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Archive for the ‘sustainability’ category: Page 610

Jul 22, 2015

Renewable energy boom will mean vastly cheaper electricity

Posted by in categories: energy, solar power, sustainability

Renewable energy boom will mean vastly cheaper electricity

Renewable energy, combined with prolific battery storage, will soon result in vastly cheaper electricity — and solar power that’s less expensive than what fossil fuel-based power plants can produce.

Additionally, solar power with lithium-ion and flow-battery storage systems will make the combination of renewable energy so inexpensive that it will surpass nuclear power and obviate the need for futuristic power sources such as fusion, according to Tesla CTO JB Straubel.

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Jul 20, 2015

We May Look Crazy to Them, But They Look Like Zombies to Us: Transhumanism as a Political Challenge

Posted by in categories: defense, futurism, geopolitics, governance, government, life extension, philosophy, sustainability, theory, transhumanism

One of the biggest existential challenges that transhumanists face is that most people don’t believe a word we’re saying, however entertaining they may find us. They think we’re fantasists when in fact we’re talking about a future just over the horizon. Suppose they’re wrong and we are right. What follows? Admittedly, we won’t know this until we inhabit that space ‘just over the horizon’. Nevertheless, it’s not too early to discuss how these naysayers will be regarded, perhaps as a guide to how they should be dealt with now.

So let’s be clear about who these naysayers are. They hold the following views:

1) They believe that they will live no more than 100 years and quite possibly much less.
2) They believe that this limited longevity is not only natural but also desirable, both for themselves and everyone else.
3) They believe that the bigger the change, the more likely the resulting harms will outweigh the benefits.

Now suppose they’re wrong on all three counts. How are we to think about such beings who think this way? Aren’t they the living dead? Indeed. These are people who live in the space of their largely self-imposed limitations, which function as a self-fulfilling prophecy. They are programmed for destruction – not genetically but intellectually. Someone of a more dramatic turn of mind would say that they are suicide bombers trying to manufacture a climate of terror in humanity’s existential horizons. They roam the Earth as death-waiting-to-happen. This much is clear: If you’re a transhumanist, ordinary people are zombies.

Continue reading “We May Look Crazy to Them, But They Look Like Zombies to Us: Transhumanism as a Political Challenge” »

Jul 9, 2015

In Historic Turn, CO2 Emissions Flatline in 2014, Even as Global Economy Grows

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

Perhaps (for once) some environmental news that we don’t have to fight over.

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Jun 30, 2015

World’s first underground urban farm opens for business in London

Posted by in categories: food, sustainability

When the surface becomes too toxic, there’s always the tunnels.

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Jun 26, 2015

Paper-thin printed solar cells could provide power for 1.3 billion people

Posted by in categories: energy, sustainability

Thanks to inexpensive printed solar cells, 1.3 billion people currently without electricity may be able to plug in for the first time.

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Jun 26, 2015

Allegra Fuller Synder Talk at the 2015 IX Symposium

Posted by in categories: architecture, chemistry, education, engineering, nanotechnology, science, sustainability

Jun 19, 2015

Buckminster Fuller Institute Launches Online Dymaxion Reading Group for Summer 2015

Posted by in categories: education, sustainability

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“BFI is thrilled to announce the launch of our web-based Dymaxion Reading Group; participants will discuss text about, by, or related to Buckminster Fuller, facilitated by experts and guests from our network. … We are launching the program with Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, gathering for discussions online starting the first week in July as part of the ongoing celebration of the anniversary of Bucky’s 120th birthday.

Initially published in 1969, and one of Buckminster Fuller’s most popular works, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth is a brilliant synthesis of his world view and a great introduction to his ideas. In this volume, Fuller investigates the great challenges facing humanity, and the principles for avoiding extinction and “exercising our option to make it.” How will humanity survive? How does automation influence individualization? How can we utilize our resources more effectively to realize our potential to end poverty in this generation? He questions the concept of specialization, calls for a design revolution of innovation, and offers advice on how to guide “spaceship earth” toward a sustainable future.”

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Jun 16, 2015

Elon Musk: The World’s Raddest Man By Tim Urban | Wait But Why

Posted by in categories: business, energy, engineering, solar power, space travel, sustainability, transportation

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Tim Urban, of Wait But Why, recently received a phone call from Elon Musk’s staff asking if he would like to write about the automotive, aerospace, and solar power industries through personal interviews with Elon Musk and his teams. Tim Urban said yes, and the first three of essays / articles are already posted on his site.

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Jun 15, 2015

SpaceX just launched a Hyperloop pod-racing competition By Sean O’Kane | The Verge

Posted by in categories: business, sustainability, transportation

“SpaceX just announced an official contest open to university students and independent engineering teams. The company will release detailed rules, criteria, and tube specifications in August. … The challenge will be to build “human-scale pods” to be tested on the Hawthorne, California test track that will be built next to the SpaceX headquarters, but the company is careful to note that no humans will ride in the pods. All the designs submitted must be open source.”

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Jun 15, 2015

Smart urban planning in Amsterdam — Feargus O’Sullivan | CityLab

Posted by in categories: architecture, economics, energy, engineering, environmental, government, materials, policy, science, sustainability

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“Instead of treating Amsterdam as complete and starting again elsewhere, the IJburg plan has managed to find more space in a city that thought it had no more left.”

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