3 ms·
173,000 terawatts of solar energy hit the earth continuously. We don't even extract 1/100000th of that. And if we throw in other forms of energy for which we ha
by darksaints 6y ago
173,000 terawatts of solar energy hit the earth continuously. We don't even extract 1/100000th of that. And if we throw in other forms of energy for which we have no feasible extraction methods (such as fusion), we could multiply that potential several fold.
Yes, resource constraints exist...but the idea that we're anywhere near them is the one lacking imagination. There isn't a single practical resource constraint affecting our lives that isn't fundamentally a knowledge problem.
- Frost1x 6y agoWhen I say "imagination," I mean that in the current context of time. Projecting into the future to grab non-existant technologies, like a dyson sphere or what-have-you, to try and resolve current energy demand roadblocks in photovoltaic and battery technology isn't looking at the current time frame we inhabitants of Earth share (with an ever so tiny bit of relativistic difference). If we start looking at pure physical energy and matter, I'm not sure how we get around laws of conservation of energy and matter, making the universe on the grandest of scales potentially zero-sum, but then we get into realms of physics we just don't quite have evidence for yet. But we really don't understand that much about space expansion or potential fate of the universe at all to even make intelligent guesses.
- darksaints 6y agoPractical resource constraints are a function of knowledge, and knowledge is not, and never will be, zero-sum. Anything that we do that limits cooperation amongst humans in the generation of knowledge is a de facto creation of a resource constraint. Immigration, and skilled immigration in particular, is part of that. Limiting immigration due to some imaginary idea of limited resources is inherently a self fulfilling prophecy.