Petroleum becomes harder to get with each passing year. Diffuse solar is no replacement for concentrated solar (petroleum, natural gas, coal). Nuclear never really pays for itself, and poses serious risks if normalized "in every basement", due to social breakdown.
It is quite the predicament. Problems being fixable, while predicaments tend only able to be mitigated.
Producing much more stuff locally would radically reduce transport costs, while having the benefit of strengthening the local.
I've heard some people claim that the problem of nuclear waste could be solved by encasing the radioactive rods in concrete, going out into the middle of the Pacific, and then throwing them overboard. I can't decide if this is the Occam's Razor of nuclear engineering or the deranged suggestion of a philosopher stoner.
An interesting analysis that jars a little given the continuous references to 'primitive' parts of the world and the (satirical?) reference to superpowers like "France". (They do have lots of nuclear reactors though.)
A mix of technologies is definitely the way to go, as you clearly set out, and reserving sensitive jobs for people with the skillset rather than the currently correct speech patterns... spot-on.
The relatively few genuinely primitive parts of the world can teach us a lot about how to actually live meaningful lives. It isn't necessarily with umpteen kilowatts of power passing through your walls (or even having walls in the first place, in some cases). The mix of technologies also needs to be balanced with realistic expectations of living standards, based on truthful sharing of knowledge and power, rather than pricing the poors out, as is currently the strategy.
Petroleum becomes harder to get with each passing year. Diffuse solar is no replacement for concentrated solar (petroleum, natural gas, coal). Nuclear never really pays for itself, and poses serious risks if normalized "in every basement", due to social breakdown.
It is quite the predicament. Problems being fixable, while predicaments tend only able to be mitigated.
Producing much more stuff locally would radically reduce transport costs, while having the benefit of strengthening the local.
I've heard some people claim that the problem of nuclear waste could be solved by encasing the radioactive rods in concrete, going out into the middle of the Pacific, and then throwing them overboard. I can't decide if this is the Occam's Razor of nuclear engineering or the deranged suggestion of a philosopher stoner.
An interesting analysis that jars a little given the continuous references to 'primitive' parts of the world and the (satirical?) reference to superpowers like "France". (They do have lots of nuclear reactors though.)
A mix of technologies is definitely the way to go, as you clearly set out, and reserving sensitive jobs for people with the skillset rather than the currently correct speech patterns... spot-on.
The relatively few genuinely primitive parts of the world can teach us a lot about how to actually live meaningful lives. It isn't necessarily with umpteen kilowatts of power passing through your walls (or even having walls in the first place, in some cases). The mix of technologies also needs to be balanced with realistic expectations of living standards, based on truthful sharing of knowledge and power, rather than pricing the poors out, as is currently the strategy.