JohnDBarrow

Energy is life. Lack of available energy to power modern machinery might someday mean our extinction or a trip back to cave days. How do you see the future of Man on Earth with regard to energy for his use over the next 1,000 years? What is Man going to do when all manner of fossil fuels is no longer an option? What is SCIENCE doing TODAY in regards to seeking practical and safe energy solutions for the future? We all know there are problems and challenges, but WHO is working on possible solutions? Is the an international energy consortium in place already?

Probably solar and wind energy for the electrolysis electrcity. Then once again there is NUCLEAR POWER!! Biofuels, any motorist here? Yes, farmers can grow fuel for your automobile! But for how many of the entire world's cars? The first biofuels were wood used in old steam locomotives and that was in the 1800's. No, it was actually the first time man ever used wood as fuel for fires. It's probably going to take a number of things put on the whole energy table. Probably not one single energy form will solve everything. Again too many modern-day humans on this planet thrive on the automobile, the home dehumidifier, the smartphone and the air conditioner as I do. Those things consume energy.

Anyway, I will leave it up to the scientific community to solve man's long-term energy problems. If you have any better ideas than green hydrogen, please chime in. Folks, we have a big energy crisis. <iframe width="1109" height="455" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zwsAf0do-yo" title="The Future of Energy: An Overview" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I did not know fossil fuels were needed to make hydrogen as a means of energy for automobiles. What did the Apollo space ships run on? Fossil fuels on planet Earth will not last forever. More people on earth are driving personal cars than ever before. I don't see electric automobiles as having reached the peak of perfection for safety, affordabilty and practicality yet and I have read that they are dangerous fire hazards. https://www.iea.org/reports/the-future-of-hydrogen I don't see how human occupants and their dogs could easily escape from an EV fire from the batteries. It seems as the electric automobile can burst into flames suddenly and violently. The violent fire seen in the video makes a gasoline vehicle fire look like child's play. A gasoline fire as from engine compartment develops more slowly as is not right underneath the people compartment. It is much easier to control a gasoline fire in an engine compartment. You can also smell fuel leaks in advance as in the engine compartment and have time to stop the car before a fire develops. Those EV's have all those batteries right below where people are sitting. How are you going to step outside the car without your legs getting burned when flames are shooting out from underneath? I found this link on the future of hydrogen energy: https://www.iea.org/reports/the-future-of-hydrogen Man is going to have to do something before fossil fuels run out or we will one day go back to horse-drawn buggies. I know Mother Nature is not replenishing earth with fossil fuels as fast as we are using them up. I dream of a planet someday totally free of fossil fuels. We need a SAFE, PRACTICAL and SUSTAINABLE energy alternative that is totally independent of any fossil fuels. If the problem with planet Earth is not too many people, it's too many people who want the freedom of owning and driving private automobiles. I can't see life as enjoyable myself without a private automobile. I don't want to burn to death in one though. I've seen a number of gas car fires and they seem to burn much more mildly than those EV battery fires in You Tube videos. I feel my 1995 gasoline Toyota Corolla to be much safer than any new Tesla. The gas tank is safely under the back seat forward of the rear axle and there is sheet metal between the gas tank and the back seat. There is also an electric fuel pump inside the gas tank along with a fuel gauge sending unit. Makes me wonder how an electrical spark from this in-tank equipment doesn't blow the car up to kingdom come.

What do you think of hydrogen fuels to replace fossil fuels? I agree. There is way too much reliance on trailer trucks and not enough on trains to move goods. As an automobile motorist, I hate like hell the typical bumpy roads in middle American states like Wyoming, Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas and my home state Iowa. My old age and ailing health make me highly dependant upon my thrifty 1995 Toyota Corolla to get groceries and whatnot but she is no Lincoln Continental for over-the-road comfort. My old arthritic aching bones make me favor nice smooth roads. A green renewable fuel like hydrogen should make big comfy cars feasible to operate. The big soft-on-human-joints cars are not so good on gas.

