‘The Expanse’ is a story about systemic ruin
The science fiction noir thriller, “The Expanse,” has a lot to say about systemic risks in society and about what not to do about them.
Kurt Cobb
A kinder, gentler GMO; what could possibly go wrong?
CRISPR, the latest fad in genetic engineering, is touted as both safer and more versatile than previous techniques. But those touting it are making the same demonstrably false assumption that people using the old techniques made.
Climate change, water and the infrastructure problem
The naive notion that we can, for example, “just use more air conditioning” as the globe warms betrays a perplexing misunderstanding of what we face. Even if one ignores the insanity of burning more climate-warming fossil fuels to make electricity for more air-conditioning, there is the embedded assumption that our current infrastructure with only minor modifications will withstand the pressures placed upon it in a future transformed by climate change and other depredations.
Seawalls for oil refineries and other ironies of climate change adaptation
Several climate change deniers in the Texas political establishment aren’t deniers after all. They just don’t want the industry which got them elected (and could get them defeated just as easily) to pay anything to protect itself from the very dangers to which the use of the industry’s products exposes the entire globe.
Artificial intelligence, fake images and crumbling trust in our narratives
How do we anchor ourselves in a world in which neither the narratives we are told nor the images we are shown can be trusted?
Climate, politics and the narrow vision of futurists
“The Future” is a sales pitch designed to keep us locked into existing institutions and power relationships. It has nothing to do with solving our real problems or liberating us from the increasing power of corporations and the governments they have captured. It is, in fact, an elitist vision of a future entirely run by wealthy technologists who find politics and environmental disruption inconvenient.
Eternity, nature, society and the absurd fantasies of the rich
Professor and author Douglas Rushkoff recently wrote about a group of wealthy individuals who paid him to answer questions about how to manage their lives after what they believe will be the collapse of society.
Saudi retreat on oil IPO highlights dearth of reliable information on world oil reserves
The recent retreat of Saudi Arabia from its planned IPO is not only an important financial event. It’s an important informational event in that it highlights the opacity of the world’s oil producers. It should remind us that the numbers we accept from major governmental and international organizations regarding oil reserves worldwide are largely based on unverified sources, namely, the word and only the word of most of the world’s national oil companies.
“In Praise of Idleness” revisited
So much of modern culture insists that constant stimulation is the essence of living. In truth, constant stimulation is merely a tactic of advertisers, app makers, websites and myriad media outlets to hook you on their messages and their products. Leisure requires withdrawal from all that and—this is the key point—learning to derive pleasure from solitude, quiet observation of the world around us and introspection.
Re-localizing food production: The Homemade Food Operations Act
It’s estimated that at least 50,000 people in California at least occasionally sell meals that they cook at home. Most of them have no idea that what they are doing is illegal. The Homemade Food Operations Act (AB 626), would change this, making it legal to sell certain meals made in a home kitchen in California.
10 years after the oil price spike: Is peak oil a process rather than a moment?
What if peak oil is a process rather than a moment, a process with a series of twists and turns filled with sometimes ambiguous and counterintuitive signals?
Is the decline of coal a national security problem?
American coal country has seen hard days as utilities abandon coal for cheaper, less carbon-intensive natural gas and renewables. The Trump administration, trying to make good on a campaign promise to rejuvenate the coal industry, is attempting yet again to revive demand for coal by labeling coal-fired power plants as essential to national security.