[ExI] Silence in the sky-but why?

[Kelly Anderson]

On Thu, Oct 10, 2013 at 12:25 AM, Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:

> On Wed, Oct 09, 2013 at 03:02:53PM -0600, Kelly Anderson wrote:
> See, selective quoting of beliefs of somebody from press articles is why
> I insisted on peer reviewed publications in future. You seemed to read
> some other
> article entirely, uncritically, and you entirely failed to do your math.
>

We are all pattern seeking mammals. We see the world through the framework
that we have built up of it. The map, so to speak. I tend to be optimistic.
You tend to be pessimistic. You believe the facts support your side, I
believe the facts support my side. Everything goes through our filters and
is amplified by them. The truth no doubt lies somewhere in between. I am
not as Pollyanna as I may sound in this discussion. I know there are hard
problems. I also know there are good people out there working hard on those
problems because it is in their self interest to do so. My brother, for
example, has four kids to send to college, so I'm pretty sure he's working
hard on his new plant in Lake Charles.

Your assumption is that we are all on a big Easter Island and we're
chopping down the last trees. My assumption is that Easter Island is full
of Easter eggs and that we simply have to look for them.

Have you read Peter Diamandis' book Abundance?
http://www.diamandis.com/abundance/

You probably feel that he's full of semi-digested material too. But I
choose to believe, simply, that Peter has thought this all through better
than you have. He has, after all, had access to the world's greatest minds
for the last couple of decades and has made millions through his
understanding of how the world really works. If you understood how the
world really works, wouldn't you also have made millions? Show me the
corresponding multi-millionaire on your side. I am simply unaware that the
Warren Buffetts of the world are spouting the dangers of EROEI. Maybe they
are, I just haven't heard them. Is it an important issue. Yes. I agree with
that. Is it going to be a huge issue... I'm not sure that it will be since
we have hundreds of years worth of fossil fuels left to burn that are not
in danger of having a negative EROEI. If the environmentalists take over,
it would make it more difficult, but they simply won't win against kids
that want to go to the mall.

> Doesn't sound too doom and gloom to me in terms of energy supply. I really
>
> Believe all you want, I'm done. Let's talk again in 20 years.
>

Sounds good. For the record, that will be 10/10/2023. I look forward to the
conversation. Of course if you are right, we may not be able to power the
Internet by then, and you won't even have the ability to tell me "I told
you so" from your cave.

-Kelly
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