Hi everybody. Still here; still intending to blog more; but reality is against us. Our part of Minnesota is officially a "disaster area", because of the stuck jet streams; 20 inches of rain in May and June, much of it torrential. We have secondary bridges and roads out in many places- and no idea when, or even if, they'll be repaired. We're doing better than many of our neighbors, though. If they took the risks and planted their crops very early, they may be ok; if they decided to wait- they may get no crop at all; too wet to work the fields for too long.
Besides being overwhelmed with regular work, which is always late and difficult, blogging requires some kind of enthusiasm on my part. And it's not that there's a lack of things to talk about- it's that there are too many. And too often, discussion of things like the situation in Egypt just seems futile. Nothing we say here will have any useful point to it. It seems.
What finally got me off my figurative fanny today was this stunning bit of insanity. Watch the video first; and beware of the Golem-Sucks advertising:
Ok, got that? The 24 year old software engineer has figured out a way to rid the food system of waste, and help out with hunger in the impoverished regions of the world. It's easy! Just put it all into powder with a 20 year shelf life! Why didn't we think of this before??
The stunningly insane part is- how easily he has the entire world press going right along with him. Not surprisingly, they have a nice, logical set of arguments in favor of powdered food; take a look at them here on their crowdfunding site (the project has ended- alas you can no longer contribute here; but they did raise just under $800,000...) An end to waste! No more shopping, or cooking, or washing dishes! Cool- has to save tons of energy, right?
Well, no. How did we get to a place were NONE of the journalists covering this (so far as I can see) are familiar with the concept of "embodied energy"? You have powdered protein here? Um- where did it come from? The store, obviously!
This is typical of the "answers" to global problems offered by "young software engineers". The mind boggles. It's the kind of analysis any systems thinker - um - thinks about, instantly. Doing some digging, it did not really take me too long to find a reliable list of Soylent ingredients. (Incidentally- many of us already know the name, "soylent"- hm; is there a trademark/copyright/IP conflict here? Already contentious. You never know what the courts will say, but personally- I would bet that name is "occupied".)
Ok; the list of ingredients:
Maltodextrin (carbs) (made from - corn, or wheat!)
Oat Powder (carbs, fiber, protein, fat) (made from- oats!)
Whey Isolate (protein) (made from - milk!)
Grapeseed Oil (fat) (made from - grapes!)
Potassium Gluconate (made from - sugar!)
Salt (sodium)
Magnesium Gluconate (made from - sugar!)
Monosodium Phosphate
Calcium Carbonate (limestone!)
Methylsulfonylmethane (Sulfur) (actually; sulfur added to - natural gas?)
Creatine (made from - meat!)
Powdered Soy Lecithin (made from - soybeans!)
Choline Bitartrate (made from - something like sugar!)
Ferrous Gluconate (Iron) (made from - sugar!)
Various vitamin and mineral supplements
Do you begin to understand? Leaving aside the glaring suppositions that a) we truly know all our nutritional requirements, and b) this is all of them; exactly where are the energy savings; if instead of humans directly consuming corn, wheat, oats, milk, meat, etc, etc, etc, - we still have to grow all those crops; then reduce the simple components to powder? Powdering, I assure you, requires a great deal of energy input; as do all separation/ purification processes. And- are we going to now grow grapes for their seed oils? What do we do with the rest of the grape? I'll bet they start using palm oil soon; much more available.
The kid is able to buy the powdered ingredients for cheap right now- because they are indeed all manufactured as part of industrial food processes, and "by products" of animal feed or brewing or cheese making. So- ask yourself; how does it scale up? Way, way, up: in order to make any difference to anything, according to their own arguments. Demand for the powdered components would skyrocket- and so would the prices.
Soon - just as is the case right now with quinoa, the farmers growing the crops would be selling them to the wealthy for their powders, and be unable to afford, once again, to feed themselves from their own crops.
I have to say; this is obvious; and we know this. And yet- the Polka Dot Gallows paths we're on continue to thrive.