What is the best way to achieve this while being friendly to Mother Earth at the same time? Modern comforts often means consuming a certain amount of resources such as energy. I sit in my Iowa bedroom right now typing this with my air conditioner and dehumidifier running so I don't suffer hot, nasty stickiness. The dehumidifier uses about half the power of the air conditioner. I often think to myself that if I were to start all over again, I would either want to become a civil engineer or an ecologist professionally. I see America's poor infrastructure as a serious problem. It is embarrassingly old-hat as compared with Japan, parts of Asia and in Continental Europe. A bad infrastruture means increased public danger, as from flooding and serious automobile accidents, and an increased burden on resources such as consumed in transportation due to extra fuel, money and time consumed due to inefficiency. America's roads are the absolute pits. Does anybody here agree that infrastructure condtion and design is an important environmental consideration? Let's look at America's trucking industry, for example, and the national highway system. A poor infrastucture means ineffciency, increased fuel consumption and a greater carbon footprint. https://www.trucking.org/highway-infrastructure-funding

Mother Nature a childish term? My high school science teacher even used the term in class. I don't mind learning science as in the boilng point of water is 212 degrees Fahrenheit. I say there is much more to human thought than science though. Science is not absolute knowledge of everything in the universe. I posted this in the General Philosophy section because it has more to do with human thought and wonder in general. What happens to us when we die (beyond becoming worm food) is an age-old curiosity. Do scientists reject the metaphysical totally? According to my dictionary, metaphysics is actually a branch of philosophy. I have revised my Canon of Faith as follows: 1. Nothing is higher in all of existence than Mother Nature, the Goddess of the Universe. Mother Nature is a mere human personification of nature, which is probably not any conscious, living person or entity with a free will. NATURE is the absolute sum total of everything, both known and unknown, in the one and only Universe. Since Man, himself, is a product of nature Herself, it can only be logically deduced that anything done, said, made or thought by Man is also attributed to Nature in the broadest sense of Nature. Man and his doings are merely a part of Nature. 2. Any gods or deities (conscious, living, intelligent and perhaps immortal entities above Man) which might exist could only be attributed to nature Herself if such things actually do exist. There is no room for such notions as the supernatural or magic in this Canon of Faith. Mother Nature is not, and cannot be, above Herself. 3. Life and conscious existence following the death of a human being or any other material (physical) living being is possible and even probable. There might be eternal spirits, everlasting conscious selves (or souls) which existence could only be attributed to nature if such things actually do exist. They might be associated with a living human body or some other physical living form as an animal or plant on Earth or elsewhere in the universe. To only consider human beings as possible possessors of souls (eternal conscious selves) is foolhardy and narrow-minded. Reincarnation is a likely possibility for what might lie beyond physical death. 4. The universe is eternal and everlasting. Time, matter, space, gravity, motion and energy are literally forever. None of these entities have a beginning or an end. Forever is much too long for any individual (unique conscious self) to experience one and only one single instance of life or consciousness, for a limited amount of elapsed time, over the entire course of eternity. This notion is bolstered by the fact that the human author, at the time of this writing, is conscious and living (in the flesh) after the literal passing of forever already. It is as illogical and small-minded to discount the possibility of future life and consciousness following one’s physical death as it is to dismiss all possibility of conscious life beyond planet Earth. 5. It is bestowed by Mother Nature upon each and every peaceful living human being of planet Earth and each and every peaceful living intelligent entity in the universe, human or otherwise, the inalienable right to keep and bear arms for self-preservation. Nothing in this canon can be humanly proven or disproven by any known observable test or experiment. This is a belief system and not based upon any absolute verifiable scientific knowledge. Since nothing within this canon regarding nature, god, life, consciousness, eternity or death can be verified as any truth, this faith might not even be considered by some to be within the realm of philosophy. The faith described herein might be best allied with human thought within the realm of the metaphysical.

