[ExI] Written for another list

[Eugen Leitl]

On Thu, Aug 02, 2012 at 11:41:20AM -0700, Max More wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 8:25 AM, John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > [snip]
> >
> > By the way, technically energy from Thorium is not renewable but its
> > potential is so huge it might as well be.
> >
> 
> 
> Technically, solar power is not renewable either. It's all a matter of time
> frame. Solar will last a few billion years, Thorium... not so long, but

Again, I encourage y'all to look fast/slow breeders alternative fuelcycles.
Most of what John has said was the usual thorium polyanna talk. Do read the
technical papers and look at the history what happened. You'll find that
it's not that what happened, and not for the reasons claimed.

Our future will be decided within 30-40 years. This sounds melodramatic,
but the large scale dynamics are really qualitatively different this time.
We now have run out of options, and must resort to emergency management.
Even so, the need to switch to emergency management is not yet obvious to 
many. I suggest to stock up on popcorn.

> still long. "Renewable" is a slippery term that isn't terribly helpful.
> Better to focus on "how much left, based on what technological assumptions,
> at what cost?" etc.