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The energy gradient which powers civilization is decaying. Civilization must conifgure itself around a new, steeper gradient. Only catch: it must use the old g

• 1attice 4y ago
  Accurate and sobering. TY
  • beefman 4y ago
    The energy content of an average rock – one you can go outside and pick up right now – is enough to melt it 1,000 times. (Except coal – it's one of the least energetic rocks you can find.) There's no catch. It's just that good. Why isn't it being done? One might have asked the same thing about coal at the start of the industrial revolution. "For untold years men froze on the site of what now are coal mines, and starved within sound of the Niagara that is now at work providing food."[1] Steam engines were around for half a century before Boulton and Watt, and coal had been used for heating and metallurgy since Roman times at least.[2] It would have been natural to dismiss them as big, incredibly expensive machines of limited use.[3] The answer seems to be that configuring and reconfiguring civilization is tricky... But there's plenty of reason for optimism. [1] https://gist.github.com/clumma/2ffed4289963dec56d39 https://gist.github.com/clumma/2ffed4289963dec56d39 [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_Roman_Britain#Coal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_Roman_Britain#Coal [3] https://twitter.com/clumma/status/1603079619527299073 https://twitter.com/clumma/status/1603079619527299073