The *official* complain about XemaSab thread

[mike_c]

2. I must vehemently disagree....

A Faustian bargain is always a bad bargain, even when it appears to be the only way out. No amount of necessity will ever make nuclear fission a safe technology, especially in a market environment that seeks to maximize profits by minimizing costs. In that environment, nuclear power will ALWAYS be a ticking time bomb. Fossil fuel and nuclear power generation are both bad for the planet, and it's an equally terrible bet to espouse one over the other. Would you like the bullet, or the other bullet? To suggest that that's the only realistic choice is to admit defeat from the beginning.

I do agree that renewable energy has a long way to go before it can make even statistically meaningful dents in human energy demand, let alone any real promise for independence from planetary scale polluters such as fossil fuels and nuclear power. Nonetheless, those existing technologies are BOTH planetary scale polluters and we have to acknowledge that-- and ask ourselves whether we want to go down that path.

I'm personally cynical enough to believe the answer to that question is foregone-- few will voluntarily give up the convenience, entertainment, and ease of technology rich, energy dense modern life. But continuing that lifestyle will pollute the entire planet. We have to face up to that. There is no easy way out of this mess.