Transmat World

Monday, July 22, 2019

Climate Change Is Terrible, But Don’t Take it Personally

Unless, of course, you are the CEO of Exxon-Mobil or the climate deniers in the U.S. Senate, Congress, and current administration of the United States government. They and their ilk should take it personally. You, on the other hand, should take a vacation from angst. The guilt and anxiety you feel about climate change is natural because you’re a participant in this drama as is everybody. Those that don’t have such emotions should be suspect as liars or sociopaths. A normal person should feel, at the least, some unease about the future of humankind because of climate change.

One summer morning at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1950, Enrico Fermi, a physicist, and several buddies were discussing the probability of intelligent life in the universe. Everybody was coming up with extraordinary numbers of how many other intelligent beings there had to be because of the number of stars and planets involved.

The subject was dropped. They went to lunch. In the middle of the meal Enrico says, “Where are they?” Several lunch mates knew exactly what he was talking about. Aliens. If the math says they should be there, where is the evidence? They could have crisscrossed the entire galaxy by now even at the slow crawl of our current technology. But there was no evidence of other civilizations that ever made the leap to technology. The question with no answer was named “Fermi’s Paradox.” That was 70 years ago and there is still no evidence, even with our sophisticated orbital instrumentation.

Perhaps climate change is the “Great Filter.” Once the discovery of how to make and control fire is made by an intelligent life form, it is that species death warrant. It may be inevitable that further investigation reveals how this primal element can be harnessed to produce powerful rotating engines. It seems logical, also, that useful technology will blossom and be used planet wide before the technology develops to figure out what it does to the climate. By the time that happens, it is too late.

It may be little solace to think we’ve been had by one of the most sophisticated and dangerous “gotcha’s” in the universe, one that every other race out there fell for. But there it is.

We’re not done for yet. The human race is as resilient and smart as it is greedy and petulant. There are technologies that will help. Some are in their infancy and may become cheap and practical. The political will may yet come around to do something in spite of special interests. This, by the way, is the only power you have over this situation. Your vote for candidates that understand and are concerned about climate change may well determine the future of humankind.

What you shouldn’t do is feel guilty for your lifestyle. It is shaped by your government and society. Who knew there would be a situation where our nationalistic forms of government would be inadequate? Perhaps somebody smart somewhere, but he or she wasn’t loud enough or rich enough to convince anybody.

If you drive an electric car, recycle everything, and compost then God bless you! You’re doing a heck of a job. If you’re doing it to assuage guilt about climate change, take a break. What you are doing has little relevance to the current situation. It will take fifty to a hundred years to stop and reverse the enormous economic, political, and psychological inertia generated by climate deniers and fossil fuel interests. By that time it will be quite obvious to all what is going on, and what will happen to the planet if we continue burning stuff for money. Perhaps we can proceed on a more rational path from then on and survive the Great Filter.

Thousands of years from now perhaps we can make that trek across the galaxy and find what few other races have survived this harrowing trick of nature. At a meeting of such entities we can swap stories of how we made it and how close we came to not being there. I would be willing to bet on one thing. It won’t be around a campfire.

The Environmental Advantage of a Space Elevator

The U.S. Must Recycle Recycling

Climate Change Will Herald the Age of Island Cities

Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS): The Existential Technology We Are Ignoring

Nations at Risk of Becoming Psychological Echo Chambers: China Sets Worrisome Precedent

Climate Change Will Alter The Way We Think About Energy

What Do We Do Now That We Know Climate Change is Inevitable?

Are You Susceptible to Digitally Induced Cognitive Karma

Why the Oceans Will Be Humanity’s Life Raft

There May Be a Quadrillion Dollars Lying About on the Moon

Mining That First Asteroid - Manned Mission or AI?

A Convergence of Technologies Will Create a New Age of Space Exploration

Steampunk Meets Star Wars: A Harrowing Micro-Tale of Future Spacefarers

The Space Habitat Revisited and Revised

Are Seeds of Conflict Brewing Over the Moon?

Just What Are NASA’s Plans Under Trump

Thruster On a Chip: An Alternative Rocket Science That Could Revolutionize Space Travel

Oumuamua: Alien Probe or Asteroid? It Could Be Both

Cryptocurrency Is Going Into Space

Going Back To the Moon Is Not Just for Governments Anymore

Why It Is a Certainty We Will Become a Space-Based Civilization

Asteroid Mining - How to Pick the Right Asteroid

Recycling Asteroids For Fun and Profit

Taking the 06-03-25 Asteroid Shuttle to Mars - An Alternative to Planned Mars Missions

A Heavy Metal, Cannibalistic Asteroid Propulsion System

Sticking the Landing On Your Billion Dollar Asteroid

Artificial Intelligence and Asteroid Mining Will Be a (Necessary) Match Made In the Heavens

The Weapon of Mass Destruction Nobody Is Talking About

How We Can Diminish the Possibility of Water Wars

There's An Asteroid Out There With All of Our Names On It

What Will Be the Most Common Currency In a Future Space-Based Society?

