On Wed, Feb 13, 2008 at 03:49:24AM -0800, Brian Behlendorf wrote: > Demand is never inelastic. As demand rises over supply, of any commodity, > the cost goes up, making alternatives more appealing. What I've not seen
Cheap energy isn't just a commodity. Raise the costs sharply enough, and many essential processes are suddenly disrupted. The invisible hand is suddenly flipping us the bird. This takes one thing we don't do well: long-term planning. > in all of these doomsday scenarios is proof (or even an indication) that > the price of oil will rise so steeply that alternatives won't step in The proof is in the pudding. By the time our collective pants are on fire it is a bit too late to sit down pensively, and deeply think about what we should do next. One of the recurring themes of Diamond's "Collapse" is the final curtain is war. > quickly enough to compensate, in addition to societal/behavioral changes > that would also reduce usage of oil. The shift to alternatives won't be > cost-free, and might be painful for some, but it's irresponsible to say > it's doomsday. It is irresponsible to do nothing. Right now, we do next to nothing. One way to start make things happening is a fossil fuel tax ratchet. -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org";>leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE
