Globalization

[Cognisant]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5SnR-e0S6Ic&feature=relmfu

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s_iwrt7D5OA&feature=fvwrel

Two videos I highly recommend watching, trust me it is worth your time.
It's animated, funny, educational and... I'll hurt you if you don't

So now Globalisation, I don't think he's made a relative comparison of world conflict, I mean by conflict size compared to world population the world is about as peaceful as it has ever been, indeed in a world of seven billion people the fact that nukes aren't falling as we speak is pretty astounding.

As for population displacement caused by global warming, well the city I live in is growing at a shocking pace and I work with people from India, Europe, the US, Asia, and frankly I think if I was surrounded by Australian yobbos (average, unintelligent, xenophobic, like rednecks but lacking even their own quaint charm) I wouldn't be able to stand it, indeed I'd like to move overseas to further immerse myself in another culture, any other culture, because in the modern world it's better to be different. So anyway back to the point at hand, population displacement is inconvenient but I think in the grand scheme of things it won't matter because we're relocating more than ever before for other reasons, because it's advantageous, because as individuals we'e becoming more worldly.

Although the environment is a worry, not for me I live in a first world country and I'm well positioned to adapt, if it started raining acid I'd be relatively well off, however at lot of our progress and industrial strength comes from large scale efficiency, for whom the bell tolls and all that.

The energy crisis, now there's an issue, my hunger for electricity is insatiable and that's just me, western society as a whole is hungry too, I cannot possibly understate the importance of finding new and more plentiful energy sources, I have never been more aware of exactly how many watts and joules of energy are around me, how dense and convertible my sources are, if technology is magic then electricity is mana, consider that next time you fire off spells in Skyrim.

Also if you think we're progressing fast now, in the next few decades neural interfaces, artificial intelligence and high performance robotics will emerge, believe me the rate at which we're progressing now is a snail's pace, the singularity is so near, so very close, in the next fifty years I guarantee you we will industrialise space, the world is like a grenade, pin pulled, detonator just bringing to warm.

So exciting

 

[Thurlor]

I'm pro-globalization (mainly due to the fact I'm pro fairness) and I think humanity could accomplish so much more if only we all worked together. Unfortunately, many people don't 'play well'.

I'm eagerly awaiting the day we build a Space Elevator. Then we should see an accelereation in the industrialisation of space. Actually all that is really lacking (afaik) is any cheap method for entering space (and returning).

 

[Thurlor]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought Australia (specifically the 'outback') would be the perfect place for generating electricity. From what I remember, the bedrock is quite radioactive (and hot?) and could probably be tapped into for energy.

 

[Cognisant]

Yes that is being done in some places.

"Hot rock" is almost like geothermal energy, it works much the same but there's some paranoia around the idea of tapping into it, I mean considering this is heat generated by radioactive decay what we're essentially talking about are naturally formed low yeild nuclear reactors, and nobody wants to drill into that until we know precisely what'll happen when we do.

 

[Magus]

So now Globalisation, I don't think he's made a relative comparison of world conflict, I mean by conflict size compared to world population the world is about as peaceful as it has ever been, indeed in a world of seven billion people the fact that nukes aren't falling as we speak is pretty astounding.

The issue is becoming more important than ever though. Destructive capabilities are becoming more and more powerful, but more and more accessible (bioweapons, nuclear bombs are like 70 years old now) whereas human beings are as irrational as ever, perhaps even more dangerously so as many of us don't recognize it.

As for population displacement caused by global warming, well the city I live in is growing at a shocking pace and I work with people from India, Europe, the US, Asia, and frankly I think if I was surrounded by Australian yobbos (average, unintelligent, xenophobic, like rednecks but lacking even their own quaint charm)

The humble bogan haha. What part of Aus are you from? I'm in Canberra

Although the environment is a worry, not for me I live in a first world country and I'm well positioned to adapt, if it started raining acid I'd be relatively well off, however at lot of our progress and industrial strength comes from large scale efficiency, for whom the bell tolls and all that.

The environment is a worry insofar as what we're doing is already unsustainable. For the third world to get out of poverty realistically they'd going to have to follow our model of fossil fuels. This is a moral problem, but the bottom line I think is we can't let them, although the moral problems that arise from this are naturally severe.

IDK I'd like to be optomistic about the future but the way I see it is until we can find plentiful energy sources the writing is on the wall regarding a) there are too many people (more so in the third world) and b) we are using way too much energy (us in the first world). Like these are foregone conclusions, they're not really up for debate yet neither issue can be solved in a moral way (let alone political will and democratic support for these agendas).

I mean cutting consumption is easier than population reduction yet while a lot of Australians are happy about the idea of clean energy the bottom line is it would be nearly impossible to politically sell the infrastructure needed to move to solar/wind on a meaningful scale. Especially when you consider that the enormous cost isn't really an infrastructure investment, like it doesn't cover us for the future, rather its getting us to where we already are.

I can't even fathom how we might try and go for population reduction though. Third world countries are obviously going to resist being held in poverty and sacrificing themselves for the developed world. Can't really see this happening voluntarily. But how would you even sell this agenda to anyone here at home either?

Also if you think we're progressing fast now, in the next few decades neural interfaces, artificial intelligence and high performance robotics will emerge, believe me the rate at which we're progressing now is a snail's pace, the singularity is so near, so very close, in the next fifty years I guarantee you we will industrialise space, the world is like a grenade, pin pulled, detonator just bringing to warm.

So exciting

Hmm, technological singularity will be nice. I'm personally looking forward to robotic pet animals, as in Bladerunner

Only one problem is just I'm a bit reluctant to pin future prosperity on innovation which hasn't happened. Its almost like going into debt on the assumption that you'll get a much higher paying job when the interest comes do. Innovation will continue, but it will become more expensive, with decreasing marginal utility. Its not a cure-all. At least, we'll somehow need to fix the energy problem before we really go nuts.

Hopefully I'm not too cynical