I knew I was going to be in a deep hole again coming back here. I think what I need is a place to discuss the metaphysical. For all I know, spirtis and souls are some form of energy. Who says they have to be material? To me, a SOUL is an eternal conscious self. It's true nature, if it even exists, is about as mysterious as the root cause of gravity. Let us now define NATURE; NATURE Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com noun the material world, especially as surrounding humankind and existing independently of human activities. the natural world as it exists without human beings or civilization: In nature, wild dogs hunt in packs. the elements of the natural world, as mountains, trees, animals, or rivers: The abandoned power plant was reclaimed by nature, covered in overgrowth and home to feral animals. natural scenery: Tourists at the resort are surrounded by nature. the universe, with all its phenomena: Conservation of energy is a universal law of nature. the sum total of the forces at work throughout the universe. reality, as distinguished from any effect of art: a portrait true to nature. the particular combination of qualities belonging to a person, animal, thing, or class by birth, origin, or constitution; native or inherent character: human nature. the instincts or inherent tendencies directing conduct: a man of good nature. character, kind, or sort: two books of the same nature. characteristic disposition; temperament: an evil nature. a self-willed nature; an evil nature. the original, natural, uncivilized condition of humankind. the biological functions or the urges to satisfy their requirements. a primitive, wild condition; an uncultivated state. a simple, uncluttered mode of life without the conveniences or distractions of civilization: a return to nature. (initial capital letter, italics) a prose work (1836), by Ralph Waldo Emerson, expounding transcendentalism. Theology. the moral state as unaffected by grace. I look at NATURE in the broadest senses as in 5, 6, 7 above.

....or do we really? What I believe. Does it fall under religion, philosophy or some other discipline of human thought? Here goes as follows: The John Douglas Barrow Faith Canon Drafted in the United States of America, June 10, 2024 A.D. 1. Nothing is higher in all of existence than Mother Nature, the Goddess of the Universe. Mother Nature is a human personification of nature, which might not be a conscious, living person or entity with a free will. 2. Any gods or deities which might exist apart from Mother Nature are only attributed to nature Herself. There is no supernatural or magic. Mother Nature is not above Herself. 3. Life and conscious existence following the death of a human being or any other living being is possible and even probable. There might be eternal spirits, everlasting conscious selves or souls which can only be attributed to nature. They may be associated with a living human body or some other physical living form as an animal or plant on Earth or elsewhere in the universe. Reincarnation is a likely possibility for what might lie beyond physical death. 4. The universe is eternal and everlasting. Time, matter, space, gravity, motion and energy are literally forever. Forever is much too long for any individual to experience one and only one single instance of life or consciousness, for a limited amount of elapsed time, over the entire course of eternity. This notion is bolstered by the fact that the human author, at the time of this writing, is conscious and living after the literal passing of forever already. It is as illogical and small-minded to discount the possibility of future life and consciousness following one’s physical death as it is to dismiss all possibility of conscious life beyond planet Earth. 5. It is bestowed by Mother Nature upon each and every peaceful living human being of planet Earth and each and every peaceful living intelligent entity in the universe, human or otherwise, the inalienable right to keep and bear arms for self-preservation. 6. Nothing in this canon can be humanly proven or disproven by any known observable test or experiment. This is a belief system and not based upon any absolute verifiable scientific knowledge. Since nothing within this canon regarding nature, god, life, consciousness, eternity or death can be verified as any truth, this faith might not even be considered in the realm of philosophy.

I think I might need to just take this to some dedicated psychology forum where I might actually receive some respect on this matter. The bottom line is, nobody here, including myself, knows why we are attracted to, or repelled by other persons. I seem to be unattractive to others here possibly due to my face which is in the form of some Canis lupus familiaris. Better yet, all people in this world should just stop being ignorant and hate nobody on the basis of sexual orientation regardless of any causes, natural or manmade, known or unknown, of such orientations. I've even heard an angry woman once call her male dog the male homosexual F word for mounting another male dog on a public beach.

Surely, there are even some male only-child homosexuals or bisexuals. There is a gay young man on some chat room claiming to have two older sisters and no brothers. The gene thing might just be part of the equation. The protein thing might be another part. Children are also a product of their environment. Sons abused by mothers in childhood may feel uncomfortable around women. Life experiences may play some part. Sometimes a same-sex partner is just a matter of what is available or handy at the time. I think humans, not inhibited by any social taboos, are largely naturally attracted to whatever looks good to their own eyes or sounds good to their own ears like, for instance, a nice face, sexy hair, pretty white teeth, tan skin, puppy-dog eyes, a smooth, soft voice and a slender body. Most humans, male, female, straight, bi or gay, are averse to the sight of obese or old people.

