For the record, I don't agree with this guy, but I
wonder how many
people he's influenced with his point of view. On
this note, the
May-June issue of _The Futurist_ has an article by
Theodore
Modis, "The
Limits of Complexity and Change," that concludes the
technoprogress
and
complexity increase for humanity peaked around 1990
and is now in
decline. I guess the pessimists have come out of
the woodwork. --
Dan
This guy is right about one thing, or at least close
to right. US oil
production did hit a peak around the 1960s (70s would
probably be
more accurate). But, it isn't because of the reasons
he stated. It is
because of the political power of environmental
extremists that have
been successful in placing oil reserves out of reach
of drilling
companies. He is also wrong about the world's known
reserves being
nearly depleated. Russia has vast oil reserves that
are largely
untouched. At one time it was speculated that the
Siberian reserve
was larger than the Saudi field.
Further this 2005 - 2010 date for oil running out is
the same
nonsense they were spewing out in the 1970s. Since
then, we have
instituted a fuel efficiency program and discovered
new fields
worldwide, like ANWR and North Shore here in the US.
So, this guy is
the victim of old, out-of-date environmentalist
propaganda.
As for the decline in space, that started in 1964 when
Pres. Johnson
created the Great Society to expand social programs at
an explosive
rate. From 1961 to 1964, NASA was appropriated more
money than they
requested. In 1965, they barely got their requested
funding. From
1966 on, NASA funding requests were cut in order to
fund welfare,
education, housing, medicare/medicaid, and hundreds of
lesser
programs. If we are accomplisahing less in space today
than we did in
the 1960s, it is because out elected representatives
are more
concerned with political power through vote buying
than with the
future of the US. In fact, some of our politicians
seem more
interested in advancing the causes of other nations
and our enemies
over our own. Treason?
You're right Dan, this guy is witless. I'd classify
him as probably
pro-environment/anti-space.