*It's not just about fulfilment; it's about the fact too that while we find fulfilment the other half starves.*

Squeers, we have sent countless boatloads of food and continue to
do so, to the other half. Net result is even more babies. I am
sick of parents with six, eight, ten children, telling me that they
are doing it tough. Until you deal with this issue, you are peeing
in the breeze, when it comes to any kind of sustainable planet.

Nobody on OLO has been more vocal then myself, about providing
good family planning for the third world. Our politicians, our
people, ignore it. Now we have pressure in Australia and the USA,
to go back to the holy zygote. If these so called educated people
are so frigging blind, there is not much more that I can do about it,
I am afraid.

Take some note of what Divergence quotes on this issue, he/she is
well informed. Ever growing population is the key problem and
Squeers pedalling to work is not going to solve anything except
make Squeers feel good.

People lived quite well, before the age of oil. 5 acres, some vegies,
some chooks, some fruit trees, a cow,a few crafts etc.

If we haven't found another energy source by the time we have used
up the ones that are available, I guess there will be a massive
population crash and the survivors will go back to how things were
100 years ago. So be it. Now why should I have sleepless nights
about that?

I did my bit, I did not breed like a rabbit, but just enjoyed the
sex, when it was available :)

Dear Yabby,

The foundation for recognising the vulnerability of our
planet was being laid in the 1970s, by Tor Hundloe and
others. The following is an excerpt from one of his
campaign speeches from the 1974 election. The language is
dated - but I don't think it matters:

"All efforts to support economic growth, feed more people
and mine more minerals requires very large amounts of
energy - amounts that are doubling every 12 years. It is
this immense breaking away from living within the
limits of the sun's energy, as other living things do, that
is at the root of man's abuse of the earth.

There is only so much fossil fuel, only so much
hundred-million-year-old sunlight in storage. We are burning
our capital. We are close to the end of the fossil fuel
economy.

We are building up carbon dioxide in the air. We are
running the risk of irreversible, disastrous climate changes.

Even if we could invent a perfectly safe and clean source
of energy based on solar power, we would still be defeated
by the fact that the earth's climate can absorb only
so much extra heat before it changes too much for us to
stand.

All the energy we ever use ends up as heat and it has to
go somewhere. This is the law of physics and has nothing
to do with technology, politics, or economics.

This limit that we are just finding out about, gives the
final blow to the widely held idea that if we had more
and more high energy technology we could solve our
problems by desalting the sea, making a desert bloom,
making metals out of granite and food out of coal.

In theory these things could be done, but in reality
such energy intensive solutions can simply not work on
anything like world scale, not because we shall never
have the energy but because we shall have no place
to put the heat that energy turns into.

We face another dead end, this time with respect to the
larger cake, larger share for all policy. "

cont'd ...

cont'd ...

"Some will not like the idea of redistributing material
wealth, but it is an idea that comes not from
ideology but from the logic of ecology. Seen in
political form, conservation is not a plot by the rich
to keep the poor poor. On the contrary, it suggests
the rich are rich enough, and the poor must become
better off so that they are not forced to degrade
nature simply to feed their children.

Conservation takes a long view. We today should have
a lower material standard of living so that the
people tomorrow will be able to have a standard of
living at all."

As Hundloe tells us, "All the fantastic inventions we have
put to use have delivered the middle classes (wherever
they live) a lifestyle far beyond scarcity. A major
tragedy is that most of us don't recognise our
success. Some of the most eminent economists,
psychologists, and philosophers have made clear what
should be obvious: we don't become happier if life is
led in search of the next material object, in
conspicuous consumption. What happens in the hypothetical
world where we are all "the Joneses' on top of the
pile?" Is that the end of striving, of incentive,
of the drive that is essentially human?"

Perhaps we need to re-examine the old adage - "moderation
in all things?"

From the Intro to Jerry Pournelle's 2011 edition of "A Step Further Out
"We live in an age of marvels. Despite that, we feel a sense of impending doom.... That's still true... We could still go to space. We could still mine the asteroids. We could still take part in developing mankind’s vast future. Indeed, it is easier to do now than it would have been when I wrote these essays. The unrelenting enmity of the Soviet Union has been replaced by other threats, some of them severe, but none comparable to 26,000 nuclear warheads. We have computers and the Internet. There is free exchange of ideas throughout most of the world, and the information revolution relentlessly expands that area. We still face the threat of famine, but it is not as acute as it was in the times when these essays were written. Communications, transportation, electronics, rocket technology – it’s all better now. We can still go to the planets.

We still live in an age of marvels, and it’s still true that the only limit to growth is nerve."

TBC

Robert

and from reviews of a book I've not yet read Abundance the Future is Better Than You Think http://www.amazon.com/Abundance-ebook/dp
/B005FLOGMM

“At a moment when our world faces multiple crises and is awash in pessimism, Abundance redirects the conversation, spotlighting scientific innovators working to improve people's lives around the world. The result is more than a portrait of brilliant minds - it's a reminder of the infinite possibilities for doing good when we tap into our own empathy and wisdom.”—Arianna Huffington, CEO, Huffington Post

“This brilliant must-read book provides the key to the coming era of abundance replacing eons of scarcity, a powerful antidote to today’s malaise and pessimism.”—Ray Kurzweil, inventor, author and futurist, author of The Singularity is Near

"Now that human beings communicate so easily, I suspect that nothing can stop the inevitable torrent of new technologies, new ideas and new arrangements that will transform the lives of our children. Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler give us a blinding glimpse of the innovations that are coming our way — and that they are helping to create. This is a vital book."—Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist

“Comprehensively sampled here are a hell of a lot of the profound innovations going on to improve the human condition. Every breakthrough helps empower others, and so they aggregate into a trend you can count on.”—Stewart Brand, author, Whole Earth Discipline

“Diamandis and Kotler challenge us all to solve humanity’s grand challenges. Innovative small teams are now empowered to accomplish what only governments and large corporations could once achieve. The result is nothing less than the most transformative and thrilling period in human history.”––Timothy Ferriss, #1 NY Times bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek

“Today, philanthropists, innovators and passionate entrepreneurs are more empowered than ever before to solve humanity’s grand challenges. Abundance chronicles many of these stories and the emerging tools driving us towards an age of abundance. This is an audacious and powerful read!”—Jeff Skoll

TBC
R0bert

Part 3

“Diamandis and Kotler do a masterful job of explaining why we are at the start of a new era of radically increasing standards of living throughout the world. Abundance is essential reading for anyone looking for a better tomorrow.”—Elon Musk, CEO, SpaceX, CEO, Tesla Motors, Founder, PayPal

“Abundance provides proof that the proper combination of technology, people and capital can meet any grand challenge.”—Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group

"This engaging book is a needed corrective, a whirlwind tour of the latest developments in health care, agriculture, energy, and other fields ...The authors make a compelling case for optimism over dread as we face the exhilarating unknown. " --Publisher's Weekly

"If the future isn’t necessarily bright enough for shades, then, write high-tech pioneer Diamandis and science journalist Kotler think things are going to work out just fine...A nicely optimistic look at a matter that usually brings out the darkest thoughts among prognosticators..." --Kirku

R0bert