[ExI] Lack of interest

[Kevin H]

I'm keenly interested in any proposals you might have, I've been getting
anxious about the peak oil issue myself.  I think either we need to rethink
things at drastic levels, or we're going back to the horse and buggy age, at
least those who survive.

I'm no engineer, but if you say that orbital solar power stations will work,
that sounds great.  I don't really have the time or the education to follow
you on most points, but I think the main question is: who would be willing
to fund such a project?  You're basically talking about something with high
investment costs on an unproven technology.  But it sounds like a great
idea, as long as you don't burn any buildings down by missing the receptor
site.

But, I think transitioning to a post-oil economy is going to require efforts
on all fronts, because we know that many of the strategies won't work out
for one reason or another.  Algae oil is something that I've been hearing a
lot about; it's something that's being researched and they say that there's
quite a bit of potential there.  I'm speaking out of complete ignorance here
so help me: but is this something that synthetic biology can at all
contribute with?

Okay, ignore this post if it's all hogwash, I'm just starting to get a grasp
of things.  But the main point of this is just to show that at least I am
interested, and I think it's something that we should all be interested in.
Transhumanists, of all people, are the ones who are the most optimistic
about technology.  We're the ones who watch an episode of Star Trek and,
instead of laughing it off, wonder how it can be done.

And I don't know if anyone has been listening to the peak oil people, but
this is something that primitivists are realling sinking their claws into;
this is their proof in the pudding about how evil technology is, and how
evil mankind has become with it.  So I don't know what unsettles me more:
the drastic die off, the crash in standards of living, the return to
agriculture and the elimination of virtually all powered devices; or proving
*them* right, as childish as it sounds.  I don't think our fate is
necessarily sealed, but I don't want future humanity looking back at the
industrial-technological age as a *mistake*.

And they would never know whether everything could have been different if we
had just a little more fortitude, were a little more unified, were a little
less risk adverse, were just a little brighter; that is, a little more than
human when it really counted.

*Kevin*
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