Reply To: Iconography

[Elling]

Imagine that some disruptive energy device, something like the Borax garage Megawatter, manages to make it to the mass market despite the conspirations of the major oil and grid companies. Of course I subscribe to all the wonderful descriptions of the future dream society. However, going back to cheap oil is not going to make the unstabilities in the moslem world any easier. We’re talking geopolitics and civilisational evolution here, factors that regerattably determine human action and the flow of history much more than technological advance.

The catch is that even with abundant energy to provide clean water and fresh food, we need the collaboration of all the regions to fix the climate. The Russians need to dim the sky so that methane does not leak out of the taiga. The Canadians and the Aussies need to keep the poles on ice. And the Maghrebs and the Arabs may need to green the Sahara and the Empty Quarter. Even with cheap, non-proliferation technology, it remains to be seen if such a global sharing of tasks is indeed possible. Let’s hope that the world has moved from settling disputes with big armies to playing it out on the soccer arenas. But the world has never been truly cooperative, even when resources were plentiful. A pattern of struggle always emerges. I’m sure the Egyptian press will sell the Borax Megawatter as just another sionist plot. The Chinese machiavellians will never yield to foreign dependance to clean their environment. Do you think the Iranian maniac will accept the foreign energy source so as to give up his excuse to make the bomb ?