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Oct 19 2014 12:31pm
Quote (bogie160 @ Oct 19 2014 01:24pm)
The military industrial complex is a good compromise between the public and private sectors. It's difficult to see how this money could be better spent only in the hands of researchers, they wouldn't have the funds or the motivation to make their research practically applicable. Private sector competition with public sector funds and oversight. This is exactly what Democrats have traditionally wanted, I don't know why they dislike the MIC so much.


To satisfy the anti-war crowd who won't face realpolitik. We have been getting less of those since the libertarians have been gaining traction.
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Oct 19 2014 12:39pm
Quote (Skinned @ 19 Oct 2014 12:32)
I bet some tsunami or comet will come and kill them anyway  :lol:

On a long enough timeline the survivability of the human race drops to zero.

Yes we need to develop new technology, but that won't happen overnight, and solar and wind frankly isn't that good.  Hydroelectric is as bad if not worse than drilling.  Oil is something we can't cut back on right now.  We can work on replacing coal with nuclear though, plus the vast majority of our nuclear power plants are 50-60 years old.  But even that will take longer than 30-40 years.


Quote (bogie160 @ 19 Oct 2014 13:24)
The military industrial complex is a good compromise between the public and private sectors. It's difficult to see how this money could be better spent only in the hands of researchers, they wouldn't have the funds or the motivation to make their research practically applicable. Private sector competition with public sector funds and oversight. This is exactly what Democrats have traditionally wanted, I don't know why they dislike the MIC so much.


Quote (Caedus @ 19 Oct 2014 13:29)
Because wind, solar, and hydroelectric don't have the potential fusion has. Fusion will trigger another massive advancement in technology, standard of living, space travel, and more. Fusion is the future, the other three are stop gaps.



fusion in it's own cheerleaders words will be 30-40 years out if it turns out to be a feaseable energy source, make the jokes you want but if we continue to use fossil fuels for three more decades it won't fucking matter if fusion has worked because earth will be quickly becoming inhabitable. Solar and wind are good if you pull your heads out of the sand and look at some of the European countries which have begun to switch to them.
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Oct 19 2014 12:41pm
Quote (Valhalls_Sun @ Oct 19 2014 09:54am)
Of course hydro is location sensitive, solar and wind  systems are being improved constantly, and with more funding they will grow even faster. All I'm saying is why not concentrate on systems that we know work instead of chasing after something that even if it does work wont be on-line for 60 years?


Because this isn't an either-or proposition.
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Oct 19 2014 01:20pm
Quote (Valhalls_Sun @ Oct 19 2014 02:39pm)
fusion in it's own cheerleaders words will be 30-40 years out if it turns out to be a feaseable energy source, make the jokes you want but if we continue to use fossil fuels for three more decades it won't fucking matter if fusion has worked because earth will be quickly becoming inhabitable. Solar and wind are good if you pull your heads out of the sand and look at some of the European countries which have begun to switch to them.


Europe spends more money on fusion research then solar and wind combined. No one said we need to keep using fossil fuels till Fusion is viable (and it absolutely will be viable one day). Wind, solar and hydroelectric cannot supply humanities future energy needs. Fusion can. It's a power source, then when viable, has the greatest advantages and arguably no disadvantages. It's not dangerous, it's ridiculously efficient, we have millions if not billions of years worth of fuel for it, it's more environmentally friendly than any other source of energy, and you can put a fusion reactor anywhere.

Why wouldn't we pump money into it? There is literally nothing else that isn't complete science fiction that gives us the same energy efficiency.

In the 2100s when fusion is prolific and has sent us to the stars, people will wonder why we ever bothered trying to develop any other power source.
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Oct 19 2014 01:39pm
Quote (Valhalls_Sun @ Oct 19 2014 01:39pm)
fusion in it's own cheerleaders words will be 30-40 years out if it turns out to be a feaseable energy source, make the jokes you want but if we continue to use fossil fuels for three more decades it won't fucking matter if fusion has worked because earth will be quickly becoming inhabitable. Solar and wind are good if you pull your heads out of the sand and look at some of the European countries which have begun to switch to them.


Wind and solar will never supply human energy needs. Get your head out of your ass and embrace the only realistic path forward.
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Oct 19 2014 01:48pm
Quote (bogie160 @ Oct 19 2014 02:39pm)
Wind and solar will never supply human energy needs. Get your head out of your ass and embrace the only realistic path forward.


It won't. We talked about this in an energy class and calculated the amount of solar power coming from the sun and calculated feasible wind power and even with optimistic and even exaggerated guesses it was a drop in the bucket to what we actually use.

One area we can definitely improve upon is in the efficiency of turbines in the ICE and in coal/nuclear power plants.
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