Get in trouble even here in First Amendement America? Boy! I'm hopelessly shivering in my sandals with socks! My overpopulation thread was not such a big hit here. Might have offended the "be fruitful and multiply" crowd which might also be homophobic. However, Mig (as in Soviet jet?), you failed to answer any of my questions.

My maternal grandfather once said that men were attracted to women and that women were attracted to men. He also said that genes were responsible for homosexuality. I have heard a number of claims, including from one chemist, that homosexuality was "not natural". Granted, humans do many things that don't seem natural like travel in automobiles, have plastic surgery, type here on science forums, put on messy makeup and wear clothes. I personally think many more living humans on earth are inherently attracted to others of the same sex (or perceived same sex) than many people dare realize. Modern man, often under monotheistic religious influence, has made this kind of attraction "taboo" and man-made government in some jurisdictions has even imposed the death penalty for certain homosexual practices in extreme cases. What have various scientific disciplines, including psychology and biology, said about same-sex attraction? It has certainly been observed with animals, has it not? How much of our sexual attraction is nature and how much is nurture? I think my mother once tried to nurture me with "heteronormativity" as a little boy by telling me that I would someday find a nice girl and marry her. However, I've been a bachelor all my life and consider myself bisexual since before puberty. "Heteronormativity" (heavy social pressure "not to be gay") is something Mother Culture seems to have screamed out loud in my 1964-born baby-boomer ears since elementary school. If homosexuality is genetic, if it supposedly runs in the genes, then how did homosexuals inherit this sexual orientation from their male and female parents who conceived them heterosexually, quite obviously?

Anyway, this is all trivial stuff. I'm personally trying do my part to make this world as least crappy as possible whether the hand of fate ever brings me back here or not in some future lifetime. I drive an Earth-friendly 1995 Toyota Corolla: 31 MPG highway, 10% Ethanol grade gasoline is what I use. I don't understand all the hostility here. Has modern science gone "woke"? Dictionary authors seem to have gone woke these days by omitting flat noses and large lips from how NEGRO is defined. Can't we say that black people and white people are as anatomically different as Dromedary camels and Bactrian camels? Might African and Asian elephant differences be a better analogy? The contours and proportions of human and animal faces and heads are measureable. And calling cats mongrel hurts some feelings here too?

My notions of racial divisions come from studying my dictionary: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/negro Negro Anthropology. (no longer in technical use) of, relating to, or characteristic of one of the traditional racial divisions of humankind, generally marked by brown to black skin pigmentation, dark eyes, and tightly curled hair and including especially the Indigenous peoples of Africa south of the Sahara. Older dictionaries often incuded large lips and flat noses in the above definition. Bulging eyeballs also seem common as well as small, round heads like cantaloupes. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/Mongoloid Mongoloid Anthropology. (no longer in technical use) of, relating to, or characteristic of one of the traditional racial divisions of humankind, marked by prominent cheekbones, epicanthic folds about the eyes, and straight black hair, and including the Mongols, Manchus, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Annamese, Siamese, Burmese, Tibetans, and, to some extent, the Inuits and the American Indians. In my observations, small somewhat upturned flat noses seem common on such peoples as above. Their skin tone varies from pale as a ghost to yellow to red to brown. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/caucasian Caucasian Anthropology. (no longer in technical use) of, relating to, or characteristic of one of the traditional racial divisions of humankind, marked by fair to dark skin, straight to tightly curled hair, and light to very dark eyes, and originally inhabiting Europe, parts of North Africa, western Asia, and India. In my observations, large and/or hooked noses (beezers as my grandmother called them or beaks) are common among such peoples of the Mediterranian or Middle East. North Germanics/Scandinavians have long heads and faces and/or prominent chins. It seems as Slavics, particularly Russians, have distinctive facial features. The subspecies (or breed, variety, cultivar) notion is more in the facial features (for animal kingdom members). Persian cats seem to have particularly flat faces while Siamese cats have a particular head and ear shape. Their ears seem sharply pointed and their muzzles seem prominent. Calico, black and white/gray cats tend to be alley cats or mongrels.

