Quote:
Originally Posted by GlenBarrington
but it is a believable world and so far at least, logically consistent.
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No, actually, it isn't. It is an interesting world, and an entertaining read. Bacigalupi is one of my favorite contemporary writers. But it isn't believable. Here's why:
The setting is a world where all the oil (and, necessarily, coal, since that can be
processed into oil) has been used up and all power is provided by springs coiled up by human or animal labor, and energy needs are sold and budgeted in the unit of food calories.
Where's the solar power? The geothermal? The nuclear (fission or fusion)? The hydroelectric? The windmills? The
wave power? The
ocean thermal gradient energy? Where are the
satellites?
We use fossil fuels right now because they are cheaper and easier to use than most alternatives-- plus we already have a huge infrastructure built around them. But when they start to run out (and it'll be centuries before coal runs out, if we resort to that) there are many more options for producing usable energy than muscle power.