colluded to dismantle US refining capacity to create supply bottlenecks to jack prices:
    http://wyden.senate.gov/issues/wyden_oil_report.pdf
    http://royaldutchshellplc.com/2010/03/11/oil-companies-look-at-permanent-refinery-cutbacks/


    How do we know big global miners and extractors haven't done the same? Under-reported or hid big discoveries to create the illusion of tight supply? Isn't it more profitable to sell one widget for 2 dollars, than 2 widgets for 2 dollars?
     
    #40     Apr 21, 2010