Re: Do you have an "acceptable" solution to peak o
Posted: Fri 23 Jun 2006, 12:13:56
I can see the solution which people like Novus will use.
Mega Nuclear Breeding Reactors-
Basically gigantic breeder reactors that are built into one another in order to reduce the cost of materials needed to shield everyone from the radiation.
With that people could build nuclear plants safer, and much, much cheaper.
Imagine putting 40 nuclear plants in one place.
The downside of our course, will be although the chances of an explosion happening become expontentially reduced, if it does explode, it would wipe out all of North America.
Then you say, "What about Nuclear waste?"
That's where the people respond, "Liquidify it, and dump in it Sub-Saharan Africa, so it can soak deep, deep into the pourous soil, never to bother us again."
The rationale will be there, hippies will be out manueverd, outyelled, outlobbyed. People will keep their McMansions, and live in their unsustainable, unheathly lifestyle, and continue the status quo.
As far as water supplies are concerned-
The rich will drink pure, clean, distilled water from boilers using nuclear energy.
The poor will drink less water, that's nasty, and filled with toxic waste and harmful microrganisms.
People will adapt the best they can, Natural selection will do the rest,
Concerning the environment-
In order to construct these last-minute save our McMansion way of life Mega Nuclear reactors, people will rape the environment, because as long as we are able to live the good life without changing, we will. Once the good life is over, we won't have the resources to produce the mechanisms necessary to sustain the good life in the future. This means ultimately, that we will rape the environment, in one last hope of building the Mega Reactors and saving civilization.
Concerning Urbanization- I see us going to a more Japanese environment, except with virtual reality.
People will live in very compact, small spaces, and pay high rent, and their only escape will be virtual reality. People already are being immersed in worlds like Everquest, Asheron's Call, Shadow Bane, and World of Warcraft. Basically people will do this, except it will be most, if not all of their freetime.
Instead of making real books, which cost wood, and money, people will make virtual books, which are almost exactly like the real books. Instead of going to the movie theatre which is 5 miles away, you will simply virtually go to the movie theatre, with the selection of location.
Because people will be apathetic, and not really getting much physical activity in their virtual reality world, then people will use fewer calories, although lifespans will be much shorter(except for the rich).
Also, virtual movie theatres, virtual sports events, virtual everything, will cost money. Virtual services will be the same in value as real services. So that you may live in a space smaller than a cubicle, but it will feel like, and you will have, a virtual castle, a virtual house.
That's how the middle classes will be motivated. You work hard, you get a virtual house, virtual this and virtual that. The best part about this, is it's complete population control. Having virtual sex(which in the future would be MUCH, MUCH better, almost as good if not better than having real sex) rather than real physical sex, will drain away the sex drive of the populace, and keep them from having intercourse except when the government deems it to be in the interest of the greater good.
Ontop of this, because everything will be virtual, and nothing will really be real, the government will have complete control over what you see and hear. Political discourse will be virtually zero. Workers rallying against the government will be non-existant. Because in the virtual world, you may have 7,000 workers rallying against the government, but the government can make it seem like there are only 20, demoralizing the populace. Also, if the government is dealing with 500 workers going on strike in the virtual world(because they've been conditioned to do everything inside the video game), the government can magically all have their virtual characters teleported to virtual Jail, where they won't get out(which will be their whole world, other than eating and slaving for the government). Ultimately we will all be slaves for the government overlords.
BTW, this is the middle class, the educated that get virtual reality.
The people who aren't educated, who do nothing but manual labor, they live outside these compact arcological cities. They are constantly exposed to toxins, waste, extreme temperatures, extreme dryness, very little water, polluted groundwater, overcrowded, very little police forces, and very little government support. They may have a sort of escapism, but it won't be nearly as elaborate as the virtual reality. Their escapism will be a machine which zaps their brain, and makes them feel pleasure for hours on end. They will essentially be addicts, and that will be the only good thing in their life.
Oh, and the government won't worry about overpopulation in the slums, because if someone produces too many children, the children simply die.
