Reply #13: Nuclear power fails on any number of counts: [View All]

Cost. Inability to provide transportation energy. Lack of public acceptability. Non-carbon externalities. Too much technical complexity. Unexpected vulnerabilities. Time needed to build. Consequences of failure...

It's a wonder the stupid technology got off the ground in the first place. Of course, if it wasn't for our desire to crisp each other in huge numbers with atomic bombs, it probably wouldn't have. But finally, with Fukushima, the kabuki theater of nuclear power is over. The face paint has been wiped away to reveal the broken-down alcoholic actor underneath.

Regarding crashes:

If a decline in economic activity does happen I don't actually think it will be a crash. It will likely take a hundred years for us to finish burning all the furniture.

And finally, your fulminations about misery and death:

Humanity is no stranger to misery, we're just a bit out of practice with it. High levels of physical discomfort and fear have been more the norm through our history than they have been for the last hundred years, though there is plenty of unimaginable suffering and death around us right now if we care to look. We all die one way or another, me included. And there is nothing in heaven or on earth that gives us some inalienable right to flat screen televisions and air conditioning.