i quite agree they're not a realistic alternative to expect, however from the doomsday perspective we're talking about changes that could save the earth, or at the least prevent the displacement of massive populations. what im saying is that hypothetically a massive amount of fossil fuel damage could be offset with the technology we have, and additionally that if we committed to that path more fervently the technological issues you raise would be solved in relatively little time. investment today mirrors the expectations of implementation. people aren't investing as much into solving some of the clean energy hangups because it's not realistic to expect those clean energy initiatives to be put in place, yet. hydrogen cars would be a good step, but honestly i think that green lighting solar will have the best widespread effect. however its being held back because solar in many case means self reliance from energy company monoliths that stand to lose it all if we go away from coal generated turbine power, nuclear power, and wind farms.

while I agree soemwhat with what you say, I think it's naive to think that every and all technological problems could be solved if we just invested enough effort and money into it.

I agree. I've wanted to be able to teleport for decades. Even with awesome tech advances, I don't see it happening any time soon.

i don't think we can solve every problem with money, at all. i'm simply stating that as society becomes more cognizant of problems we put more money into them, and as a result problems are solved faster. while also saying that financial concerns play into how much people view problems as an issue.

i think i just had a minor issue with you claiming that fossil fuels are still a quagmire, which may be misrepresenting what you actually think. it bothered me because that's a common sentiment. even though a nuanced approach to combating fossil fuel dependency using current technologies could drastically change our forecasts for problems in the future. more non-gas cars, more solar, hemp plastics, less factory farming, cricket flour, recycled textiles, recycled plastics, nuclear power, wind power, localized agriculture, carpooling, smaller homes, etc. Using what we have could change the doomsday forecasts substantially, but many people don't because they are waiting for a miraculous breakthrough in technology like a 100% solar powered car that costs the same as their current car, or an Ozone machine that restores the ozone and eliminates greenhouse gases.

I see, and I think we largely agree. Most people probably wont start to think about new ways of dealing with the drawbacks of fossil fuels until their back is against the wall.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Jul 25 2018 01:14pm

Dunno, the only problem I've heard of so far that can't be solved with money and effort is interstellar travel.

This post was edited by Thor123422 on Jul 25 2018 01:15pm

and Fender's virginity.



oh for sure, and it's impossible to expect industrialized countries to car about the world the same way we do, as we walk from AC outside and say "its too hot, geesh."

As it stands now, energy production will be an issue if we've one day ran out of oil, coal, uranium and natural gas and the world population is still very high. But that point in time is several centuries in the future, so there's plenty of time to refine solar energy or the use of hydrogen as a gas replacement, and so on.

Or maybe we get fusion to work one day, which would solve all energy problems once and for all.

Hydrogen is not an energy generating tech. It's a storage tech.

Solar already beats coal in dollars per energy unit even despite coal getting a much larger portion of it's cost taken away through subsidy than solar.

By 2025 solar will be more efficient than everything but nuclear, and nuclear won't run out for millions of years.

solar cannot carry the base load consumption though, so we still need nuclear/gas/coal. and yes, hydrogen is a storage tech. I am well aware of that.

but we need a storage tech to replace oil some day, and we need a storage tech for all the spiky renewable energy produced by solar, wind and so on. and hydrogen looks the most promising to me for this purpose.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Jul 25 2018 01:31pm