Live while you can; society gonna plunge in ~30yrs

[nibun]

Just a heads up for all you guys here. If anyone has any REALLY LONG term plans for the future, forget it. I just spent a quarter studying and debating issues that affect the entire world, and I've come to the conlusion that we're looking at a bleak future.

The first issue is global warming. I'm sure everyone's heard of this, so I'm not going to talk about this too much. Suffice to say that it is a growing problem, and you can expect more weather-related crisis like the Asia's tsunami in coming years/decades.

The 2nd, and by far the more pressing issue is energy. The world's oil wells are being depleted at an unsustainable rate. Do a google on "peak oil" if you want details, but basically it means that global demand for oil will soon outstrip the production capacity. While it doesn't neccessarily mean we'll run out of oil soon, we're definitely looking at the end of cheap oil in America. The health of our economy absolutely depends on oil being cheap. As oil gets more expensive (as indicated by gas prices in the last couple years), the entire economy is going to take a beating as it causes everything else to become more expensive. Not only you'll directly have to pay more for gas, but you'll pay more for everything you buy since the production and transport costs for companies will increase. And lets not forget utility bills, since we need use oil to turn the turbines that create electricity.

The fast growing economies (ie India and China) are certainly not helping. Pretty soon there'll be more cars running in China than there are in the U.S. (which btw, will cook the Earth even faster). I'd say by 2007 gas prices will double to $5/gallon (I pay $2.69/gal right now). That figures to about $75 per fillup for the average suv. Hybrids won't help at all in the OVERALL big picture.

So is there anything that can be done? Sadly, I'd had to say no. Short of miracle breakthrough in energy technology or everyone on Earth brainwashed to live like the 1800's, there's nothing that can be done to significantly stall these problems (did I mention overpopulation?). So, to get back to my subject line, experience everything life has to offer in the next 30 yrs or so, and don't plan beyond that. If you plan to have kids, just realize what kind of environment they'll be growing up in. Just live life to the fullest before it's too late.

 

[Levex]

earth's environment managed to sustain itself for like 10 million years,can't see why it can't do so in the future. Sure some dinosaurs got extinct in the process but overall it always somehow maintains its equilibrium(sp?)

 

[Hypoxia II]

Check into Hydrogen powered cars. It's not science fiction, it's reality. Chevrolet unveiled it's hydrogen powered car this morning at the New York Car Show. Runs on NO FOSSIL FUELS and produces pure water as exhaust.

 

[SamePendo]

You know what I saw this morning?

A zombie... well.. .tons of them.. walking on the streets, greeting me etc.

Yeah, they died at different times, most of them at the year 1999/2000. Others died in 1994 because of lack of food.

 

[VIVAlasVEGASBaby]

Originally posted by Hypoxia II
Check into Hydrogen powered cars. It's not science fiction, it's reality. Chevrolet unveiled it's hydrogen powered car this morning at the New York Car Show. Runs on NO FOSSIL FUELS and produces pure water as exhaust.

CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE

Its a nice idea, but too bad its its close to a joke. Hydrogen cars
1. are way too dangerous
2. are way too expensive
3. require energy in the form of fossil fuels to extract the hydrogen from other elements
4. have fuel cells that are so complex they can only be made by hand (economically it'd be impossible to mass produce these cars)

 

[diplomatic_lie]

You must be a teenager.


Considering governments spend billions of dollars working out how to resolve the world's problems, I think they would know a lot more about the world's situation than...well, you.

 

[7 Virtues]

Dangers can be mitigated, there are non fossil fuel power sources (nuclear, wind, hydro, etc.) and the cost of each will go down as production goes up.

 

[belividere]

spending a quarter studying these issues is not even a fraction of the time that it would take to spend actually knowing the facts about these issues.

If you think that these are issues that are that important than consider actually learning them and understanding them in order to change them.

 

[TheInfamousCBear]

We all die one day, sh1t, you might die tommarow, so who cares...Worrying (sp?) about this kind of sh1t is only gonna mess you all up, I used to think about this kind of stuff when I was a kid and it drove me nuts to the point where I couldnt sleep at night...So dont do it to yourself...

 

[Bigsnake]

truth... you better start stockpiling food, guns and ammo for when the **** hits the fan.

 

[Hypoxia II]

Its a nice idea, but too bad its its close to a joke.

Being a fair man I checked and read your links as I know little about the technology. Although there are flaws at this stage it's unfair to count the technology out for the future. I remember a time when electric cars were just golf carts and the automotive industry laughed at the idea of Hybrid or electric vehicles. Now Hybrid vehicles are evolving and being mass produced. True they're not gonna win in the quarter mile but they can keep up with traffic.

