Brian H - 05 September 2010 07:32 AM

There’s more involved, of course; I saw a study recently which indicated that compared to SK residents, NKers were stunted physically, mentally, and emotionally, from nutritional and other lacks.

What is this study? How was it done if entrance in NK is very controlled?

I think this is a useful topic, because people are devoting thought to how to raise a country out of poverty using energy.

My initial thought was that they could do worse than set up a few large ammonia factories - the Haber process could be run entirely without input of fossil fuel, if you get your hydrogen from electrolysis. Once they have a source of fertilizer, their agricultural base would improve, and their population would be better fed.

Indeed, they could use it as a liquid fuel (as I was made aware on another thread here recently), and run tractors on it.

Once you are working less hard for your food, everything else gets much easier.

Wouldn’t a Focus Fusion type device give Nk government more power instead of less? NK is probably the only government where this type of tech would strengthen them since the population is so isolated and brainwashed.

Dr_Barnowl - 05 September 2010 07:05 PM

I think this is a useful topic, because people are devoting thought to how to raise a country out of poverty using energy.

NK’s problem isn’t really lack of energy, or any sort of resources per se, but complete mismanagement of what is laughingly called its “economy”.  Any reasonable government would be able to do fine with what NK has in terms of resources, and I’m not convinced that NK having cheap energy would necessarily help the situation of the common people there.