You probably don't think of YOU as an eternal soul. I don't think of that physical terminal body wrapped around my natural eternal soul as ME. The SOUL is ME. Some man met some woman to fabricate a temporary body for my soul in 1963 according to what I believe. To reject all notions of possible life hereafter is about as naive as to reject all possibilties of intelligent life beyond planet Earth. I see Man as a member of the animal kingdom. I think of Homo sapiens sapiens as being three subspecies: Caucasoid, Negroid and Mongoloid. This has to do with skin/hair/eye pigment, hair textures, skull shapes and facial features. Comparing white people, black people and yellow/red/brown people is about like comparing bulldogs, German shepherds, chihuahuas and American foxhounds.

That's why I love my hot showers to wash the funk off my body after working or exercising. If I have to travel 10 miles from home, I prefer my car. If I have to travel one mile to get a thing of milk and it's a nice day out, my bike will work just fine. I might rather just prefer to be a carpenter, an ecologist or a veterinarian. Dogs are the very best living thing that Mother Nature gave man as a companion. Even Dr. Carl Sagan once said he cannot prove or disprove God's existance. I want this planet to be as nice as possible for whatever living thing has to endure here whether here by reincarnation or some other natural means. You tell me how you and I got here, hot shot.

The question is can we humanoids all enjoy modern living comforts, the benefits of advanced medicine and be free of body odor while still being kind to Mother Earth? Perhaps, being less dependent upon the automobile might even benefit our health and longevity if we were to bicycle ride or walk instead wherever and whenever practical to do so.

I used BUSHMAN as an example of primitive man. I know of no other group of humanoids so primitive as this particular group on the planet today. I don't want live like Neanderthals did either. I am not racist at all. If given a choice, I'd rather come back as a clean-living and healthy black woman in some future lifetime to a life of American modern luxury than come back a homeless white man with a life of substance abuse on the streets. For all I know, I may have been a dung beetle in any particular prior lifetime or I might even be one in some lifetime to come. The hand of fate makes those choices: we don't. It is not likely any memories of being a dung beetle in one lifetime would carry over to the next lifetime. I certainly have no recollection as being a dung beetle in any prior lifetime. Reincarnated living things, human or otherwise, may or may not retain memories of prior lifetimes. I doubt that any living dung beetle understands what humility even means. I'm not a troll: the future of this planet scares me. It's odd. There are about 8 billion living humanoids on this planet today and damned few clever ones. Perhaps when this planet gets up to 50 billion living human heads and everybody is killing somebody else for a scrap of food out of a dumpster, enough people, includuing idiots, will then realize that what I'm saying now makes sense. It will probably be too late to save us by then. I hate McDonald's so-called hamburgers. Most of my food is store-bought at places like Walmart Supercenters and prepared at home. I mostly use reusable shopping bags. Occasionally, I will get plastic shopping bags that are then saved to be turned back into Walmart for recycling. I do have something in common with the Bushman: my great appetite for animal products like meat. I enjoy hunting game for sport and for good lean meat in America like dove and deer. I use a modern gun, and not a spear, to harvest my game on American soil. Mr. Junky, perhaps you can explain your own personal food consumption habits with us. I'd like to hear about them, please. Maybe we too can adopt those habits to possibly save Mother Earth.

If reincarnation is true, I don't want to be reincarnated back into some nasty primitive society and suffer a future miserable existance. I want nothing but a utopian world to come back to in any possible future lifetimes on this planet. I, my immortal soul, got lucky enough just to be born into America this lifetime. My soul really got spoiled this lifetime. I say make the world a bowl of cherries for every living thing. Would YOU like to live as a Bushman and drink muddy water out of a puddle? Those people must smell very badly. I love the comforts of my western civilization Our future is supposed to be bringing us clean-burning vehicles anyway. One of the reason's I want our species to die down to a lower number is that so each and every person on earth can enjoy a modern vehicle without harming the environment provided clean energy one day powers them. What was the American Dream in the 1950's, I want to become the World Dream of the future. I also don't want to live in a society where folks are jammed onto subway trains like cattle. The human race would also do well to do away with those nasty nuclear weapons forever. Leonard Nimoy had a song called Highly Illogical in the 1960's. He sang Man made a mess out of planet Earth and might someday do the same to other parts of the universe with emerging space travel technology. I hope we don't mess some future planet up too like we did poor green Mother Earth.

