Why it is impossible for humans to live in tribes and/or regress

[Reborn]

There's actually nothing PHYSICALLY stopping researchers from finding the answer to alot of things such as fusion... it's just that we live in a world which says "you can't do this because you don't have this stuff called money" ..... if you think about it, there's nothing physically stopping someone from building a house. They can go some where, get bricks and wood and piping, wires etc... from some where without paying and build a house. But that's called stealing. Just something i have thought about since i was in primary school.

They have fusion. It works. It is proven. They even have proven matter-antimatter reactions. Of which a teaspoon would be able to power the planet. But you've hit the nail on the head, making a teaspoon of antimatter would bankrupt the entire US. And to build a reactor using fusion would A: "cost" too much (though a price WELL worth paying for clean energy) and B: require containment materials that haven't been invented yet.
The new hybrid powerstations use fission AND fusion. The fossil fuels help to buffer the violent energies created by the fusion aspect, meaning modern day materials can be used for the reactors. They also use the waste-heat, so MUCH more efficient.
But guess what, Obama's just commissioned a new host of reactors to be build, none of them Hybrid systems................

Money restricts everything. It is our vice.

[AuroraGlacialis]

While I largely agree on the money issue (though not everything is failing solely because of lack of funding), I have to adress Olaf's post in saying that it is true regarding the possibility to replace oil by other energies. The question is however if we will make the turn before we arrive at an economic energy crisis that leaves us with no money to make the change anymore. Another question is if we really want to sustain a higher population. Think of the 13 billion people in the movie and how dense this would be - there would be even less room for nature than there already is. We could all move in giant cityplexes , but would this make us happy?
Also, I have to adress again, that you cannot turn energy into food. You also need land, soil and in modern agriculture also fertilizer and pesticides. The amount of soil is diminishing as fast as we burn down rain forests to gain more, phosphorous for fertilizers is running out within decades and industrial agriculture is not exactly light on the ecology. There are many more issues than oil here. The main problem we face if oil runs out eventually (and make no mistake - we WILL use every last drop of it we can reach before costs are high enough to rather burn money for the energy) is an economic one. And please don't take a technology that produces waste which still nobody knows where to put it as a clean energy. Nuclear fission could probably be made less dangerous if effort is put into it (that just FAILed again in Scandinavia BTW), but no matter how safe you make it, you will end up with waste that better not be stored in warehouses like they do it in Russia. After 50 years there is still no solution to the waste problem and we still produce that waste in the mere hope and trust in the advances of technology which will make it go away.

[Grif]

There are three types of people in this world. Those who don't care about what is happening and go on with there lives, those who discusses these problems on forums, and those who do something about it. Which one are you?

We can go on and on about how we continue to put off problems for future generations only to realize that we have as well. Or we can do something about it.

[UnNamed]

Because mankind is hungry of power.If people live on the **** you want it gives you the right to kill them.

[SBG]

because history has proven that society that stops to advance becomes extinct

[Xmal'hautl]

There are three types of people in this world. Those who don't care about what is happening and go on with there lives, those who discusses these problems on forums, and those who do something about it. Which one are you?

Good point

I have to admit that i and possibly many others belong to the 2nd group.
Good debates like here are a needed step in order to proceed.

Regarding fusion power plants, i once read somewhere (a few months ago)
that fusion plants will produce nearly as much nuclear waste as current nuclear plants due to their neutron bombardment in the reactor.
Unfortunately i can't remember the source but my feeling says it was a serious one, nothing fusion-bashing^.

[AuroraGlacialis]

I have to admit that i and possibly many others belong to the 2nd group.Good debates like here are a needed step in order to proceed.

I have to admit, I am mostly in that group too. I think however that fruitful discussions can also have an effect by spreading ideas and inspiring participants. You need to know what is going on before you can do something.

I think, many of us already do little things - for our selves (I read of a lot of people picking up sports, meditation, healthy foods) and the environment (some picked up recycling, use the bike more instead of the car). Some even consider different career options. Debates are hopefully also useful in determining what actions can be taken besides the little things - maybe you have some ideas and can share them.

I personally try to open the eyes of people in the internet as well as in RL to the problems our near future holds, but I also do my little share like recycling etc and I hope my current work in ecology will do some good. Still, looking at the big picture I feel like this is not enough which is why I keep thinking and discussing.

Greetings, Aurora

[Reborn]

I have to admit, I am mostly in that group too. I think however that fruitful discussions can also have an effect by spreading ideas and inspiring participants. You need to know what is going on before you can do something.

I think, many of us already do little things - for our selves (I read of a lot of people picking up sports, meditation, healthy foods) and the environment (some picked up recycling, use the bike more instead of the car). Some even consider different career options. Debates are hopefully also useful in determining what actions can be taken besides the little things - maybe you have some ideas and can share them.

I personally try to open the eyes of people in the internet as well as in RL to the problems our near future holds, but I also do my little share like recycling etc and I hope my current work in ecology will do some good. Still, looking at the big picture I feel like this is not enough which is why I keep thinking and discussing.

Greetings, Aurora

Indeed. The learned individual may stumble upon another scientific leap towards green consumption, but it is the masses that sustain the process. I may be only one of the masses, but i am planting, composting, recycling, car is off the road (cycling instead). I argue every day with my boss to lower the company's waste and energy usage. Walking around behind him switching off lights etc gets me a few shouts But every little helps.

"To that one starfish, it matters....." (10 points for the name of the film)

[tm20]

Indeed. The learned individual may stumble upon another scientific leap towards green consumption, but it is the masses that sustain the process. I may be only one of the masses, but i am planting, composting, recycling, car is off the road (cycling instead). I argue every day with my boss to lower the company's waste and energy usage. Walking around behind him switching off lights etc gets me a few shouts But every little helps.

"To that one starfish, it matters....." (10 points for the name of the film)

spongebob squarepants movie?

[Reborn]

spongebob squarepants movie?

lolol no, quite an old film actually, 1998 i think, although it does take it from an old parable