[ExI] Wash post comment

[Jeff Davis]

With respect, every few years someone says,  all Henny Penny-like,
"We're running out of energy.  We're doomed, we're doomed."  And then
something happens -- vast new oil fields off the coast of Brazil,
Alaskan north coast, Siberian Arctic, South China Sea, etc etc.  Or
new tech makes previously unavailable resources available: deep water
drilling, tar sands refining, and lately horizontal drilling and
"fracking" in shale gas formations.

Athabasca and Orinoco tar sands:  each containing substantially more
energy reserves than Saudi Arabia.  Shale gas across the planet:
ditto, in spades, and cleaner and cheaper than tar sands..  No peak
oil, no energy crisis. All the fuss is just old fashioned media hype.
Same old same old.  Rivet those eyeballs, and then... Strangle the
chicken to scare the monkey(s).  Always keep them scared and working
hard to get the money to buy safety and happiness.

Energy is priced in dollars.  Is the price of energy going up, or is
the value of the dollar going down(or perhaps a little of both)?

The real answer lies not in today's expense for whatever, but in the
inevitable technologically-driven, increase in productivity driven by
advanced automation.  That makes everything cheaper, including, and in
particular, access to space.  Then we -- which is to say humanity --
can get the hell out of this gravity well -- Planet of the One percent
and their minion Morons -- and take up and enjoy real freedom and
independence in the vast spaces between worlds.

YMMV.

Best, Jeff Davis

       "Everything's hard till you know how to do it."
                                  Ray Charles