5 ms·
I too wish we were weaving exotic matter metamaterials out of the aether, but until then hydrocarbons are a miracle from the heavens for their uses. A modern ce
by ux266478 10mo ago
I too wish we were weaving exotic matter metamaterials out of the aether, but until then hydrocarbons are a miracle from the heavens for their uses. A modern cedar tree.
- Waterluvian 10mo agoI feel they’re more a miracle from the depths of hell. Sunlight is probably the miracle from heaven.
- ux266478 10mo agoThe sun is but a poor, corrupted pun on starlight. The reflecting pool of crude shimmers with thin-film interference like nebulae on the celestial expanse.
- Waterluvian 10mo agoOil’s potential, left deep in the crust, remains latent. Every mote of sunlight, furiously brought to life by the maelstrom, seeks inexorably for immediate purpose.
- LeFantome 10mo agoYou could argue that the sun was pretty useful, quite the “essential companion” in the Stone Age as well. In fact, it is hard to imagine there would have been enough dead trees to make oil if it were not for the sun. You could argue (pretty soundly) that oil is just a way of consuming the energy in trees which got that energy from the sun. So oil is just a way of extracting ancient solar energy.
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- literalAardvark 10mo agoIf you go that far, all energy sources are [ancient] solar energy though. Geothermal? Yep. Wind? Yep. Fission? Yeppers.
- kevin_thibedeau 10mo agoPetroleum is a stable sunlight storage medium.
- mr_toad 10mo ago> too wish we were weaving exotic matter metamaterials out of the aether, We’ve known how to make hydrocarbons out of air for decades, it’s just cheaper to dig up the remains of plants that discovered the process billions of years ago.
- fy20 10mo agoBiodiesel is a thing, there are fuel stations that sell it to the public in Europe. https://www.neste.com/products-and-innovation/neste-my-renewable-diesel https://www.neste.com/products-and-innovation/neste-my-renew...