Showing posts with label cutting the Gordian Crap; unstated assumptions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cutting the Gordian Crap; unstated assumptions. Show all posts
Monday, July 8, 2013
Monday, February 6, 2012
The Struggle for Rationality
Gaia's Daughter commented on the last post, and I was in the process of responding when I realized I had a new post on my hands. Her second comment (read the first, too):
"Okay, my last comment was really depressing so I thought I might amend it a bit. I do think that circumstances may force Truth upon us sooner rather than later . . . the day of 'no other alternatives' may be closer than we think. I also believe that there are a lot of exceptional people out there planting those seeds for a better future -- a future that may surprise us."
Gaia's- lots of things there I totally agree with; in fact I'd probably intensify most of them. Your "People for the most part are not really rational beings -", for example, is wildly optimistic. :-) And boy, am I not kidding.
The vast majority of humans operate their entire lives on exactly the same mental levels as all the other species on the globe; we simply react to the environment around them. Even the most enlightened and and aware of us mostly run on auto-pilot; and the illusion that our actions are based on "reason" is exactly that- illusion. There are vast tomes written on this subject, which we reasoning people read, groan over, and ignore. A good place to start investigating is the classic "Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness Of Crowds." And I will again say, with no kidding whatsoever, boy, was MacKay ever an optimist. And you will note, from the date of the work, that this is hardly a new conversation.
There is, however, a spark of rationality in our species. We are aware that logic and reason exist. And we know they can be useful. History is almost our only real tool for demonstrating this, but its arguments are forceful. The slow, painful, and intentional invention of Science being my best example.
Persons striving for Rationality, like you and me, observed that the "knowledge" belonging to the human race, which we use for making life or death decisions of all kinds, was in fact an utter rag-bag of nonsense. Aristotle, for example, propagated the most absurd information (geese grow from barnacles) as absolute fact- and these facts were accepted as gospel, for centuries.
The founders of Science first - noticed that. I will point out that "noticing" is an incredible achievement, and far from easy or simple. It amounts to my statement yesterday that I spend most of my time trying to see - what is the problem.
Then astonishingly, the Founders of Science did something second: they sought to do something about the problem. I will point out here that they probably did not make a rational choice to pursue this huge problem. It was more likely motivated by other animal drives. But pursue they did; until the pursuit took on its own life, becoming a cultural force of its own. The result; which took hundreds of years and hundreds of human minds to refine; is the Scientific Method. It is now tightly formulated, in several places, most accessibly and neatly (to my mind) in Koch's Postulates. Understand- the refining of the Method is not finished; and a huge number of people who make their living as "scientists" in fact do not follow the Method. Many don't truly understand it; and like all tools in the universe it can be abused. But. Used carefully; the Scientific Method is an algorithm for Truth. It can, and does, distinguish between illusion and components of Objective Reality. (If you're one of those who dispute the existence of objective reality, you might as well leave now. You will gain no traction here. I believe on Gravity.)
Alas- here is where we are stuck. We have a tool we can use to discover Truth. But we became philosophically sidetracked when the vast majority of educated persons, putatively trained to rational thought, made the irrational and generally unstated assumption that Truth = Good; or more usefully and less commonly put, Truth = Wisdom. We have, I will firmly state, abundant evidence that those equations are invalid.
May I state it this way? I have noticed that - our collections of Truths, or Knowledge now validated by Science, are assumed to operate also as Wisdom. But in fact- we have a useless rag-bag of collective Wisdom. Exactly equal to Aristotelian Knowledge.
What we need is another collective effort to establish the equivalent of the Scientific Method; but it needs to be a method that will return Wisdom; valid, reproducible, objective, operable.
Recall that it took hundreds of years and hundreds of minds to sort the Scientific Method out of the tangle of mental processes that preceded it. Ignore for the moment that it's still only a tiny minority of human minds that actually use or comprehend Science- remember that that tiny minority, and Science, have utterly and irrevocably altered the world. Acknowledged or not, the power of the Scientific Method is irrefutable.
