Australia faces famine, expert warns

[Monkey Magic]

was it as good as all are claiming. i love disaster movies.

[AiA in Atlanta]

was it as good as all are claiming. i love disaster movies.

Meh. It was a good time but if you have seen "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow" you have seen "2012".

[Monkey Magic]

ah... i have both of them. so 2012 is one for the plasma screen then. thanks. that saves money. i was going to go gold class.

[AiA in Atlanta]

ah... i have both of them. so 2012 is one for the plasma screen then. thanks. that saves money. i was going to go gold class.

save your money if you have a plasma screen

[AiA in Atlanta]

Also, don't waste money on a ticket to "Paranormal Activity" like I did. I saw the trailer for "Shutter Island" recently. THAT I gotta see.

[JW.Frogen]

AIA, you live in an apocalyptic future, it is called Atlanta.

[boxy]

No I am saying that one of the things our brain is good at is learning from the reality of the human condition and the reality of the human condition is that humans will not be poor to be good and so any solution to global warming has to take into account growing consumption and find adaptation strategies to that.

Political rationing, whether through carbon caps or consumption limits is more akin to a religious belief than it is science when it comes to how humans actually behave.



The amount of resources we have access to now would have been considered impossible a century ago, the amount of food we produce, fuel we produce, wealth we produce.

Technology and innovation probably will reveal that we are no where near the limits.

"consumption limits is more akin to a religious belief"

Yes. It is a common theme of religion that we should forgo individual greed for the greater good of the community into the future. It was what made it such a successful meme before the advent of the scientific method. Elders could make proclamations in the name of god and they would be (more or less accepted), even though they had probably been thought through by philosopher who had put great thought into the long term consequences of our "human nature".

See the similarities, despite the differences?

[JW.Frogen]

The thing about consumerism is no elder can control it, it is from bottom up.

The elders just facilitate it or they are eliminated.

[boxy]

The thing about consumerism is no elder can control it, it is from bottom up.

The elders just facilitate it or they are eliminated.

Strengths and weaknesses...

The great strength of capitalism is that it is an almost natural process. It needs minimal intellectual input. You set it in motion, and like natural selection, the fittest survive.

Unfortunately, it only takes into account short to medium term fitness, before boom and bust situations mean that it becomes counterproductive for the overall well being of the population.

Without management and control, it will deplete natural resources to unsustainable levels before devoting resources to the long term expansion of the species.

[JW.Frogen]

Consume up and let nature sort it out.