James Bowery <jabow...@gmail.com> wrote: Well I suppose I can see the relevance to vortex-l . . .
Not that relevant, but it is one of the things I described in my book, which I have been following for some time. Indoor farming plus in vitro meat production would free up just about all of the land now devoted to agriculture. The only thing we would still grow outdoors would be fruit crops on trees, and trees for lumber. I believe this was first predicted by Arthur Clarke. Along with just about everything else in the modern world, such as the Internet. It is an example of a technology which can solve many problems that many people think cannot be solved. Periodically in the mass media you read about the coming crisis in fresh water, or the fact that we have no more free land for agriculture. People make Malthusian predictions of starvation from overpopulation. I say that technology such as cold fusion and vertical indoor farming can solve these problems and avoid a crisis. I am not saying they will be used to solve the problem. People may be too stupid to use them. We also need to control population with contraceptives, needless to say. There are many promising technical solutions to our problems lying around unused. For example, rush hour traffic jams can be reduced with better traffic light controls and more use of video telecommuting and satellite offices close to home. - Jed