That's what I'm asking of you all. Gaia's Daughter- your thinking shows me you are on the path. You're finding it depressing. So do I; but realize you are in the same place as the scientific thinkers in the 11th Century- struggling through millennia of mental murk.
And I'm afraid I must add a depressing observation of my own, re: your comment "I do think that circumstances may force Truth upon us sooner rather than later . . . the day of 'no other alternatives' may be closer than we think. " Alas, the astonishing durability of delusional systems is broadly demonstrated, historically. The US Wall Street Stock Markets being a case in point- there's no shred of rationality anywhere; yet it keeps going.
We can all see, very clearly, that the path humanity is currently on cannot endure, and is deeply unjust in many ways; but I'm beginning to suspect it can keep going, in robust zombie mode, for a long time. Change may not be able to depend on collapse; likewise collapse might not enforce change. If we want a healthy, just planet, we may have to find new ways.
It is not easy- to see where no one has seen before. I doubt that one mind can do it all.
But we need to try. And why should we not start here?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
And, another "tsk-tsk!" from the New York Times today, with a story of Truth inserted into the system and ignored, leading to disaster. Do read it. And the fate of the poor fellow who tried to make the system work; expected it to; trusted it to. This is our reality- across the board. Not the exception. Yet the great majority of us still come out of higher education, and find this surprising and counter-intuitive.
Then we get depressed about it, and withdraw (I'm not an exception.)
What we need to do, is find a new way to engage the problem. Entirely new. The "Occupy" people are on the right track- they have no stated agenda- because they are smart enough to know they do not know what is needed.
Like the invention of Science- progress on problems of this magnitude come very slowly and in tiny pieces. Put it on your list.
"Okay, my last comment was really depressing so I thought I might amend it a bit. I do think that circumstances may force Truth upon us sooner rather than later . . . the day of 'no other alternatives' may be closer than we think. I also believe that there are a lot of exceptional people out there planting those seeds for a better future -- a future that may surprise us."
Gaia's- lots of things there I totally agree with; in fact I'd probably intensify most of them. Your "People for the most part are not really rational beings -", for example, is wildly optimistic. :-) And boy, am I not kidding.
The vast majority of humans operate their entire lives on exactly the same mental levels as all the other species on the globe; we simply react to the environment around them. Even the most enlightened and and aware of us mostly run on auto-pilot; and the illusion that our actions are based on "reason" is exactly that- illusion. There are vast tomes written on this subject, which we reasoning people read, groan over, and ignore. A good place to start investigating is the classic "Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness Of Crowds." And I will again say, with no kidding whatsoever, boy, was MacKay ever an optimist. And you will note, from the date of the work, that this is hardly a new conversation.
There is, however, a spark of rationality in our species. We are aware that logic and reason exist. And we know they can be useful. History is almost our only real tool for demonstrating this, but its arguments are forceful. The slow, painful, and intentional invention of Science being my best example.
Persons striving for Rationality, like you and me, observed that the "knowledge" belonging to the human race, which we use for making life or death decisions of all kinds, was in fact an utter rag-bag of nonsense. Aristotle, for example, propagated the most absurd information (geese grow from barnacles) as absolute fact- and these facts were accepted as gospel, for centuries.
The founders of Science first - noticed that. I will point out that "noticing" is an incredible achievement, and far from easy or simple. It amounts to my statement yesterday that I spend most of my time trying to see - what is the problem.
Then astonishingly, the Founders of Science did something second: they sought to do something about the problem. I will point out here that they probably did not make a rational choice to pursue this huge problem. It was more likely motivated by other animal drives. But pursue they did; until the pursuit took on its own life, becoming a cultural force of its own. The result; which took hundreds of years and hundreds of human minds to refine; is the Scientific Method. It is now tightly formulated, in several places, most accessibly and neatly (to my mind) in Koch's Postulates. Understand- the refining of the Method is not finished; and a huge number of people who make their living as "scientists" in fact do not follow the Method. Many don't truly understand it; and like all tools in the universe it can be abused. But. Used carefully; the Scientific Method is an algorithm for Truth. It can, and does, distinguish between illusion and components of Objective Reality. (If you're one of those who dispute the existence of objective reality, you might as well leave now. You will gain no traction here. I believe on Gravity.)
