Has anyone read the communist manifesto lately? I think Marx pretty much predicted what is happening now with jobs. Much of what is being discussed here is the inevitable consequence of capitalism -- survival of the fittest requires a continual increase in productivity which ensures that fewer and fewer of us have jobs, resulting eventually in the collapse of capitalism. I'm not saying Marx had the solution, only that he understood capitalism's limitations. It almost happened in the 30s, but they didn't have robots then. Robots and AIs are the ultimate productivity machines. Remember Ross Perot's giant sucking sound? I can hear it now...
We need to consider the possibility of symbiosis (sp?), or mutually beneficial pairing of humans and machines in order to survive this crisis. We can't get rid of machines, so we must incorporate them in our minds and bodies to keep from being overwhelmed by them. In other words, "the borg";-) I don't know if this would be desirable or even possible, but does anyone have a reasonable alternative?
see www.astropower.com (APWR), as far as I can tell
it is not a division of Exxon Mobil, and it is growing pretty fast. The real problem with PV cells was always economy of scale... God knows there's enough useless desert and enough sunlight to power up the world.
Er, you're right about the storage medium, and you're wrong about the power plants. Fuel cells are the key to stopping the use of fossil fuels. Solar power can only be produced cost-effectively where and when there's a lot of sun, and wind power only when the wind blows, but if you store the energy in the form of hydrogen, you can then transport it and store it for use by cars, houses, etc. You can even do co-generation -- generate electricity for your house and use the waste heat to heat your house.
And if cars are pumping out steam in LA, well it's pretty damn dry there anyway. So put your life preserver away!
Can't someone, anyone, be an optimist for a change?
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Has anyone read the communist manifesto lately? I think Marx pretty much predicted what is happening now with jobs. Much of what is being discussed here is the inevitable consequence of capitalism -- survival of the fittest requires a continual increase in productivity which ensures that fewer and fewer of us have jobs, resulting eventually in the collapse of capitalism. I'm not saying Marx had the solution, only that he understood capitalism's limitations. It almost happened in the 30s, but they didn't have robots then. Robots and AIs are the ultimate productivity machines. Remember Ross Perot's giant sucking sound? I can hear it now...
;-) I don't know if this would be desirable or even possible, but does anyone have a reasonable alternative?
We need to consider the possibility of symbiosis (sp?), or mutually beneficial pairing of humans and machines in order to survive this crisis. We can't get rid of machines, so we must incorporate them in our minds and bodies to keep from being overwhelmed by them. In other words, "the borg"
actually her voice really turns me out...
see www.astropower.com (APWR), as far as I can tell it is not a division of Exxon Mobil, and it is growing pretty fast. The real problem with PV cells was always economy of scale... God knows there's enough useless desert and enough sunlight to power up the world.
Er, you're right about the storage medium, and you're wrong about the power plants. Fuel cells are the key to stopping the use of fossil fuels. Solar power can only be produced cost-effectively where and when there's a lot of sun, and wind power only when the wind blows, but if you store the energy in the form of hydrogen, you can then transport it and store it for use by cars, houses, etc. You can even do co-generation -- generate electricity for your house and use the waste heat to heat your house. And if cars are pumping out steam in LA, well it's pretty damn dry there anyway. So put your life preserver away! Can't someone, anyone, be an optimist for a change?