Ultimately they will live in hell on Earth.
The Rich, well, they still live very well, in the traditional sense.
Mega Nuclear Breeding Reactors-
Basically gigantic breeder reactors that are built into one another in order to reduce the cost of materials needed to shield everyone from the radiation.
With that people could build nuclear plants safer, and much, much cheaper.
Imagine putting 40 nuclear plants in one place.
The downside of our course, will be although the chances of an explosion happening become expontentially reduced, if it does explode, it would wipe out all of North America.
Then you say, "What about Nuclear waste?"
That's where the people respond, "Liquidify it, and dump in it Sub-Saharan Africa, so it can soak deep, deep into the pourous soil, never to bother us again."
The rationale will be there, hippies will be out manueverd, outyelled, outlobbyed. People will keep their McMansions, and live in their unsustainable, unheathly lifestyle, and continue the status quo.
As far as water supplies are concerned-
The rich will drink pure, clean, distilled water from boilers using nuclear energy.
The poor will drink less water, that's nasty, and filled with toxic waste and harmful microrganisms.
People will adapt the best they can, Natural selection will do the rest,
Concerning the environment-
In order to construct these last-minute save our McMansion way of life Mega Nuclear reactors, people will rape the environment, because as long as we are able to live the good life without changing, we will. Once the good life is over, we won't have the resources to produce the mechanisms necessary to sustain the good life in the future. This means ultimately, that we will rape the environment, in one last hope of building the Mega Reactors and saving civilization.
Concerning Urbanization- I see us going to a more Japanese environment, except with virtual reality.
People will live in very compact, small spaces, and pay high rent, and their only escape will be virtual reality. People already are being immersed in worlds like Everquest, Asheron's Call, Shadow Bane, and World of Warcraft. Basically people will do this, except it will be most, if not all of their freetime.
Instead of making real books, which cost wood, and money, people will make virtual books, which are almost exactly like the real books. Instead of going to the movie theatre which is 5 miles away, you will simply virtually go to the movie theatre, with the selection of location.
Because people will be apathetic, and not really getting much physical activity in their virtual reality world, then people will use fewer calories, although lifespans will be much shorter(except for the rich).
Also, virtual movie theatres, virtual sports events, virtual everything, will cost money. Virtual services will be the same in value as real services. So that you may live in a space smaller than a cubicle, but it will feel like, and you will have, a virtual castle, a virtual house.
That's how the middle classes will be motivated. You work hard, you get a virtual house, virtual this and virtual that. The best part about this, is it's complete population control. Having virtual sex(which in the future would be MUCH, MUCH better, almost as good if not better than having real sex) rather than real physical sex, will drain away the sex drive of the populace, and keep them from having intercourse except when the government deems it to be in the interest of the greater good.
Ontop of this, because everything will be virtual, and nothing will really be real, the government will have complete control over what you see and hear. Political discourse will be virtually zero. Workers rallying against the government will be non-existant. Because in the virtual world, you may have 7,000 workers rallying against the government, but the government can make it seem like there are only 20, demoralizing the populace. Also, if the government is dealing with 500 workers going on strike in the virtual world(because they've been conditioned to do everything inside the video game), the government can magically all have their virtual characters teleported to virtual Jail, where they won't get out(which will be their whole world, other than eating and slaving for the government). Ultimately we will all be slaves for the government overlords.
BTW, this is the middle class, the educated that get virtual reality.
The people who aren't educated, who do nothing but manual labor, they live outside these compact arcological cities. They are constantly exposed to toxins, waste, extreme temperatures, extreme dryness, very little water, polluted groundwater, overcrowded, very little police forces, and very little government support. They may have a sort of escapism, but it won't be nearly as elaborate as the virtual reality. Their escapism will be a machine which zaps their brain, and makes them feel pleasure for hours on end. They will essentially be addicts, and that will be the only good thing in their life.
Oh, and the government won't worry about overpopulation in the slums, because if someone produces too many children, the children simply die.
Ultimately they will live in hell on Earth.
The Rich, well, they still live very well, in the traditional sense.