| 06/16/09 07:52 AM |
#9
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Wayne Elkins
I couldn't sleep so I got up to stare at the one-eyed electronic night monster.
On my favorite subject, ecology and green technology:
General Motors and Chrysler have both gone belly-up since my last posting. I'll give 4 to 1 odds that Ford follows suit within 2 years! This is a wonderful opportunity though for a new personal transportation infrastructure to be formed with hybrids, plug-in rechargeables, and alternate power source vehicles to hatch and rise to the top of the heap. Personally I put less than 5,000 miles a year on a car and almost all of the time I return home with less than 10 miles on my car ere I left. It's a shame E.V.s aren't any cheaper than they are.
I can imagine a future with autos limited to 50 miles per hour and mass transit consisting of trains or steel-tracked multiple carriers (Possibly magnetically levitated but not in the near future) limited to 300 mph! There would be a rental or traded vehicle at the terminals so people could make the hop from terminal to their final destination.
I predicted 2 years ago that 5 years from then society, as we know it, now would be unrecognizable if not unimaginable then. I didn't realize it at the time but that fits in nicely with the December 21, 2012 prophecies. If you're unfamiliar with what I'm talking about, type in "12 21 2012" on your search engine.
I'm afraid if we don't hurry up and go to green power generation we'll be waited so long the petrochemical resources we need to fabricate the new technological hardware will be in such short supply that it will be nearly cost-prohibitive to manufacture.
Here comes the paranoia: We'll have green power generation and green power transportation, and green power lifestyle when the people now in power are able to control it then. I imagine the oil giants are probably at the forefront in green research and development.
I read a quote a few months ago that makes sense: 'The next Bill Gates (read world's richest person) will emerge from a compost heap driving a hybrid vehicle.' If I were 20 years younger I'd be caught trying to get in on the ground floor of this current energy revolution!
Another thing I earnestly believe is that my grandchildren will one day tell their grandchildren that they took baths under running water and be met with looks of disbelief! Our potable water supply is - like oil - finite. When the alarm sounds that it's running out it will be almost too late, if not impossible, to remedy the problem.
Here's a wake up call I hate to post: War has become too civilized! Don't get me wrong; I'm not a war-monger or advocating bloodshed, genocide, or harm to any one of God's magnificent creatures but we've circumvented population control with technology.
I read someone asking "What good is war?" on another site and I replied the truth: Wars have accounted for nearly all of our leaps on technology. Where would transportation, communication, electronics, metallurgy, mass production, food production,medicine, etc. be today if it hadn't been for wars? World War I took the infant airplane, automobile, medical, communications, and mass transit industries a quantum leap ahead. World War II similarly advanced these same fields and boosted electronics, rocketry, and nuclear power to where they've come today.
Korea, Vietnam, The Cold War, and the Middle East have all done the same thing; the only difference is our wars are being fought more with technology and Earth's resources than human expense. Simply put, there aren't enough people dying! I'm sure I'll get negative comment out of that and I detest saying it but I haven't heard anyone else put a voice or face to that fact.
I say I'm not a war-monger but I'm not a pacifist either... I'm simply making a realistic assessment!
Earth's population is climbing and our resources are dwindling daily. In years past we had people dying in droves from disease and now with the conquest of our killing diseases and our artificial support of life past its reasonable end we're smothering our civilization! In Earth's history we read of plagues, famines, natural disasters, and yes, wars keeping our population in check. I see the starving people including children in the third world countries and my heart goes out to them. I'd love to be able to lend support and aid to all of them but then what? It will be a matter of time until the next famine, drought, or epidemic comes along and it's all to do over again!
Only this time it's worse because all of those we've saved have bred future generations and now there are more of them to support. They are or were starving and dying for a reason: There's not enough natural resources to support their current levels of population. The Earth has retaliated and where it should have naturallyor normally affected that region of Earth; now it's adversely taxed the regions which have sent aid, support, and relief.
This is equivalent to going to a casino and gambling. Not that I have anything against gambling, but there is one certainty: If you stay in that casino and gamble long enough, it is a mathematical near-certainty that you will lose! (You could get lucky enough to win the casino.) The only winners are the lucky few who go in, get ahead, and leave. If the world continues to support opposing natural selection (There! I said it!) the world will eventually lose.
I realize this is an unpopular position but like I said, I haven't heard anyone take this position and I feel it must be said. I'm not certain what good it will do having it out in the open because we, as a civilization will continue artificially supporting survival until "Soylent Green" becomes a reality!
I've probably got too much time on my hands if I come up with stuff like this and take the time to put words on the screen and present them to the public but it's what I'm compelled to do. I'm not planning on getting a mountain shack and sending out manifestos and bombs or anything like that; I'm a peaceful person and have believed in "Live and let live" most of my life.
I just wish I could see another point of view or read a rebuttal to prove me wrong... Please.
Comment or don't. I don't really think enough people are interested enough to be able to make a difference and hopefully I'll be gone by the time I'm proved right.
I do hate if for my children and future generations though. As much negative publicity as the current "New" generation gets I've seen a spirit and promise that gives me cause for hope.
But I've always been terribly naive and have just come to the point of admitting it publicly the past few years. I'm one of those people who need jokes explained to them. I'm still having trouble understanding the one about the Zen master who asks for a hot dog with everything. People around me laugh and I'm standing there not getting it and have been ashamed to ask for it to be explained. One day I'm sure I'll see the humor in it too.
"There's one good thing about going to Hell: It's downhill all the way" --- "Brother" Dave Gardner
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