Alas- here is where we are stuck. We have a tool we can use to discover Truth. But we became philosophically sidetracked when the vast majority of educated persons, putatively trained to rational thought, made the irrational and generally unstated assumption that Truth = Good; or more usefully and less commonly put, Truth = Wisdom. We have, I will firmly state, abundant evidence that those equations are invalid.
May I state it this way? I have noticed that - our collections of Truths, or Knowledge now validated by Science, are assumed to operate also as Wisdom. But in fact- we have a useless rag-bag of collective Wisdom. Exactly equal to Aristotelian Knowledge.
What we need is another collective effort to establish the equivalent of the Scientific Method; but it needs to be a method that will return Wisdom; valid, reproducible, objective, operable.
Recall that it took hundreds of years and hundreds of minds to sort the Scientific Method out of the tangle of mental processes that preceded it. Ignore for the moment that it's still only a tiny minority of human minds that actually use or comprehend Science- remember that that tiny minority, and Science, have utterly and irrevocably altered the world. Acknowledged or not, the power of the Scientific Method is irrefutable.
That's what I'm asking of you all. Gaia's Daughter- your thinking shows me you are on the path. You're finding it depressing. So do I; but realize you are in the same place as the scientific thinkers in the 11th Century- struggling through millennia of mental murk.
And I'm afraid I must add a depressing observation of my own, re: your comment "I do think that circumstances may force Truth upon us sooner rather than later . . . the day of 'no other alternatives' may be closer than we think. " Alas, the astonishing durability of delusional systems is broadly demonstrated, historically. The US Wall Street Stock Markets being a case in point- there's no shred of rationality anywhere; yet it keeps going.
We can all see, very clearly, that the path humanity is currently on cannot endure, and is deeply unjust in many ways; but I'm beginning to suspect it can keep going, in robust zombie mode, for a long time. Change may not be able to depend on collapse; likewise collapse might not enforce change. If we want a healthy, just planet, we may have to find new ways.
It is not easy- to see where no one has seen before. I doubt that one mind can do it all.
But we need to try. And why should we not start here?
-------------------------------------------------------------------
And, another "tsk-tsk!" from the New York Times today, with a story of Truth inserted into the system and ignored, leading to disaster. Do read it. And the fate of the poor fellow who tried to make the system work; expected it to; trusted it to. This is our reality- across the board. Not the exception. Yet the great majority of us still come out of higher education, and find this surprising and counter-intuitive.
Then we get depressed about it, and withdraw (I'm not an exception.)
What we need to do, is find a new way to engage the problem. Entirely new. The "Occupy" people are on the right track- they have no stated agenda- because they are smart enough to know they do not know what is needed.
Like the invention of Science- progress on problems of this magnitude come very slowly and in tiny pieces. Put it on your list.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Crusty Chicken Uncovered...
It saddens me deeply to report that our friends in the CIA have revealed a massive cover-up over at Chunky Chincken's - alas, it is in connection with her most famous initiative, the drive to establish the Diva Cup as the cutting edge of green femaleness.
This is indeed a photograph, in spite of the considerable resemblance to commercial semi-soft porn drawings. PhotoShop is amazing, isn't it?
even though this is merely a drawing of the obscure robot, Windsy Lagner. Sad, we think.
As you can see, an original photo has been blatantly altered, proof of Chunky Chippy's attempt to pass off her current "photo" as reality.
You may recall, in the early thoughts she shared with us, she confessed she was worried about... a sneeze.
What we've discovered is, The Sneeze did indeed occur. And it was, as feared, catastrophic; putting the entire project in grave doubt- which clearly has been the motive behind the ensuing cover-up.
