[xorbie]

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Human history is virtually guided by increasing energy use - new technologies and new energy sources. I think it is a safe bet to wager that future human energy consumption will be higher than today's levels - 150 years ago, there were no electricity power stations.

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"Prediction is very hard, especially about the future" - Yogi Berra.

Wise man.


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I did miss your point about environmental sustainability. Environmental sustainability simply wasn't an issue in the development of previous energy technologies, and now that it is, I assume that'll be navigated (which'll slow the acceleration of raw energy, I assume, but there's no reason that future developments won't occur).

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You know what they say about assumptions...

There are many good things to be said about humanity, but our ability for collective for-sight and self-control aren't really on the list.

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Apart from anything else, even the climate change alarmists claim that oceans will rise by 55cm (or so) in the next hundred years ago if nothing is done. Oceans rose by 25cm in the last century, and I don't think that was the greatest tragedy for human-kind in the 20th century.

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It's not as though a rise in sea level is the only effect. If you're going to use terminology like "global warming alarmists", you should at least accept that these alarmists are, surprisingly enough, saying pretty alarming things.

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While the environment is obviously an important issue, let's keep these things in perspective. The number of people dying - or forecast to die - from climate change is entirely insignificant compared to the number of people dying from poverty/starvation/etc.

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I'm not really concerned with the number of people dying directly from global warming so much as I am about the general sustainability of most of the human race.

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I suspect that the amount of food produced in Western nations, per resources used, is higher than in developing nations.

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This is so dependent on what food and resources you are talking about that it is ridiculous to even try to evaluate the statement you made. If we compare, say, corn to corn, you are probably right.

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That is, if you put Western farming techniques and technologies in developing nations of starvation/poverty, I think the Westerners could produce significantly more food than they are currently producing.

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Again, probably true.

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I imagine that someone can look into this to prove/disprove my suspicion.

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More importantly, you should re-read my post. I didn't say anything about food. I'm talking about iPods and heated homes and cars and AC and hairspray and mountains of garbage.

People who make very little/no money are what fuel a substantial portion of our economy and make our standard of living so high. Those are just the economic facts of the situation.