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While using every effort to avoid the political fallout I came across this tidbit that brings me joy and hope. Here we have a scientific discovery that could well take back the markets in rare earth minerals, make our electronics cheaper -- and possibly longer lasting, as well as open the door for cleaner energy for those that find the current technology unaffordable.
I am interested in learning your take on this discovery:
It is a noble goal to pursue if this is feasible. The ability to enable greater resource availability is good. However, this is in many ways the antithesis to the asymmetry desired by cartel driven economic systems.
The greater problem is the level at which various USA resources have been co-opted by foreign interests which politicians of both sides enabled as part of their personal and familial enrichment schemes.
Pick any resource and I'm sure you will find stories like this (if they ever exposed):
In the pursuit of control of resources we have had all manner of mismanagement, fraud and 'false scarcity' foisted upon the public to maximize marginal unit profit. Most resource industries by their nature require huge capital investments with large barriers to entry. What will most likely occur is the newly developed "industry" will be brought about via legislation creating winners who divide up the spoils like a cartel.
It is a noble goal to pursue if this is feasible. The ability to enable greater resource availability is good. However, this is in many ways the antithesis to the asymmetry desired by cartel driven economic systems.
The greater problem is the level at which various USA resources have been co-opted by foreign interests which politicians of both sides enabled as part of their personal and familial enrichment schemes.
Pick any resource and I'm sure you will find stories like this (if they ever exposed):
In the pursuit of control of resources we have had all manner of mismanagement, fraud and 'false scarcity' foisted upon the public to maximize marginal unit profit. Most resource industries by their nature require huge capital investments with large barriers to entry. What will most likely occur is the newly developed "industry" will be brought about via legislation creating winners who divide up the spoils like a cartel.
I don't disagree with you, but I do think Americans are starting to wake up to water rights rather rapidly, especially in the western states. I saw a similar situation reported by (I think) the Sierra Club decades ago. The Department of Agriculture was allowing the Nestle corporation to drain water from federal lands for a ridiculously low price, so that they could in turn sell American's bottled water for a ridiculously high price.
I believe corporations will be interested in the synthetic rare earth mineral more than water, given the profits they make for selling their gadgets.
Anything that is disruptive to many industries will cease to exist by those in power.
Nikolai Tesla was practically killed off because he wanted to provide all people with infinite electricity and energy. We have the tech and the means to provide infinite electricity to household consumption but the government and various cartels will not allow it.
Anything that will be disruptive to many cartels especially energy and consumables will be cancelled or killed by the deep pockets who wants to maintain their status quo.
Anything that is disruptive to many industries will cease to exist by those in power.
Nikolai Tesla was practically killed off because he wanted to provide all people with infinite electricity and energy. We have the tech and the means to provide infinite electricity to household consumption but the government and various cartels will not allow it.
Anything that will be disruptive to many cartels especially energy and consumables will be cancelled or killed by the deep pockets who wants to maintain their status quo.
I agree that this has been the case in the past, but I disagree that what has been will always will be. Keep in mind that much has changed since Tesla's times. We've made huge advances by people becoming aware, and desiring things to be different. Yes, we have backslides, too, but ultimately we keep moving toward a better quality of life for more people. And electricity is cheaper now than it was.
Remember when bluetooth technology was developed, and the inventors gave it up for free distribution? Think what a difference that has made. Just think if we can start driving cars driven by magnetic engines, who needs wind power when we can propel those wheels with magnetism. That would save millions of birds, and it's quieter.
Asteroid's 16 Psyche metal is worth an estimated $10,000 quadrillion, more than the entire economy of Earth. That could solve many problems too.
But seriously, synthetic rare earth mineral surely would interest many corporations. Some people would get richer and richer...
And who said that China wouldn't lab produce it as well? They are quite good at it.
Once space mining takes off, it would not be that profitable once the supplies are enough. It's not only minerals that are in short supply, the earth is running out of helium.
While using every effort to avoid the political fallout I came across this tidbit that brings me joy and hope. Here we have a scientific discovery that could well take back the markets in rare earth minerals, make our electronics cheaper -- and possibly longer lasting, as well as open the door for cleaner energy for those that find the current technology unaffordable.
I am interested in learning your take on this discovery:
Good article, except for the political parts, as you mentioned. I might sound controversial, but I believe we have all the resources and capacity to operate fully on sustainable energy. The thing is the industries aren't willing to switch their already built systems and processes with new ones that will work on sustainable energy. That costs money. Also, I'm not saying that's 100% of the reason, of course. Sometimes the transfer to sustainable energy requires complex actions that even if companies are willing to take them, need a lot of time to execute. Even Elon Musk had his say on this: "if I can shut all the nuclear plants tomorrow by pressing one button, I wouldn't do it". The logic is that today's society will suffer more than they'd gain by doing so.
That's why I think that these days, it's not going to be a single scientific discovery that would change the world by storm, but rather multiple tiny discoveries that will function in correlation. For example, I recently read an article about using qr codes as business cards, which might sound as irrelevant to preserving the environment as one might think. But those codes are free and everyone can use them, thus saving on printing unnecessary physical cards, which in fact, do pollute the environment. Those tiny improvements in technology don't mean much if taken singlehandedly, but when they add up altogether, they can really make a difference.
More on this, facts are pointing out that animal agriculture and red meat are, in fact, huge issues for both our health and global pollution. I doubt that the beef industry will just stop producing meat, which will not change with any scientific discovery. We just need to stop eating red meat. But let's face the music, that will be a long process of changing people's way of thinking. I'll be happy if there are more celebrities like Leonardo, that are conscious of our self-destruction and actually do something about raising awareness.
...I might sound controversial, but I believe we have all the resources and capacity to operate fully on sustainable energy. The thing is the industries aren't willing to switch their already built systems and processes with new ones that will work on sustainable energy. That costs money.
Also, I'm not saying that's 100% of the reason, of course. Sometimes the transfer to sustainable energy requires complex actions that even if companies are willing to take them, need a lot of time to execute. ... [/url]
I agree that historically, incremental changes are usually more effectively adopted, and having lived my adult life in Corporate America working as a change agent to business processes, I have to agree that anything requiring re-capitalization is an anathema to the senior executives. That said, I think some changes are going to be pushed on the US, which is lagging (more and more often over recent years) behind global initiatives. Contrary to what many of the good ol' boys in the upper echelons will have you believe, the writing is on the wall for many of the traditional income streams. Older Americans may be hanging on to their dreams of returning to the halcyon days of their past, but our youth are looking at us and just rolling their eyes. Case in point: your QR codes v ID cards.
Right now, the US still retains its position of having the largest market, globally -- leaving the former up and coming China languishing on the proverbial roadside with a flat, but consumerism is getting a bad name in the future generations, and they are looking at our denial responses to our environmental impacts. I could see our resistance cutting us out of future markets if we continue to lag.
As for red meat, even my steak loving DH is cutting back. With climate crises related droughts and flooding, we are going to find feedstock coming at a premium, and grazing land is burning in the west. The price per pound of even poor cuts of beef are already becoming cost prohibitive. If the herds' feed prices go higher, even beef lovers will be looking at their pocketbooks and deciding other protein sources are a better choice.
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