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A New Golden Age won't come from basic income, it can only come from cheap, abundant energy. I won't dig out the sources atm, but its pretty obvious that coal,

A New Golden Age won't come from basic income, it can only come from cheap, abundant energy. I won't dig out the sources atm, but its pretty obvious that coal, and later oil drove the last two centuries of rapid progress. Unless another abundant and cheaper source of energy is found, the world economy is in for a slowdown.

TeMPOraL 11y ago
We have one. The only thing that stands between it and us is irrational fears of the public. I'm talking about nuclear (fission) power, obviously. It's more than enough to keep us up and running until we crack fusion.
- JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  There's also Methane Hydrate. Sure its a CO2 producer; but it is easily drilled for and delivered to coastal cities, which is where most of the (US) population lives anyway.
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    Isn't that the thing we could easily cook the planet with if we released it by accident?
    - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
      I don't know about that scenario. Seems unlikely - the bottom of the ocean is cold; Methane Hydrate is locked in ice nodules under the ocean floor. Warming it slightly will release it as gas - making free natural gas wells. I guess its a question of, is there oxygen down there, that could cause a fire if released? Thus creating a runaway reaction. Could be. If that were true, I'd suppose there would be no more deposits, as Earth is hit by meteors regularly and they would pierce/heat the deposits. So history/geology seems to say No there's not a problem. Anyway, the Japanese already have test wells. They're ocean-locked and have no native fuel sources. So they're extremely interested in harvesting fuel from the sea.
      - TeMPOraL 11y ago
        Methane is something like 20-70 times more potent a greenhouse gas (depending on timescales you look at, estimates for 100 and 20 years respectively) than carbon dioxide; it's not burning that would be a problem, but massive release of unburned methane. Aunt Wiki[0] seems to confirm it may be a problem. Anyway, I only learned about dangers and potential as energy source of clathrates from Fate of the World[1], so I don't claim to know much about the topic. [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_clathrate#Methane_clathrates_and_climate_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_clathrate#Methane_clat... [1] - http://store.steampowered.com/app/80200/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/80200/

TeMPOraL 11y ago

We have one. The only thing that stands between it and us is irrational fears of the public. I'm talking about nuclear (fission) power, obviously. It's more than enough to keep us up and running until we crack fusion.

JoeAltmaier 11y ago
There's also Methane Hydrate. Sure its a CO2 producer; but it is easily drilled for and delivered to coastal cities, which is where most of the (US) population lives anyway.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  Isn't that the thing we could easily cook the planet with if we released it by accident?
  - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
    I don't know about that scenario. Seems unlikely - the bottom of the ocean is cold; Methane Hydrate is locked in ice nodules under the ocean floor. Warming it slightly will release it as gas - making free natural gas wells. I guess its a question of, is there oxygen down there, that could cause a fire if released? Thus creating a runaway reaction. Could be. If that were true, I'd suppose there would be no more deposits, as Earth is hit by meteors regularly and they would pierce/heat the deposits. So history/geology seems to say No there's not a problem. Anyway, the Japanese already have test wells. They're ocean-locked and have no native fuel sources. So they're extremely interested in harvesting fuel from the sea.
    - TeMPOraL 11y ago
      Methane is something like 20-70 times more potent a greenhouse gas (depending on timescales you look at, estimates for 100 and 20 years respectively) than carbon dioxide; it's not burning that would be a problem, but massive release of unburned methane. Aunt Wiki[0] seems to confirm it may be a problem. Anyway, I only learned about dangers and potential as energy source of clathrates from Fate of the World[1], so I don't claim to know much about the topic. [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_clathrate#Methane_clathrates_and_climate_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_clathrate#Methane_clat... [1] - http://store.steampowered.com/app/80200/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/80200/