My World of “Ought to Be”
by Timothy Wilken, MD












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Tuesday, March 19, 2002
 

Hubbert's Peak & The Economics of Oil

James J. Puplava writes: Currently the price of oil is rising again. The perception is that the U.S. economy will recover from recession and an economic recovery will generate increased demand for energy. Oil, along with natural gas and energy-related stocks are rising again. However, to attribute this rise to economic activity is to relegate energy back to the simple argument of supply and demand. As I have discussed throughout this installment, energy is multi-dimensional. There are other issues that drive energy over the long-term. The most important aspects are geological and then political. In the short-term, the price of energy is still driven by the actions of traders and speculators. The debate over energy is still confined to the realm of economics. Unfortunately, the politicians, the economists, and the public are still focusing on the markets and the price of oil. Those markets and prices are greatly influenced by the actions of traders and speculators whose decisions are motivated and driven by imprecise data. The warnings of petroleum scientists that the era of cheap energy is coming to an end are largely ignored. Writing in the Oil & Gas Journal, Ali Morteza Samsam Bakhtiari from National Iranian Oil Company states, ”Those still burying their heads in the sand and believing in the sacrosanct market forces are in for shattering shocks and some will pay dearly in the years to come for having been encouraged to accept these illusions." (03/19/02)


 

The Engines of Our Ingenuity

This is a wonderfully rich archive of delightful stories of human ingenuity and human made machines.  John H. Lienhard, author and voice of The Engines of Our Ingenuity, is M.D. Anderson Professor of Mechanical Engineering and History at the University of Houston. He is known for his research in the thermal sciences as well as in cultural history. Take a look! Don't be suprised if you stay awhile and come back often. (03/19/02)


 

The Subtle Texture of Cooperation

Out of Kropotkin's years in Siberia observing animal behavior, he brought stories about birds sharing in exactly the same way. Then he quoted an ancient Greek source: A sparrow comes to tell other sparrows that a slave has dropped a sack of corn. And they all go off to feed upon the grain. Kropotkin was horrified by the violence of Darwin's early followers. He wrote, They have made modern literature resound with the war-cry of woe to the vanquished, as if it were the last word of modern biology. Now biologists are rediscovering what Kropotkin and the ancient Greeks already knew: the fact, obvious once you see it, that generosity is our primal survival strategy.  (03/19/02)


 

More Species Are Better

University of Maryland biology professor Margaret Palmer states: "Our research supports findings from other studies that show when you decrease the diversity of species in an ecosystem, the ecosystem becomes less productive," said Palmer. "What's really exciting about our work is that we were able to show why this happens. We found that species sometimes help each other capture food. When you lose a species, the others may eat less and become less productive."  (03/19/02)


 

What It Means To Exceed Carrying Capacity

Daniel Quinn writing in 1996: You need to take a step back from the problem in order to see it in global perspective. At present there are five and a half billion of you here, and, though millions of you are starving, you're producing enough food to feed six billion. And because you're producing enough food for six billion, it's a biological certainty that in three or four years there will be six billion of you. By that time, however (even though millions of you will still be starving), you'll be producing enough food for six and a half billion -- which means that in another three or four years there will be six and a half billion. But by that time you'll be producing enough food for seven billion (even though millions of you will still be starving), which again means that in another three or four years there will be seven billion of you. In order to halt this process, you must face the fact that increasing food production doesn't feed your hungry, it only fuels your population explosion. ... I see that. But how do we stop increasing food production? ... You do it the same way you stop destroying the ozone layer, the same way you stop cutting down the rain forests. If the will is there, the method will be found. (03/19/02)


 

What is Teleportec Technology ?

The Teleportec communications system is unique and has been designed to enable a life-size image of a person to appear within a 3D environment. You can make eye contact with individuals, use props and hold true two-way conversations - communicating naturally with anyone or any group of people anywhere in the world, as you would if you were really there. After all 80% of communication is non-verbal. The only thing you can't do is shake hands.  (03/18/02)


 

Energy Politics In The Caspian And Russia

Before the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, only two independent states -- the USSR and Iran -- bordered the Caspian Sea. Now, five states -- Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan -- adjoin the sea, the repository of an estimated 200 billion barrels of oil and comparable reserves of natural gas. Over the past few years, major Western oil companies have concluded a series of multi-billion dollar contracts with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia to explore and develop Caspian oil and gas deposits. But the implementation of these deals still depends to a large extent on the construction of a network of pipelines to export these hydrocarbon riches to Western markets. (03/18/02)


 

Which statement is true ?

"We have met the enemy and he is us." —Pogo

"We are the people we have been waiting for." —Hopi Elders


 

The Prophecy of the Seven Fires

The Prophecy of the Seven Fires tells that today we are at a fork in the road where we will chose between the great destruction or great abundance and peace. ...  "In this time there will be a new people who will emerge from the clouds of illusion.  They will retrace their steps to find the treasures that had been left by the trail.  The stories that had been lost will be returned to them.  They will remember the Original Instructions and find strength in the way of the circle."  (03/18/02)


 

Belief Divides People

J.Krishnamurti wrote: Through lack of intelligence we accept the idea of a super-intelligence which we call "God" ; but this 'God', this super intelligence, is not going to give us a better life. Why? Because belief divides people: there is the Hindu, the Buddhist, the Christian, the Moslem, the communist, the socialist, the capitalist and so on... Belief, idea, divides; it never brings people together. You all believe in differents ways, but your belief has no reality whatsoever. Reality is what you are, what you do, what you think, and your belief in God is merely an escape from your monotonous, and cruel life. 'God' is the unknown, and your believe or non-belief in the unknown is merely a self projection and therefore not real.  (03/17/02)


 

Good News for Overpopulation

Maybe GAIA is going to do something about our human overpopulation problem herself.  As reported by the Independent in the UK: Sperm counts are falling dramatically across Britain and the rest of industrialised world. ... Studies around the world have shown that average sperm counts in men have dropped by more than half over the past 50 years – from about 160 million per millilitre of semen to 66 million.  (03/17/02)


 


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