[Gasification] Way OT --

Wed Apr 11 10:23:04 CDT 2007

Peter closed the gate behind him on Belize when he got there.

Art Krenzel

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Singfield" <snkm at btl.net>
To: <gasification at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 7:32 AM
Subject: [Gasification] Way OT --

Look folks -- when planning any endeavor -- it is well advised to look to
the sky to see if storm is forming before going to plow that field.

This article points to some dark clouds -- the same I see -- it is not that
the human being is more "evil" today than before - -it is all about
"system" -- and how some systems bring out the worst in any human.

Thus -- this might be the time to work a small gasifier for a little power
-- but not the right time to dedicate life and resources to some large
project based on gasification for energy --

In short -- you might not be able to plow the large fields -- but you still
can tend to the small garden in your own back yard.

Whatever -- good luck -- and don't even think of moving to any country in
the tropics as a solution!!

Peter / Belize

******************************************************

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/energyresources/message/100325

POSITIVE FEEDBACKS AND THE OVERPOPULATION PROBLEM
By Jay Hanson - April 9, 2007

Permission to reprint expressly granted.

ABSTRACT

The fact that global oil production is "peaking" now, in and of
itself, is not a problem. The problem will arise in  the "behavior"
of Americans who can not get enough resources to feed their
families. In other words, "our peak oil problem" is really "our
overpopulation problem" (too many people chasing too few
resources). Moreover, since American government was
specifically designed to mitigate social problems by increasing
economic activity - and all economic activity reduces available
energy - all measures that our government takes to mitigate
our overpopulation problem will make our overpopulation
problem even worse.

SAME GENES, DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS

Human behavior is determined by genes and environment.[1]
Genetically, we are still the same as we were in the 16th
century.[2]

What HAS changed since the 16th century is our
"environment".

Given our present environment, the overwhelming majority of
Americans "decide" that fitness is best served by "cooperation"
instead of "confrontation". This is because  cooperation
(working at a job for a paycheck) works better than violence
in our present environment.

When the day comes that most Americans can't feed their
families by cooperation (as in post WW1 Germany), then they
will "decide" to use violence and take resources from others
by force. We know that this day is coming to the America for
 two fundamental reasons:

· Ever-falling per-capita available natural resources.[3] . . .
Sooner-or-later Americans will not be able to afford the fuel
to drive to work. Sooner-or-later America's electrical grid will
fail and our life-support system will collapse along with it
(e.g., Katrina).[4]

· The design of America's political system.

Our Founders, for excellent reasons, didn't trust government,
 so they founded a government that was controlled by the rich
 via lobbyists.

It's based on a few core assumptions:

· Individuals know best how to improve their  lives.

· The best way to solve social problems is through economic
growth.

· The best way to increase economic growth is to simply ask
people who are good at it for advice. That's why lobbyists are
absolutely necessary to the function of our government.
Without lobbyists, our "corruptible-but-otherwise-unqualified"
elected officials and their appointed cronies would have
absolutely no idea what to do.

In other words, elected officials are forced (by design) to ask
the factory owner what government can do to increase his
profit, so he will build more factories, provide more jobs, and
then individuals can make themselves better off.

Elected officials are to keep giving the rich people (factory
owners) a greater fraction of the economic pie so they will
keep increasing the size of the pie. That's how our Founders
designed it, and that's how public policy is made today!

Since our country was  specifically-designed to solve social
problems via economic growth, the only remedy our
government can offer for social problems is even MORE
economic growth. Thus, everything our government does to
mitigate the problem (stimulate economic growth) will make
our "overpopulation problem" even worse because all
economic activity reduces our dwindling natural resources.

THE NEW/OLD ENVIRONMENT

Thermodynamic laws inform us that sooner-or-later an
"environment"  which favors violence will re-emerge and
Americans will become, once again, "red in tooth and claw".
As per-capita available energy continues to decline, more-
and-more Americans will "decide" to feed their families via
violence.

In the new/old environment, it will just make "good economic
sense" to murder your neighbor, take his resources, and then
invent a great excuse (hire an economist) to evade social
responsibility for your  actions.

End References:
[1] "Environment" in this paper is everything that is not a gene.

[2]
<http://www.warsocialism.com/ahistoryofviolence.htm>http://www.warsocialism.
com/ahistoryofviolence.htm

[3] Not only does all economic activity reduce available
energy, all manufacturing activity also reduces available minerals:
"We must emphasize that every Cadillac or every Zim - let alone
any instrument of war - means fewer plowshares for some future
generations, and implicitly, fewer future human beings, too." -
Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen
<http://www.dieoff.com/page148.htm>http://www.dieoff.com/page148.htm

[4] <http://www.warsocialism.com/>http://www.warsocialism.com/

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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