Just a few words so as to reduce your feeling of being ignored.
revtec wrote:
What is our collective goal regarding the commercialization of CF? Is it to reduce the level of CO2 emissions to reverse global warming?Yes, this is an important goal.
Is it to improve the quality of life by providing an inexhaustable source of cheap energy to everyone on the planet?Eventually mankind will run out of carbon-based energy. At this point civilization will collapse unless a substitute is found. Why not start now to solve this problem rather than waiting until the last minute, as is the usual approach?
Perhaps the reduction in CO2 emissions will be more than offset by the waste heat output of billions of CF engines, and that global warming will accelerate by direct heating alone! Could it be that with perfecting CF we are about to open pandora's box?Not possible. Mankind's use is too trivial compared to the sun and sources internal to the earth.
I brought this up before without getting a single comment. Did I have silent agreement with this concern from most of the group, am I considered totally nuts, or maybe most subscribers dump every post from revtec without reading a single word. I really don't know.
God stuff is considered off topic in this forum, but I'm covinced that it is central. Our perception of threats to our existance is directly linked to our perception of God. Our attitudes toward "God sized" problems are determined by our concept of God. The thermal condition of this planet is set by the output of the sun. Compared to a one or two percent fluctuation in solar radiation, anything humans can do down here is totally irrelevant.
Not true. We can change how much of the energy we get from the sun stays on earth. The earth is not a perfect absorber. Changes in the amount of CO2 and CH4 in the atmosphere changes the amount of energy retained by the earth. This is the issue, not the total amount of energy emitted by the sun.
Christians think God has his hand on the solar thermostat. Athiests think no one does. Christians trust God to dial it back if necessary in response to our increased heat load. People, who either don't believe in God or don't trust God, think we must master these adjustments ourselves.
Anyone that thinks God is concerned about the survival of the human race has no understanding of how God works. Christianity teaches free will. If we as a species freely act in such a way to destroy our world, we are free to do so. Why would God care? Many species on other planets would have the common sense not to destroy their world so that intelligent life would go on. We would be just one more attempt to produce intelligent life that failed. The presumption that we are special to God is just too self-serving to be real or rational.
Christians are thought callous for not recognizing the need to tackle "God sized" problems while there are nonbelievers amoung us who think the solution to planetary thermal overload and other environmental problems is to eliminate five of the six billion people on the Earth's surface.
Where did you get this idea? This is not only not true, but not even rational.
For anyone who wants to play the God game, the stakes are fantastically high.
What will be the most likely cause of calamity: trusting God or playing God?
The route to survival is to observe how nature works and adjust behavior to be consistent with a behavior that allows survival. This is true of individuals as well as nations. It does not involve playing God, but simply understanding the consequences of one's actions. The US, especially, has lost the ability to understand the consequence of actions, instead has substituted what a few people WANT to happen. Unfortunately, these wants seem to be justified by assuming that this is what God wants. The arrogance is overwhelming.
Regards, Ed Storms
Jeff