Through worldwide EDUCATION. It does seem that population is declining already in the most developed/educated nations. We need to target other areas of the globe. No living human (man, woman, boy, girl or baby) on this entire earth should ever be deprived of a modern well-maintained home, sufficent nutrition, decent clothing, electricty, clean running water, clean air, proper indoor pluimbing, Internet, necessary means of transportation, modern healthcare, a decent education, a means of making a decent living (including being a housewife) and to live free of squalor, crime, violence, unlawful drugs rodents and pests. I want to see an African bushman type society no more. It's time for those people to throw away their spears and ride in modern air-conditioned automobiles (preferably powered by green sustainable energy) too and on well-maintained paved modern African roads. I want no more elephant feces or garbage littering the streets of India.

Since when did I ever advocate the murder of innocent persons? Not making a baby in the first place is not the same as killing a living person. And you know for fact there are no such things as souls? I hold that forever is much too long to experience but one measly short time speck of consciousness for all of eternity. Yes, if there are multiple lives for one soul to live, some such lives might not be as pleasant as others. There might be phases of heaven and phases of hell throughout the soul's immortal journey. It's all decided by the hand of fate. There will be eternal good times and eternal bad times. I subscribe to the possiblity of the eternal natural soul but not to any particular manmade religion. You might call me a natural spiritualist. I BOLDLY propose that mankind make planet Earth as pleasant as possible and as soon as humanly possible for any living things that happen to come along in the future whether by reincarnation or some other natural way. It will take getting the population to sensible numbers, finding a better alternative to fossil fuels and ending war, greed, hate and poverty among other things. I want all intelligent life on Earth to have the best of health and living comforts for as long as Mother Nature and Father Time shall continue Earth's existance. The human endeavor might one day extend to exploring the universe for a new planet to call home. I don't want humanity to revert back to cave or grass hut life and a life without hot showers of clean water if that can at all be avoided.

The issue is a number of things, yes. I still hold that planet Earth cannot sustain an infinite number of humans. Is there any reason under the sun we should continue to grow past 8 billion living heads without anybody's giving two damns about it? If we don't keep our own numbers in check, nature certainly will. Reducing our numbers does free up more land space for each and every one of us. Land too is a limited valuable resource. Not all land is desirable for many humans to live upon. I certainly don't want to live in a swamp, a place prone to hurricanes, a dust bowl, the arctic or a desert. I enjoy my quiet semi-rural American home and my own personal automobile. I don't want to ever lose it. If, following my death, I should ever become reincarnated back to Earth as a living human, I want no less then than I have right now. The possiblity of reincarnation scares me in some ways. What hell might this planet have become should I come back as a human in the year 2,500?

I get this reasoning from Paul Ralph Ehrlich. In 2018 he said a world population of 1.5 - 2 billion living human heads is optimal. I opt to favor a slightly thinner population for a margin of safety. I have had a medical doctor tell me it is even more healthy to be slightly underweight than slightly overweight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_population#:~:text=Paul R.,technologies and best management practices. I also agree our species needs to consume less, waste less and pollute much less. We need smart practical sustainable energy alternatives to fossil fuels for our automobiles and such. Could we still live comfortably and happlily as materialistic 21st century Americans with a world human population of even as little as just a half a billion heads? Remember, it takes so much combined human resources to make possible your beloved modern comfy stuff like microwave ovens, Miller High Life beer, pizza, smartphones, Samsung SmartTV's, new Toyota trucks, leather jackets, BMW's, hot showers, indoor plumbing, Colt M4 Carbines and home central a/c. I certainly don't want to revert back to cave or grass hut life as a human armed only with a club or spear.