Reply #32: I certainly hope that you have a problem with me. [View All]

I certainly have a problem with you.

I think the reason I have a problem with what you are saying, is that I am a scientist.

Since I work in a science that is about the properties of matter, I have a routine familiarity with how one can manipulate matter in myriad ways, via access to energy. I am not concerned that there is too little energy. I think we have enough to last almost forever.

This is why I think Kunstler and his adherents are probably smoking something in the Rolling Stone offices. (I wonder if they were smoking something as well when they thought of Britteny Spears as a cultural icon - but that's another matter.)

I think the panic squad is only slightly less ridiculous than the solar biofuels squad. The main difference is this: The solar/biofuels/renewables squad insists that nothing can be done unless its solar/biofuels/renewables, forms of energy that have some potential, but clearly no where near enough. Thus the solar/biofuels/renewables squad favors only partial action or insufficient action.

The peak oil/"we're out of everything" merely says that all action is impossible so we'll just cry about it and tell everyone how the party's over.

I really want to participate with neither of these silly groups. What I want is a rational look at the resources at hand, a sober analysis of the options, and a choice to proceed with the best options.

You sometimes offer me blather "begging the question" comments like this: "So you want to spew the world with dangerous nuclear waste?"

This is ridiculous since the alternative, according to you peak oilers, is that everyone should just fold up and die right now because you can't have your oil. So even while you worry about so called "dangerous nuclear waste," you argue that we're all going to die anyway. How weak is that?

I don't want your oil. I don't care about it. My argument is that we need to get rid of it and the sooner we do it the better off we'll be. You are unable to identify even one compound from oil that cannot be synthesized or replaced without access to it.

Of course, I'm not drooling all over myself in the offices of Rolling Stone Magazine. Instead I'm looking at it from a technical point of view. I know what can be done, and what the risks of doing nothing (in service to the panic squad) or doing too little (in service to the renewable squad.) Because I want to maximize the probability that what can be done will be done, I am routinely dismissive of both your side and the biofuels side.

I note that the renewables only squad are to be slightly preferred to you, since at least they believe in doing something.

Let's close with some pictures of Britney Spears:

http://framer.barewalls.com/frames/bw/40/40101,40202/16/19.20/preview/m3rs877p.jpg

http://framer.barewalls.com/frames/bw/40/40101,40202/11/13.2/closeup/m3rs883-884c.jpg

http://framer.barewalls.com/frames/bw/40/40101,40202/11/13.2/closeup/m3rs841c.jpg