Workers In Space Will Live In Igloos

How We Will Get Asteroid Material Back To Earth

The Military Values High Ground - Space Is the Highest

Very Large Scale 3D Printing In Space

Energy and Space; Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

Saturday, July 6, 2019

Human Climate Change Migration Has Already Begun

Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

You may not personally believe that over 97% of climate scientists are in agreement on climate change being real, bad, and caused by humans, but after watching this video of Australian climate scientists planning moves to cooler climes you may want to reconsider. They are reluctant to discuss on camera how bad it is going to get because they don’t want to scare anyone but not in the least reluctant to let their feet do the talking. That seems out of character for supposed money-grubbing, spotlight hugging, government leeches; but what the hell do I know.

Australia is being affected more so than most places by climate change. Heat and drought are continual threats. These climate scientists are planning on moving south into a more temperate zone. That would be Tasmania and New Zealand for Australians. One of them is moving to England. With the temperature reaching 113 degrees F. (historic all-time high) in France on June 29, 2019, he may be reconsidering that decision.

It’s happening all over, not just Australians. It’s New Yorkers buying in the Catskills, and Houstonians buying in Oregon. It’s questions whispered to real estate gurus by bankers and doctors, “Where can I buy a safe piece of property for my son’s/daughter’s future?” It’s Elizabeth Boineaux moving from Charleston, South Carolina because her house had flooded for the third year in a row. It’s Chase Twichell and her husband moving from their retirement apartment in Miami back to New York because the rising water and threat of flooding was getting too scary. It’s Dave Anderson of Houston buying a 70 acre spread in Oregon because of hurricane Harvey. It’s the whole community of Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana picking up and moving 30 miles inland because their island is being quickly eroded by the rising ocean. A dozen communities in Alaska must move or perish. Properties in such disparate places as Houston and Staten Island are being bought by the government to be razed because they are too risky to live in because of storms and floods.

This migration is already being compared in scale to the Great Migration, the movement of 6 million black Americans from Jim Crow south to northern cities; but climate migration is expected to reach 13 million by the end of the century, 6 million from Florida alone. And that is just based on people fleeing shore-based population centers. It does not include those that seek relief from the heat waves, tornadoes, wildfires, flooding, and tropical disease predicted to affect the rest of the country as a result of climate change.

My wife and I were among the lucky ones during Harvey. We were on an island surrounded by devastation watching friends and family be inundated. It was a feeling of helplessness and insight. These were forces beyond our control, but I could see a way out for the future. As a result of that experience, we will be at the forefront of this “Greatest Migration” that has already begun at the dawn of the Anthropocene.

The Environmental Advantage of a Space Elevator

The U.S. Must Recycle Recycling

Climate Change Will Herald the Age of Island Cities

Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS): The Existential Technology We Are Ignoring

Nations at Risk of Becoming Psychological Echo Chambers: China Sets Worrisome Precedent

Climate Change Will Alter The Way We Think About Energy

What Do We Do Now That We Know Climate Change is Inevitable?

Are You Susceptible to Digitally Induced Cognitive Karma

Why the Oceans Will Be Humanity’s Life Raft

There May Be a Quadrillion Dollars Lying About on the Moon

Mining That First Asteroid - Manned Mission or AI?

A Convergence of Technologies Will Create a New Age of Space Exploration

Steampunk Meets Star Wars: A Harrowing Micro-Tale of Future Spacefarers

The Space Habitat Revisited and Revised

Are Seeds of Conflict Brewing Over the Moon?

Just What Are NASA’s Plans Under Trump

Thruster On a Chip: An Alternative Rocket Science That Could Revolutionize Space Travel

Oumuamua: Alien Probe or Asteroid? It Could Be Both

Cryptocurrency Is Going Into Space

Going Back To the Moon Is Not Just for Governments Anymore

Why It Is a Certainty We Will Become a Space-Based Civilization

Asteroid Mining - How to Pick the Right Asteroid

Recycling Asteroids For Fun and Profit

Taking the 06-03-25 Asteroid Shuttle to Mars - An Alternative to Planned Mars Missions

A Heavy Metal, Cannibalistic Asteroid Propulsion System

Sticking the Landing On Your Billion Dollar Asteroid

Artificial Intelligence and Asteroid Mining Will Be a (Necessary) Match Made In the Heavens

The Weapon of Mass Destruction Nobody Is Talking About

How We Can Diminish the Possibility of Water Wars

There's An Asteroid Out There With All of Our Names On It

What Will Be the Most Common Currency In a Future Space-Based Society?

