Reply To: turn heat into electricity

[Matt M]

Massive starvation ahead… perhaps.

Most of the non-oil producing 3rd world countries are one bad grain harvest in the Ukraine
away from starvation on a biblical scale. This is because populations are peaking while grain
is being diverted into gas tanks in the developed world. In addition, the conversion to ‘organic’
farming will generally reduce yields by 30% to 40% from standard farming practices.

This problem will become increasingly acute as the birthrates in these 3rd world countries
collapse. Iran has seen a drop in 20 years from women having 6 babies to women having
1.5 babies. 30 years from now, many nations will have a mushroom economy – with a small
group of workers attempting to support a mushroom cap of dependent elderly. Poor nations
will cease to function.

However, with small cheap fusion reactors, the possiblity exists for inexpensive desalination
plants and the pyrolytic conversion of lignocellulose into sugar (grass and wood into food).
That would create the possiblity of a soft landing for these poor nations.

We are on the verge of the first significant non-disease induced reduction in human population
ever. In 50 years we will drop from 8 billion to 6 billion.