Working together with Chinese Military Intelligence, the CIA (both organizations monitor all communications from the Little House - really) was investigating all the activities on the Chicken's blog, seeking any clue as to the origin of the fierce animosity towards this blog; beyond, of course, her sad failure to dominate the poll she'd intended to illustrate her own moral supremacy in the green-blog wars. (Notice her own blog is listed first in the poll, rather than using alphabetical order- this is a well known ploy for skewing results...)
Chuppa Chicken afishionadoes may recall THIS highly salacious post-
Ostensibly regarding the green aspects of elevators, the CMI-CIA team discovered that the photo published there was an extensively photoshopped picture of- the aftermath of The Sneeze... captured by the CC in-house pap-arazzi (hoping for good smear material, as always), and recycled for other purposes, as is typical there.
Here is the extensively photoshopped photograph, as published by Chopped Chickkens-
This is indeed a photograph, in spite of the considerable resemblance to commercial semi-soft porn drawings. PhotoShop is amazing, isn't it?
The Intelligence squad was suspicious of this photo, and discovered on a remote server in Kuuzbeckystan (the border country between Kurd and Uzbek regions) used by Hallibutton Inc to backup all web activity, the original photo: and the steps involved in creating this one. We know this is shocking; but we feel obliged to make the truth known.
Long-time Chickn minions will be aware that Madame Crinchy has always been sensitive about her appearance, and has often sought to mislead the blog consuming public in that regard. For months, she claimed this as her personal photo-
even though this is merely a drawing of the obscure robot, Windsy Lagner. Sad, we think.
Other photo deceptions were also perpetrated in the early days, but we will not inflict them upon our readers now.
The first clue that all was not as it appeared came when this photo was uncovered, in the Kuuzbecky server backup-
As you can see, an original photo has been blatantly altered, proof of Chunky Chippy's attempt to pass off her current "photo" as reality.
Digging further, we uncovered the actual, (mostly) UNRETOUCHED photograph below- revealing, for the first time anywhere, the Madama Crunch's TRUE FACE- covered up eventually with a totally fabricated image. (SOME retouching HAS gone on in this photo- we do not claim Madam has 4 arms yet; but analysis reveals the face is in fact the original photo image, unaltered.)
AND, as all can clearly see, the true fate of the Diva Cup - following The Sneeze. The elevator person's shoe was irretrievably damaged, according to our information, and he has not yet been reimbursed.
AND, as all can clearly see, the true fate of the Diva Cup - following The Sneeze. The elevator person's shoe was irretrievably damaged, according to our information, and he has not yet been reimbursed.
Sad, and disappointing, but reality so often is.
Likewise, we must report that the alleged "potty-offset" schemes being touted by DC turned out to be- a ploy, alas, to get Hallibutton employees ensconced in the THWASPCO as putative "potty watchers"- but whose real task would have been to spy on the Little Blog's personnel, for purposes of future embarrassment.
No actual payments for offsets were forthcoming- despite DC's effusive promises. We fear that "DC", in fact, may be mere vaporware from Krunchola; another egg layer of deception.
Faith, it's an uncertain world, altogether. (Errol Flynn, in Captain Blood).
------------------------------------------------------------
(PS - We hereby declare the humor contest to be "complete" - and while all the comments in the world are welcome here, we will not be making more revenge oriented posts any time soon. I've duct taped my dignity back together, and am resuming the cloak, undisirregardless of activities elsewhither.)
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Cutting The Gordian Crap; Possibility 2
Can't stand it, going to give in to a sideways rant today. This is what set me off: Bio Gas.
Basically, Big Oil is "explaining" that they "can't" afford to develop their industry to the point where it is reliable- because of the uncertainties connected with ethanol. Like what happens to the price when there's a bad corn crop?
Our whole society has gotten SO used to the "BIG LIE" tactic that we don't even note when it happens anymore. The "Journalists", and I use the word with great sarcasm, just report what the Big Liars say- and make a footnote about the contrary opinion, and let it loose in the headlines.
