EdEarl

I do not know how much culture can be bought, but our culture is surely changing. The culture I live in today is very different from that of my childhood.

Welcome to SFN. I am unable to answer your question. Apparently, no one else can either.

Which past behavior, history tells many stories. History tells us about many people were once owned by a monarch that are now not owned by a monarch. On the other hand, history tells us people were once mainly organized into small families of hunter-gatherers who were very free. Today that freedom has been lost. Many people are controlled by corporations who employ them and manipulate their governments, and other people who are more directly controlled by their governments. The history of the universe, from the big bang until now tells us things are constantly changing.

Why is cranberry glass nano tech?

The OP topic is "Which energy source is going to replace Petroleum??!", not how Carter underestimated oil reserves, or whether burning oil and coal is causing global warming, or the price of oil. As I pointed out before, the US spends nearly half a trillion $ on foreign oil which creates jobs overseas instead of in the US and increases the national debt...not related to the topic of this thread either. I do not want to prevent the oil discussion, although, I have heard it already ad nausea. It just seems the oil discussion should be in a thread called "The Oil Debate," or some such thing.

I have read that many people nowadays have spent 10,000 hours becoming expert gamers. However, that does not prepare them for either an art, humanities, science or other career as an expert. One must study relevant subjects and attain a PhD to be a recognized expert. Even so, one must continue to work hard to earn continued respect.

Replicator technology, exactly! And business competition seems to be developing a real solution for our benefit, regardless of capitalist attempts to assure asymmetric benefits. I do not exclude the possibility of armed conflict that redistributes wealth, especially since climate refugees will be unsettling if they occur en-mass.

I am going to risk entering this battle with giants, and hope I do not loose an arm or leg. Right off the bat, I shall ignore the religious aspect of the discussion (I know it is in the Religion forum), by saying people do bad things for other than religious reasons (e.g., gangs of outlaws) who are affected by group-think, including gangs of religious outlaws. Thus, IMO, religion is only one example of social outlaws. The phenomenon is apparently part of the human condition. Now I will try to hide to save my appendages and other exposed spots.

I agree iNow. If we consider our basic needs (food, clothing, and shelter) and the result of automation, costs should decrease, as long-distance costs have, to near zero, excluding exploitative costs, e.g., an air tax or protection racket. A robot or nanobot could build, maintain and remodel our earth-ship home, make our clothing, and maintain a garden. http://earthship.com/ I know it sounds a bit utopian, which is almost scary. But, what is the flaw?

Sounds a bit far fetched to me, but I did a google search and found this: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130509220528AAjkVOx

The singularity seems to imply incredible change to an unknown world. That is, the world is unknown because we do not know when in the future the singularity may occur; thus, we can know neither the state of the world nor the changes that will be occurring. Even if we knew the state of and change of the world when the singularity occurs, we are unable to predict many of its consequences. In fact, we do not have a clear idea of what the singularity will be. I think it is safe to assume the singularity will be a superior intellect, and that a superior intellect will advance science rapidly. The reason for that assumption is simple, scientists are working towards making the singularity and want it to help their quest for knowledge. Since the military and businesses have money to fund research, they are likely to benefit as well. Whether the singularity is able to understand human psychology and society may depend on whether a singularity can be built without feelings and a body. In other words, if the singularity can be built to satisfy scientific, military and business needs without having a body and feelings, and without understanding human psychology and sociology, then those sciences may not benefit immediately. I started this topic because I wanted to know other opinions, and have not thought much about the effects of the singularity. I hope someone else knows of someone smarter than I who has considered this issue and perhaps written of it.

I can think in English, but my best ideas come when I let my mind idle and English thinking is minimal or stopped.

True, I lost track of the subject of the post. ty

Wow, this knotty sentence is not easily understood.

Neither, put the tea bag in a much larger container and boil it for longer. Then boil the solution, letting the water evaporate, until you have a cup of tea as strong as possible. Is this a trick question, or do you want to know which method 1 or 2 will make stronger tea. If this is not a trick question, why do you ask, is this a homework problem (in which case it should be in the homework help forum). It it is a trick question, it might be better in the Brain Teasers and Puzzles forum.

