Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
The definition of advance is to move forward. Time advances, or moves forward, and advanced societies (people) move forward along with time. If a society exists now, and others in the past do not, then we can consider it an advanced society, and the one no longer in existence to be non-advanced. Only time will tell if a society is advanced into the future. Industrialization is among the best descriptors of advanced societies, as most all of the hunter/gatherer societies have gone extinct. Given the option to retain a hunter/gatherer society, almost nobody chooses it.
We are replacing fossil fuels with renewables, and it is because of policy. The unfortunate thing is that policy is only necessary when the desired behavior cannot be achieved by free and natural means. The authority of the state then must infringe upon freedom with the threat of force and violence to achieve this unnatural behavior.
I'm not saying there is no place for laws and policy, only that it should be used as sparingly as possible. When in doubt, err on the side of freedom.
This shows renewables replacing fossil fuels for quite some time, with 2002 marking the beginning of huge growth.
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*When I hear the term 'advanced',to me it connotes 'better' (like with laundry detergent),something a barker might peddle from Madison Ave..The Marshall Island refugees,today, living north of Fayetteville,Arkansas might have some interesting insights into how advanced our culture is.
*If the switch to renewables is a matter of US policy,it has completely escaped the press.I scan the broadscast news regularly and I've never heard mention of it.Ever.Federal incentives may be a way to 'silently' lubricate a transition away from fossil fuel combustion without ever speaking publicly of it,so as to be polite,and not ruffle those whose career dissipation lamps are beginning to glow.
*History may record that the free market was one of the most stupid ideas man could have come up with,at least after 1776.Adam Smith never lived to see a time when man's technology and the 'invisible hand' could quite literally destroy the very resource base on which it derives it's sustenance.
*Our climate challenge is largely due in part to ignorance on the part of consumers.Which rewarded ignorant industries.Which is in part due to lack of education.Which is due in part to the investment portfolio of the educator's pension fund,which is financed by profits from pistons and internal combustion,etc.. There may come a time when we can no longer afford some of the 'natural' consumer freedoms we've enjoyed in the past up until now.Policy will have a lot to do with that.So far,hedonic adaptation is King.
* 99% of a hangman's rope won't do you any harm.