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Nuclear Fusion: Eternal Energy = Eternal Damnation
Nuclear Fusion: Eternal Energy = Eternal Damnation Like a third rate zombie movie on Netflix, delusions of nuclear fusion repeatedly rise from the dead. The cover story in the June 2023 issue of Scientific American by Philip Ball, “Star Power: Does Fusion Have a Future After All?” recycles the corporate line which was broadcast on December 13, […]
Feedback Loops and Unsustainable Systems
Feedback Loops and Unsustainable Systems Mountains as seen from Tennessee Welcome Center I have brought up feedback loops (both positive and negative) many times in this space. I’ve also brought up unsustainable systems in one way or another in practically every article, since they are endemic in human society and at the root of every predicament. It would be very simple […]
Stable Electricity: A Long Slow Goodbye
Stable Electricity: A Long Slow Goodbye Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash Electricity shortages are looming for the UK and Europe, and then later for the rest of the overdeveloped world as well. Blackouts will become common, and you will get power only for a couple of hours a day — just like in countries with a less favorable economic […]
Is There an Off-Ramp for Civilization?
Is There an Off-Ramp for Civilization? Our high-tech civilization is like an ageing man in full denial of his mortality. It is eating his children just to live a day longer, rather than admitting that its craving for immortality is founded on nothing more than magical thinking. In its firm belief that technology can save […]
How the modern fantasy of an eternal civilization warps our view of technology
How the modern fantasy of an eternal civilization warps our view of technology What historians call the Golden Age of Greece—which ran from about 500 to 300 BC—spawned the foundational Western philosophers Plato and Aristotle; mathematicians such as Euclid whose geometry is still taught in schools today; classical Greek dramatists such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, […]
Conditioned To Believe
Conditioned To Believe In a High-Tech Future We Trust Photo by John Fowler on Unsplash Many of us believe firmly in a Star Trek world to come, where technology and science would eventually have an answer to every problem we face today: from cancer to infinite growth on a finite planet. (Not that these are two different things […]
Carbon-Reduction Plans Rely on Tech That Doesn’t Exist
Carbon-Reduction Plans Rely on Tech That Doesn’t Exist Instead of scaling up renewable energy, researchers promote unproved ideas Credit: Katie Louise Thomas At last year’s Glasgow COP26 meetings on the climate crisis, U.S. envoy and former U.S. secretary of state John Kerry stated that solutions to the climate crisis will involve “technologies that we don’t […]
The Failure of Imagination — Part 2
The Failure of Imagination — Part 2 Are you sure that this is where we are headed…? Image source: Pixabay Most people living in a high-tech modern society take it as a given that the only way forward is through even more technology. The matter of pollution and sadly the question of sustainability has now been […]
It’s the End of the World’s Fair as We Know It: Why Technology Won’t Save Us (Episode 55 of Crazy Town)
It’s the End of the World’s Fair as We Know It: Why Technology Won’t Save Us (Episode 55 of Crazy Town) Back in the day, the World’s Fair was a global showcase of innovation and a peerless cultural event where visitors envisioned a neon future filled with technological wonders. These international expos featured miracle inventions […]
I’m a Luddite. You Should Be One Too.
I’m a Luddite. You Should Be One Too. Editor’s note: Luddism is often dismissed as “backwardness,” but it is actually a more advanced, considered, and wise position on technology. To be a Luddite is to stand with workers and the natural world against the death march of technology. This essay is a general introduction to the […]
The Techno-Fix Won’t Save Us
The Techno-Fix Won’t Save Us Editor’s Note: Unquestioned beliefs are the real authorities of any culture, and one of the central authorities in the dominant, globalizing culture is that technological progress is an unmitigated good. We call this “the lie of the techno-fix.” The lie of the techno-fix is extremely convincing, with good reason. The […]
Degrowth economy: The climate solution no one is talking about
Degrowth economy: The climate solution no one is talking about For all the talk of renewable energy, electric vehicles and plant-based diets, there’s a gaping hole in the way we’re trying to solve accelerating climate change. We will not stay below 2°C of warming while pursuing economic growth — yet barely anyone talks about it. […]
Why Not Admit Our Energy Addiction?
Why Not Admit Our Energy Addiction? Bridge over Cataloochee Creek on the Old Cataloochee Turnpike; near Cataloochee Valley, North Carolina There are apparently many people who misunderstand my articles, why I write them, and what it all means at the end of the day. I read scientific articles – LOTS of them, and I read […]
Shell’s Massive Carbon Capture Plant Is Emitting More Than It’s Capturing
Shell’s Massive Carbon Capture Plant Is Emitting More Than It’s Capturing A new Global Witness report found that it has the same carbon footprint per year as 1.2 million gas-powered cars. SHELL’S QUEST CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE FACILITY IN FORT SASKATCHEWAN, ALBERTA. THE CANADIAN PRESS/JASON FRANSON A first-of-its-kind “green” Shell facility in Alberta is emitting more […]