Forgive me for being critical, but your post is difficult to read, which makes you appear poorly informed. NASA builds and uses ion engines. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_engine That article says, "Older designs used mercury, but this is toxic and expensive, tended to contaminate the vehicle with the metal and was difficult to feed accurately." The Wikipedia article gives links and references to many more sources of information. An ion engine has a weak thrust that is ineffective on Earth or within the atmosphere because gravity is very strong by comparison. Maybe ion engines are used on military space vehicles and maybe not. The technology has been widely discussed in unclassified documents, one as old as 1906. Any country that is interested can develop the technology for use in space. Military conspiracy is unlikely, since its best use is for interplanetary travel. It is not powerful enough for interstellar travel. You can avoid criticism by writing more clearly and doing research before post. Some of the people who post here have spent more than 10,000 hours studying to become an expert and earn a PhD. Until you can match that effort and achievement, you will find it difficult to gain respect from those who have. I wish you good luck and happy learning.

Good point about landfills being underground storage; although, that stuff was not my worry. It is the small bits and pieces strewn around, especially in the ocean but on land as well that will resist recovery even by robotics. Perhaps nanotechnology or biology will become the hero, but for the time being it is part of the environment. True that corporations are making $ from overseas investments, but that mostly makes the rich richer. That $400,000M is making jobs overseas not in the US, and it exports $ to foreign governments to whom we are now paying ever more interest year by year. Ouch, I am doing what I've tried to stop in this thread...hijack it into another discussion. If you wish to continue, start another thread, please. Back to the OP topic. I have followed both updraft and downdraft tower technology for a while. It sounds like someone rich might want to build the world's tallest structure as a monument, and by the way produce electricity. However, construction costs are very high and so far funding has not materialized. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_updraft_tower http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_updraft_tower The Traveling Wave Reactor sounds promising, now that Bill Gates is a proponent. If some materials and regulation issues can be overcome, they would burn the nuclear wastes now sitting around nuclear reactors. The idea is to dig a deep hole near existing reactors, line it with "unknownium," fill it with nuclear waste and start a nuclear fire that travels downward for 50+ years generating electricity and turning the nuclear waste into lead or other non radioactive materials. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TerraPower,_LLC

Some people believe superstition supersedes science, but such beliefs cannot be proved (or disproved). Science is about observing and explaining so that anyone who applies rational thought will understand and concur with the explanation (i.e., proof). At this time, no one can explain consciousness, but that does not mean it cannot someday be explained. At one time, people believed the earth was flat and the center of the universe, only irrational thinkers believe that to be true now. In my opinion, consciousness will be explained to the satisfaction of scientists. Not everyone will agree.

The OP has posted about 8 times, but AFAIK has not replied. I asked once if the OP understood English, with no reply.

I cannot help you answer that question, I have not studied aeronautical engineering. I do not even know how difficult it is to answer that question. If it is not trivial (my guess), I expect no one will answer. Your best bet is to study and do the calculation yourself. That is what the great Sci-Fi writers do, such as Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.

You are not likely to find anyone who has studied physics and math to support your speculation. Get ready for much disagreement, and I hope you are open to learn and forget your ideas. I suggest you start by searching youtube for photon, dark matter, history of the universe, electron, proton, neutron, etc., and view the videos. Many do not require math, others do. If you really want to learn, khanacademy.org is a good source. Until you know math, you cannot really understand physics. Of course, scientists know little about dark energy and dark matter, but since they do know math, they have a much better chance of understanding it. http://www.youtube.com/ https://www.khanacademy.org/

IMO vehicles with wheels will be with us a long time, but perhaps vehicles with legs will take over. Feet and legs do not need roadways. Cheetahs can go about 60 m/h (96 km/h), but faster may be possible. Elon Musk is talking about something called the hyperloop, but very little is known about his idea... maybe 1000 m/h, mass transit. http://au.businessinsider.com/what-is-elon-musks-hyperloop-2013-5

I was thinking about the laser, which I think I learned that electrons absorb a photon, jump to a higher orbital, and release a photon when they decay to lower orbital.

OK, it seems a bit too obvious, but I'll offer this as help. http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/jsref_sqrt.asp Still having difficulty understanding what you need.

Apparently yes, electrodes can be attached to a single neuron.