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Semantics don't help us. Easily mined metals are a resource. Petrochemicals are a resource. As stated elsewhere the green revolution was just pouring oil on
by richardjordan 14y ago
Semantics don't help us. Easily mined metals are a resource. Petrochemicals are a resource. As stated elsewhere the green revolution was just pouring oil on fields (as pesticides) and natural gas (as fertilizer). When we run out of those we run out of our ability to sustain even current food yields.
Then there's topsoil. That's a resource, and in much of the midwest we're down to barely the amount needed for plants to root.
Potable water is a resource. The state of many of our aquifers is precarious.
Your statement that begins "on a pure physics basis..." bears little resemblance to any known facts about our current energy position. I'm a physicist by training, fwiw.
- cmccabe 14y agoLook, there is a shit-ton of coal in the ground. There is a process for converting coal into oil. The Germans used it during WWII. Not exactly cutting edge technology. If you are going to predict doom and gloom, you could at least give me a plausible scenario, like a supervirus or nuclear war. Running out of energy is just not going to happen any time soon. If you wanted to stretch your horizons beyond the 1940s (hard, I know)... you could predict that soon enough we'll be able to synthesize oil using yeast and some energy input. There are ways to replenish topsoil. Or even not to use it at all. Look up hydroponics-- another not-particularly-new technology. People are pretty good at dealing with gradual change, especially when there are huge economic incentives to do so.