Quote:
Originally Posted by Boerseun
...If we had free unlimited clean energy available, will humanity achieve real greatness, finally being freed from worrying about securing energy?...
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I really doubt it would turn out to be an unqualified magic elixir.
First off, somebody would try to corner it. I assume these "vacuum generators" would be big enough and complex enough that you couldn't just put one in your pocket, or your car, or your house. So somebody would build them. Like Exxon or BP -- a big, big, powerful, rich company. Maybe 2 or 3 of them. So we would still pay through the nose for energy.
Second, we would start wasting energy like crazy. Convert it into gasoline at 5% efficiency rates, to run even BIGGER SUVs and Pickemup Trucks, running at 5 MPG. Smog goes through the roof. Acid rain kills off the northern forests.
Third, what happens to energy after you use it? It transforms to heat. All that "free" energy we would be using would all turn into heat and global warming would skyrocket.
Four, there would be a global race to have (and use) the most energy. And to use that energy to obtain the most resources, like titanium, magnesium, manganese, copper, tungsten, uranium, et al. These would be converted into war machines at a rate like never before, since the dominant countries have to (a) plan for the contingency that this new energy might not be infinitely available, and (b) avoid having some other country find ways of using more energy to build more war machines than they can.
Five, since energy would be almost free, human labor would become worthless. Total global economic collapse.
Gosh, Boerseun, this scenario sounds just like what we got today!
