[ExI] NSA Prism is motivated in part by fears that environmentally-linked disasters could spur anti-government activism

[Eugen Leitl]

On Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 02:57:43PM -0700, spike wrote:

> I can do better than that.  The real threat is not just out of control
> government, but in how to supply future needs for cheap energy.  The most

You nailed it.

> optimistic among us can see that oil supplies cannot last forever, coal is
> dirty, wind is ugly, solar is expensive and is in the dark most of the time.

Ugly is irrelevant, expensive is irrelevant. The only questions
you need to be asking: a) is it a source of energy? (EROEI >5:1)
b) how quickly can it scale up (TW/year) c) will we run out if it in
less than 50 years?

> I keep going back to nukes.  

Fails on most of above points. Will never be a major source of
cheap energy in the inner solar system. I can see how you could
use a nuclear reactor for process heat and steam to mine tar
sands and such, but that's more in the problem than the solution
set either.

Like fracking, nuke is a mirage for the desperate. Good recipe
to perish in the energy desert, if followed.
 
> Who would have guessed in the 1980s that in a mere 30 years, we would be
> here where a dedicated environmentalist might have the bumper stick:  Nuke
> the whales, and save the nukes.