The original post reffered to society in 30 years. Technology advances at such a rapid pace that this technology can possibly be mass produced and effecient in a much shorter time period than that.

One of those links you posted talked about not only concept hydrogen cars, but models that are currently mass produced, as well as mass transit vehicles that are already on the road.

I can see expense being a big problem right now, but, give the manufacturers some more time to develop the technology and the prices will come down...



Hypoxia II

 

[MetalFortress]

What a joke. First of all, global warming had nothing to do with the tsunami, because global warming DOESN'T CAUSE EARTHQUAKES. Second, the sea levels will not rise, because when water freezes, it expands. When it unfreezes, it will go back to its normal size, causing it to either cancel itself out and stay the same, or dropping sea level a bit. That's if it even happens to the degree you chicken littles think it will anyways, which I don't think it will.

Besides, for someone with street smarts, there is always a way to turn something bad into something good. Is oil going through the roof? Invest in it. You can buy barrels of oil and store them on a tank farm, and then sell them and hire an oil truck to transport it to your customer. If oil is going to be that scarce, you'll be able to make a fortune.

 

[MetalFortress]

Don't doom and gloom it. If you really think about it, you can benefit and profit from a good economy, and you can benefit and profit from a bad economy.

 

[MetalFortress]

Soooo, here's an idea: invest in oil now, and when the oil crisis hits, sell. You'll be rich enough to buy all the electric cars and other alternative-energy things you need.

 

[nibun]

Originally posted by Levex
earth's environment managed to sustain itself for like 10 million years,can't see why it can't do so in the future. Sure some dinosaurs got extinct in the process but overall it always somehow maintains its equilibrium(sp?)

Sure, maybe in the long term (another million yrs or so) environmental equilibrium can happen, but I'm talking about in a few decades, where human influence is causing all sorts of weather fluctuations. Well, the oil problem is gonna hit us a lot sooner than global warming anyway.

Originally posted by diplomatic_lie
You must be a teenager.

Considering governments spend billions of dollars working out how to resolve the world's problems, I think they would know a lot more about the world's situation than...well, you.

By your logic, you must be a senile old man. (No, I don't really think that)

Only a few, developed nations (like the U.S. & some in Europe) are worrying about global problems. And the best idea that they can come up with is the "Kyoto Treaty", which is a joke in terms of it's ability to solve anything (Do a google on this). Leaders of nations are much more worried about short-term problems like the current economy and their own political well-being. They'll do anything to satisfy their citizen's current needs. This is especially true of developing countries. You think China's gonna stop for even one second to think about how their growing economy is gonna drain the world of its resources? I don't blame them though, who wouldn't want their economy to grow as fast as possible?

Yes, they know about the world's situation, but it's in their best interest to keep everyone else from knowing the degree of its severity.

Originally posted by 7 Virtues
Dangers can be mitigated, there are non fossil fuel power sources (nuclear, wind, hydro, etc.) and the cost of each will go down as production goes up.

Yes, but they'll not advance nearly fast enough to counteract the diminishing oil supply.

Originally posted by belividere
spending a quarter studying these issues is not even a fraction of the time that it would take to spend actually knowing the facts about these issues.

If you think that these are issues that are that important than consider actually learning them and understanding them in order to change them.

So how long have ~you~ studied these issues?

I've studied them enough to know that any REALIZEABLE effort to solve these problems is futile. Nothing short of voluntary suicide of half of the world's population, and the rest going back to living like the pre-industrialized world.

Originally posted by TheInfamousCBear
We all die one day, sh1t, you might die tommarow, so who cares...Worrying (sp?) about this kind of sh1t is only gonna mess you all up, I used to think about this kind of stuff when I was a kid and it drove me nuts to the point where I couldnt sleep at night...So dont do it to yourself...

Oh I'm not worrying about it. I've accepted it. That's why I advocate living life to the fullest in the next few decades, and don't worry or plan out your life much further than that.

Originally posted by Hypoxia II
The original post reffered to society in 30 years. Technology advances at such a rapid pace that this technology can possibly be mass produced and effecient in a much shorter time period than that.
I can see expense being a big problem right now, but, give the manufacturers some more time to develop the technology and the prices will come down...
Hypoxia II

Trust me, I wish it were so. Computer technology may advance at a rapid pace, but alternative energy technology has been at a standstill for the last 20 years. Don't hold your breath for prices of these other sources to come down. However, oil may get so ridiculously expensive to match the price of alternative sources, at which point we will be seeing a lot more solar, wind, nukes, etc being used.