The result is an impenetrable tangle of Big Lies- and Big Half-Lies (like this one) - which are actually far more dangerous to our society. That little scrap of truth makes it possible for those with a good 5th grade education (the goal of all NeoCon education policy) to vehemently support, and vote for, falsehoods that are utterly not in their own interest.
It's the Gordian Knot of our time, or the Gordian Crap, as I call it; which can also be cut. Gordian Knot (Wikipedia haters- sorry, but it was just way more accesible and relevant than anything else.)
Big Oil is stealing money as fast as they can, before someone in Congress wakes up.
"Ooh, we're SO sorry our profits are creating ALL TIME records! It's really not our fault! It's the markets! That 40 Billion dollars we siphoned out of your pockets last year? We really couldn't help it! We also couldn't help that we did it again, and again, and again." All Time Record Profits
Liar liar, pants on fire.
(Incidentally, if I turn up dead tomorrow, you'll know why. You think $40 Billion/yr isn't adequate motivation for killing? Many times?)
So, Exxon (and everyone else in Big Oil) you're telling me that-
a) nobody in your company NOTICED you were making record high profits, repeatedly?
b) nobody in your company thought- "hm, if we take an extra $20 BILLION out of the economy, some of our customers, and their businesses, might be hurt."? (one lucid example: fishing license purchases, and boat license purchases, in Minnesota are down- substantially- which means a bunch of related businesses will have profits- down.)
c) nobody in your company has the AUTHORITY to say "let's cut our prices just a tad- take a little less profit this quarter."?
I really don't believe it; though I suppose it's possible you're all really that stupid. Your actions certainly suggest that.
Very basic biology- if you want to be a successful parasite (that would be you) The First Rule is; DON'T KILL OFF YOUR HOST BY STEALING TOO MUCH.
And we read the headlines- say "tsk, tsk" - and move on. Very encouraging.
Well, enough crap cutting. How about something we could DO? This comes under the category of "we have not yet BEGUN to think."
One of the biggest problems we face as a society right now is the unstated, unrecognized assumption in our thinking that our problems are the result of LOGICAL developments.
We're in this difficult place for a reason; we assume.
No, we're not; much human development is often more a matter of pure chance than logic. (Another barrier to realizing that is organized religions- they don't like that idea at all.)
That's basically good news, though; because it means there could be LOGICAL ways OUT of our difficulties. Like this:
Problem: We consume way too much gasoline and diesel fuel- more than we can continue to produce, and too much for our atmosphere to handle.
Answer: Consume less.
Aha. Easier said than done! you reply.
No, VERY easy to do; it just takes some collective will power, and a bit of growing up.
TRUTH, now- do you NEED a car with 250 Horsepower?
No, of course not. It's huge fun- but it's not necessary to get from here to there. Everybody knows that. But the Spoiled Brats of the world prevail, throwing tantrums and kicking their heels, when anyone suggests taking away their dangerous toys.
Their toys are DANGEROUS. They kill people in crashes, and suffocate us with pointless carbon dioxide, and cause hurricanes, for crying out loud.
We have to take the toys away. Are you a grownup, or not?
Why do we currently have highways populated with SUV's with 500 horses, and "sports cars" with 900 horses? Because this whole phenomenon just grew up- unregulated by any adults- from the horse and buggy. There was no one to say NO when some mechanic decided that if 10 horsepower was amazing, 50 horsepower would REALLY sell.
All those extra horses are totally pointless, apart from the adrenalin- and just burn gas for nothing. My TRACTOR has only 40 horses- and it has power to spare.
I contend- a nation of grownups would rule that :
No cars shall be built with more than 35 horsepower.
Gasp!!! You can't DO that! It's my RIGHT to ....
No, it really ISN'T your right. At all.
How about safety? The road would be much safer; everybody owns a car that will cheerfully cruise at 70 mph- but takes 2 minutes to get there. You'll have to think ahead. That's good.
We could talk about pleasure boats- ATVs- snowmobiles- also.
