> I'm reading John Varley's Slow Apocalypse. The premise is
> that all un-processed petroleum is destroyed by an act of
> bio-terrorism. In the middle of it right now, but so far
> it's scaring the spit out of me.
> john
why?
> You have a Zambian daughter, Dan?
> Two. The eldest, Neli, came to the US about 10 years
> ago. She is an
> ecconomist who was a Brookings Institute fellow for a couple
> of years,
> concentrating on African development. She was always
> second author on the
> papers she wrote, with a big name as first author. She
> was quietly upset
> until she found out high government officials called
> Brookings to complain
> about the papers and talked with the big wig instead of
> yelling at her. We
> were in Zambia for two weeks in August, with 10 from the US
> (including Neli
> and her American husband) and 5 from Zambia and went all
> over Zambia as one
> big happy American-African family. We went to the home
> villages of both of
> Neli's parents. I got to dance in lion skins with the
> village wariors at
> her mom's village.
very cool!
> >I have no clue at what point civilization was
> sustainable after the leap
> from hunter gatherer to
> >agriculture to industrial society. I suppose it
> won't happen unless
> humanity matures beyond greedy,
> >pleasure seeking immediate gratification, self centered
> behavior, and that
> probably won't happen
> >unless there is a singularity event.
> Actually, most commodities (e.g. iron and copper) are used
> less now. If we
> can solve one of many problems (e.g. find a cheap way of
> storing energy,
> have a venture like Joule Technology work in synthetic
> biofuels, have a way
> to "poison" breeder reactor fuel output so it can't be used
> for bombs,
> develop mesoscopic physics to the point where solar cells
> are practical) in
> the next 250 years, we won't need to worry.
If copper and iron are used less now, isn't that because we are using lighter
metals and petrochemical products more?
> >How were the European Greens responsible for keeping
> Uganda poor, by
> turning them away from nuclear?
> Two ways:
> 1) They have extremely strict and unreasonable standards for
> imported food.
> For example, its virtually impossible for US food products
> to be sold there.
> 2) They convinced Uganda that using fertilizer and
> insecticides was bad.
> That's why the crop yield is so low. Little grows and
> the insects get most
> of it. The US, on the other hand, uses insecticides in
> cycles so it's hard
> for the insects to develop immunity to several
> insecticides...what is
> superior for one is inferior for the other. And,
> farmland is now adding
> topsoil with fertilizer and advanced techniques, and
> genetically modified
> crops. If we could get corn to fix nitrogen better,
> we'd be home free.
> Dan M.
and that is still the case?
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