4 ms·

Why don't we... money. Think of everything good in the world we could have but don't because we and everyone else want to keep as much money as possible.

xcv123 3y ago
That's not how money works. Otherwise you could solve these problem by printing money.
- Xeoncross 3y ago
  That's exactly how money works. People want it, so they cut corners and/or hoard it instead of being generous with it. Printing money would just mean someone would hoard the printed money (which, as you can see, already happens). Collecting money is just a side-effect of people being selfish.
  - xcv123 3y ago
    False. The median balance for savings is only $5k in the richest country in the world. That is nothing. People are living paycheck to paycheck. https://time.com/personal-finance/article/average-american-savings-account-balance/ https://time.com/personal-finance/article/average-american-s... "American households, on average, have $41,600 in savings, according to data last collected by the Federal Reserve in 2019. The median balance for American households is $5,300, according to the same data."
kelnos 3y ago
In this case, that's not really the issue. Yes, the issue is money, but it's not as nefarious and cynical as you make it sound. People don't want desalination, they want fresh water. If there are cheaper ways to meet water demand than desalination -- which is currently the case for most (but not all) places in the world -- then there's no need for desalination. Certainly as water scarcity becomes more of a problem, we'll have to re-evaluate this situation, and at some point desalination may end up being competitive with the alternatives. We also might find more efficient (cheaper) ways to do desalination, which could tip the scales toward it earlier.
deleted 3y ago
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the_snooze 3y ago
It's not a matter of greed as you seem to be implying. In this case, the money is really just a proxy for how practically difficult desalinazation is vs. the alternatives. It's the same reason why we don't ship parcels via ICBM; the alternatives are way easier on multiple dimensions. The juice isn't worth the squeeze.

xcv123 3y ago

That's not how money works. Otherwise you could solve these problem by printing money.

Xeoncross 3y ago
That's exactly how money works. People want it, so they cut corners and/or hoard it instead of being generous with it. Printing money would just mean someone would hoard the printed money (which, as you can see, already happens). Collecting money is just a side-effect of people being selfish.
- xcv123 3y ago
  False. The median balance for savings is only $5k in the richest country in the world. That is nothing. People are living paycheck to paycheck. https://time.com/personal-finance/article/average-american-savings-account-balance/ https://time.com/personal-finance/article/average-american-s... "American households, on average, have $41,600 in savings, according to data last collected by the Federal Reserve in 2019. The median balance for American households is $5,300, according to the same data."

kelnos 3y ago

In this case, that's not really the issue. Yes, the issue is money, but it's not as nefarious and cynical as you make it sound. People don't want desalination, they want fresh water. If there are cheaper ways to meet water demand than desalination -- which is currently the case for most (but not all) places in the world -- then there's no need for desalination. Certainly as water scarcity becomes more of a problem, we'll have to re-evaluate this situation, and at some point desalination may end up being competitive with the alternatives. We also might find more efficient (cheaper) ways to do desalination, which could tip the scales toward it earlier.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

the_snooze 3y ago

It's not a matter of greed as you seem to be implying. In this case, the money is really just a proxy for how practically difficult desalinazation is vs. the alternatives. It's the same reason why we don't ship parcels via ICBM; the alternatives are way easier on multiple dimensions. The juice isn't worth the squeeze.