Obviously- emergency vehicles, cop cars, trucks- should have the horsepower they actually need. Which will still be much less than at present. I'd be totally happy for cop cars to have 200 horses, and ambulances.
Reasonable? I have to say yes. Logical? Certainly. Would it cut our fuel use? HUGELY.
Being discussed anywhere? Certainly not.
Better that poor Mexicans starve- and die- so we can have more ethanol, and not change our habits. (This IS already happening, in case you are not aware - price quadruples?)
Ok; a very reasonable response from YOU at this point would be- "sure, this is logical; but it's totally unrealistic- it's just not going to happen, the barriers and inertia are way too much."
Which I will grant is absolutely true. Lots of powerful people really don't want to give up their toys, and profits, and they'll scream "FREEDOM" really loud- and all the NeoCon Fifth Graders will vote along.
So, how about this, instead- a HorsePower Tax. Every year; part of the license plate fees.
Up to 35 horses, free (I think there are NO cars made with engines this small at the moment- because, um, we're trained to lust after "Zero to Sixty in 4.3 Seconds!" - but we could require all makers to offer such vehicles- next year...) For bigger engines- bigger annual tax, by the horse, with the annual tax rate rising as the engines get bigger. Older cars.... we could work something out.
Take that tax money and put it into mass transit, maybe.
It would help, and it would be a move in the right direction- which might make the next move in that direction possible, in the future.
Logical. I'd even say "obvious" as a possibility - if anyone were REALLY THINKING about answers for our problems. But mostly we don't- we're trained by our entire educational process to READ- and comment. Not actually think.
So. Whaddya think?
(Hey, Vanessa- this would make a good letter to somebody... :-) AND- I think it's abundantly clear that Canadians in general are more grown up than USAers. It would be fabulous for Canada to lead the way here.........................)
Basically, Big Oil is "explaining" that they "can't" afford to develop their industry to the point where it is reliable- because of the uncertainties connected with ethanol. Like what happens to the price when there's a bad corn crop?
Our whole society has gotten SO used to the "BIG LIE" tactic that we don't even note when it happens anymore. The "Journalists", and I use the word with great sarcasm, just report what the Big Liars say- and make a footnote about the contrary opinion, and let it loose in the headlines.
The result is an impenetrable tangle of Big Lies- and Big Half-Lies (like this one) - which are actually far more dangerous to our society. That little scrap of truth makes it possible for those with a good 5th grade education (the goal of all NeoCon education policy) to vehemently support, and vote for, falsehoods that are utterly not in their own interest.
It's the Gordian Knot of our time, or the Gordian Crap, as I call it; which can also be cut. Gordian Knot (Wikipedia haters- sorry, but it was just way more accesible and relevant than anything else.)
Big Oil is stealing money as fast as they can, before someone in Congress wakes up.
"Ooh, we're SO sorry our profits are creating ALL TIME records! It's really not our fault! It's the markets! That 40 Billion dollars we siphoned out of your pockets last year? We really couldn't help it! We also couldn't help that we did it again, and again, and again." All Time Record Profits
Liar liar, pants on fire.
(Incidentally, if I turn up dead tomorrow, you'll know why. You think $40 Billion/yr isn't adequate motivation for killing? Many times?)
So, Exxon (and everyone else in Big Oil) you're telling me that-
a) nobody in your company NOTICED you were making record high profits, repeatedly?
b) nobody in your company thought- "hm, if we take an extra $20 BILLION out of the economy, some of our customers, and their businesses, might be hurt."? (one lucid example: fishing license purchases, and boat license purchases, in Minnesota are down- substantially- which means a bunch of related businesses will have profits- down.)
c) nobody in your company has the AUTHORITY to say "let's cut our prices just a tad- take a little less profit this quarter."?
I really don't believe it; though I suppose it's possible you're all really that stupid. Your actions certainly suggest that.
Very basic biology- if you want to be a successful parasite (that would be you) The First Rule is; DON'T KILL OFF YOUR HOST BY STEALING TOO MUCH.