Originally posted by MetalFortress
What a joke. First of all, global warming had nothing to do with the tsunami, because global warming DOESN'T CAUSE EARTHQUAKES. Second, the sea levels will not rise, because when water freezes, it expands. When it unfreezes, it will go back to its normal size, causing it to either cancel itself out and stay the same, or dropping sea level a bit. That's if it even happens to the degree you chicken littles think it will anyways, which I don't think it will.

Besides, for someone with street smarts, there is always a way to turn something bad into something good. Is oil going through the roof? Invest in it. You can buy barrels of oil and store them on a tank farm, and then sell them and hire an oil truck to transport it to your customer. If oil is going to be that scarce, you'll be able to make a fortune.

Bah, I won't debate global warming with you since it's nothing compared to the oil problem. And yes, a few people will make a buck from the oil crisis, that doesn't negate overall problem. But hey, you should definitely look into investing in oil. I might too. Like I said, do everything to get the most out of life for the next few decades.

 

[diplomatic_lie]

Originally posted by nibun
Only a few, developed nations (like the U.S. & some in Europe) are worrying about global problems.

And those few, developed countries have billions of dollars of funding in programs specifically designed to predict future events and work on them. This isn't a depression, you're talking about potential anarchy and armageddon.

Now on the other hand, what expertise do you offer in contrast to the government departments?

I've studied them enough to know that any REALIZEABLE effort to solve these problems is futile. Nothing short of voluntary suicide of half of the world's population, and the rest going back to living like the pre-industrialized world.

Apart from visiting websites with names like WEGONNADIE.com, what actual research have you done?

Oh I'm not worrying about it. I've accepted it. That's why I advocate living life to the fullest in the next few decades, and don't worry or plan out your life much further than that.

Well when I'm retiring and STILL having fun, you'll be the one with the screwed up life in 30 years.

 

[MetalFortress]

Have you studied both sides of the story, Nibun? Or have you just studied the side of it you are advocating? Why not also say that the US presidency is one big huge illuminati conspiracy?

You can't gauge alternative energy sources now by their development in the past 20 years, because they haven't been the focus of so much research and development. From hydrogen to biodiesel to ethanol, even people running diesel vehicles off of old vegetable oil, a lot more is being done than has been in the past. Hybrid car technology will become a tool for more than just tech geeks and liberal nutjobs, as companies like Honda and Toyota (yes, the Prius still blows) spread out the technology into everyday sedans, vans trucks and SUVs, and even exotic supercars that today take a ton of gas. If alternate energy sources have even 1/3 the concentration put into them for the next ten years that the internet has had for the last ten years, I think the "oil crisis" will be averted.

 

[squirrels]

People are driving around in sh!t-cars that get 10 miles to the gallon right now. When oil becomes tight, they will either pony up the extra money, buy a more fuel-efficient car, or get out their bicycles.

Economically, supply and demand will tighten around oil consumption like a noose until people are FORCED to either start conserving or find alternate transportation.

What you'll start to see is people moving back to the cities. Right now, too many people live in outlying suburbs and commute many, MANY miles to work each day. When fuel becomes tight, people will start moving back to the cities, closer to the jobs, and mass-transit will become a priority. You can live in a city like New York pretty much without EVER owning a car. People will start building UP instead of OUT, and cars will be weekend luxury cruisers instead of constant daily drivers.

It's not going to hit "all at once" tomorrow and suddenly we will be DRY on oil. People are already seeing the effects of diminishing fossil fuel supplies. Cars are being built which can run on corn oil...corn you can grow in fields. And the hydrogen thing IS a joke right now, because you DO need fossil fuel energy to dissociate the hydrogen from the oxygen in water. What they need to do is start exploring SOLAR energy. Dammit, we've got a fusion reactor thousands of times the size of our planet and we're still only harnessing its energy in the form of decomposed organic waste (fossil fuels).

It'll happen. Only question is "when". But it's not a doomsday scenario. We have alternatives. They just need to become more profitable than the existing system before companies will take them seriously. And they WILL long before we reach a "crisis."

 

[comic_relief]

forget this post because I was unlearned about the subject. Follow next post made by me on this subject

 

[TillTheEndOfTime]

Just a heads up on global warming. It does not exist. There is as much scientific evidence against it as there is for it.

The world has gone through many cycles where the weather was hotter than usual and colder than usual (ice-age anyone?). The weather we are seeing lately is not out of the ordinary in terms of these cycles.

A lot of this global warming is just fear-mongering. Don't buy into everything you hear on the news. Afterall, they profit in keeping you watching and one way to do this is fear-monger (we fear what we do not know, so we tune in more to find out more about it, elementary psychology). This is a conflct of interest. Many of these "scientists" supporting the idea of global warming happening are usually not in a third party and are also in a position which puts them in conflict of interest.