Workers In Space Will Live In Igloos

How We Will Get Asteroid Material Back To Earth

The Military Values High Ground - Space Is the Highest

Very Large Scale 3D Printing In Space

Energy and Space; Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

China’s Strategy for the Future Is Scary Smart

Thursday, July 4, 2019

Lag in Sociological Evolution Has Become an Existential Problem

Photo by Crawford Jolly on Unsplash

Technology has evolved from the invention of the tool to the machine to the automated machine. From stone spearheads to autonomous cars in 5,000 years. The evolution of our society has not been able to keep pace.

Sociological studies of primates show that their societal structures are very stable. For instance, the gorilla formed the societal artifice of a single male with a harem about 16 million years ago and it has evolved little, if any, since. Humans are primates but are not as socially rigid as the gorilla. At some point we went from individual mating couples to banding together in mixed sex groups in a short period of time, apparently to take advantage of strength in numbers. Out of tribes came the ancient civilizations.

The ancient world was a very fluid and free time for humanity. One could travel unfettered all over the world if you had the means and sufficient bodyguards. There was very little restriction. Restrictions on travel did not occur until the third and fourth centuries of the Roman Empire when serfdom came into being. Serfs were not allowed to travel and had to accept their lord’s conditions of existence. The Romans even invented the “passport” to control travel. Shortly afterward, during the Renaissance, the idea of nation states took hold, allowing rulers to control valuable labor and get rid of unwanted ethnic and religious minorities simply be importing or exporting them across borders.

This is pretty much where we are stuck now. The nation state system has been in effect since the Renaissance 700 years ago, although superficially changed by colonialism and two world wars. Our society has gone from mating pairs to tribalism to nation states over the past 800,000 years. Our technological advances make our sociological advances look quaint. Technologically, we have gone from fire to nuclear fusion. Sociologically, we have gone from mating pairs to large, combative groups of mating pairs—not that great of an advancement. One could argue it is a regression.

Societies were originally invented to protect all the members of that society. The accumulation of wealth, power, and technology by a few in these societies has allowed the original intent of protection for all members to be perverted into protection of those members with wealth and power. The extent of this varies a lot from country to country. For a dichotomy look at Scandinavian countries with their social democracy versus the U.S. with its blatant plutocracy. Quality of life in America is plunging. Lifespans are shortening. Infant and maternal death rates are rising. Four in ten people in the U.S. would not be able to come up with a $400 emergency expense. People die without healthcare. Two-thirds of bankruptcies are for medical reasons. Scandinavians, on the other hand, regularly survey as being some of the happiest people on Earth. They have little inequality of income and universal single payer healthcare.

This article is not about the vagaries of American society. America is just an example of what can go wrong in the current sociological setting. There are other countries just as bad or worse than the United States, and that is the point.

No country on Earth takes the stand that the world’s resources are for everybody, not just those that figure out how to wheedle them out of everybody else. And that is the end game of capitalism. One person ends up with everything. The only game worse is communism where everybody ends up with nothing. Capitalism being the economic mechanism du jour for the world does not mean that, as a species, we are well and totally fucked. It seems to be working in countries where money is not allowed to buy votes or legislation. It is not working in America. American needs to come up with a way to control capitalism so that it reflects a benefit for all parties involved instead of only a few. We still all collectively need clean air and water, food, health care, shelter, and education. We need a climate that is not going to morph into a man killer or destroyer of homes.

The Scandinavian countries have managed a balancing act of free market capitalism and a comprehensive welfare state using a parliamentary democracy. We would do well to look at and, perhaps borrow, some of their methods.

Climate change has added an urgency to the mix. What we need now is a world organization that has the power to control nations similar to what nations now have in controlling their individual states or prefectures—a United Nations on steroids or everything Lance Armstrong took to win Tour de France seven times.

We cannot keep letting our sociological evolution slip backwards while our technical evolution soars. Technology is giving tools to individuals that allow them to take advantage of others to an extent that was never possible in pre-technology. And the rate at which that is happening is increasing geometrically. We have become thinly veneered reptilian brains with nukes and lasers and military grade psychological warfare techniques.

Is it hopeless? Are we doomed? Will we succumb, as a species, to the baser instincts DNA has provided to survive a landscape of dire wolves, cave lions, and giant bears? I think it depends on those other facilities nature gave us. Our capacity for empathy and love and understanding must be developed on an individual basis to be able, as a group, to decide how to go forward into a better future. It is dependent on us … no, it is dependent on you to love your neighbor as yourself. It is dependent on you to understand we are all human beings with the same wants and desires for well-being and happiness no matter which side of whatever border we come from. Once that happens on an individual basis then no, we are not doomed. It is not hopeless. We can then decide through the mechanism of our democratic society the correct path forward. And when that happens we will know that our social evolution is back on track to catch up with our technological evolution after seven hundred years of stagnation.