And we read the headlines- say "tsk, tsk" - and move on. Very encouraging.
Well, enough crap cutting. How about something we could DO? This comes under the category of "we have not yet BEGUN to think."
One of the biggest problems we face as a society right now is the unstated, unrecognized assumption in our thinking that our problems are the result of LOGICAL developments.
We're in this difficult place for a reason; we assume.
No, we're not; much human development is often more a matter of pure chance than logic. (Another barrier to realizing that is organized religions- they don't like that idea at all.)
That's basically good news, though; because it means there could be LOGICAL ways OUT of our difficulties. Like this:
Problem: We consume way too much gasoline and diesel fuel- more than we can continue to produce, and too much for our atmosphere to handle.
Answer: Consume less.
Aha. Easier said than done! you reply.
No, VERY easy to do; it just takes some collective will power, and a bit of growing up.
TRUTH, now- do you NEED a car with 250 Horsepower?
No, of course not. It's huge fun- but it's not necessary to get from here to there. Everybody knows that. But the Spoiled Brats of the world prevail, throwing tantrums and kicking their heels, when anyone suggests taking away their dangerous toys.
Their toys are DANGEROUS. They kill people in crashes, and suffocate us with pointless carbon dioxide, and cause hurricanes, for crying out loud.
We have to take the toys away. Are you a grownup, or not?
Why do we currently have highways populated with SUV's with 500 horses, and "sports cars" with 900 horses? Because this whole phenomenon just grew up- unregulated by any adults- from the horse and buggy. There was no one to say NO when some mechanic decided that if 10 horsepower was amazing, 50 horsepower would REALLY sell.
All those extra horses are totally pointless, apart from the adrenalin- and just burn gas for nothing. My TRACTOR has only 40 horses- and it has power to spare.
I contend- a nation of grownups would rule that :
No cars shall be built with more than 35 horsepower.
Gasp!!! You can't DO that! It's my RIGHT to ....
No, it really ISN'T your right. At all.
How about safety? The road would be much safer; everybody owns a car that will cheerfully cruise at 70 mph- but takes 2 minutes to get there. You'll have to think ahead. That's good.
We could talk about pleasure boats- ATVs- snowmobiles- also.
Obviously- emergency vehicles, cop cars, trucks- should have the horsepower they actually need. Which will still be much less than at present. I'd be totally happy for cop cars to have 200 horses, and ambulances.
Reasonable? I have to say yes. Logical? Certainly. Would it cut our fuel use? HUGELY.
Being discussed anywhere? Certainly not.
Better that poor Mexicans starve- and die- so we can have more ethanol, and not change our habits. (This IS already happening, in case you are not aware - price quadruples?)
Ok; a very reasonable response from YOU at this point would be- "sure, this is logical; but it's totally unrealistic- it's just not going to happen, the barriers and inertia are way too much."
Which I will grant is absolutely true. Lots of powerful people really don't want to give up their toys, and profits, and they'll scream "FREEDOM" really loud- and all the NeoCon Fifth Graders will vote along.
So, how about this, instead- a HorsePower Tax. Every year; part of the license plate fees.
Up to 35 horses, free (I think there are NO cars made with engines this small at the moment- because, um, we're trained to lust after "Zero to Sixty in 4.3 Seconds!" - but we could require all makers to offer such vehicles- next year...) For bigger engines- bigger annual tax, by the horse, with the annual tax rate rising as the engines get bigger. Older cars.... we could work something out.
Take that tax money and put it into mass transit, maybe.
It would help, and it would be a move in the right direction- which might make the next move in that direction possible, in the future.
Logical. I'd even say "obvious" as a possibility - if anyone were REALLY THINKING about answers for our problems. But mostly we don't- we're trained by our entire educational process to READ- and comment. Not actually think.
So. Whaddya think?
(Hey, Vanessa- this would make a good letter to somebody... :-) AND- I think it's abundantly clear that Canadians in general are more grown up than USAers. It would be fabulous for Canada to lead the way here.........................)
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