Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
That reminds me of a joke that James Burke related, in his video "After the Warming," about a man who falls off of a 100-story building.
On the way down, a man sticks his head out of a window on the 15th floor, and shouts out to the falling man, "How's it going?"
To which the falling man replies: "So far, so good."
We might... if it all happens in the next fifteen floors...
|
Y'all should watch James Burke's Connections instead. Older but more balanced.
Why are we in this crunch?
1. Because we've spent the last 15 years trying to make the two most populous countries in the world capitalist and affluent. Guess what? We're succeeding, and they're outcompeting us for natural resources.
2. America has collectively refused to do
anything to help with the problem. Offshore drilling for oil? 90% of the US continental shelf is shut down to drilling. (the other 10% had already gotten started before the eco-simps got their moratorium.) No ANWAR, no matter
how carefully its done. Colorado oil shale? Now that it's profitable, it's now
No Way Jose.
Nuclear power. NIMBY'ed to death, even though we
know where and how to handle the waste. New oil refineries? We've finally gotten the first new one in 30+ years thru the regulatory gauntlet. And then the very same people who caused all of this whine that civilization is going to come to an end. To quote Wyoming Knott in Heinlein's Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, "Rockheads, you deserve to starve!"
Despite all the roadblocks, we greedy, vicious, bloody-minded capitalists will still get the system working back to snuff in another 7-10 years, if you <bleeping> pessimists and no-growthers will just get off our backs (and out of our wallets). To quote James Burke's Connections (last episode) "Technology has always caused problems in the past, but it's then solved them later. Why should now be any different?" And so say I.