Episode Details

Anastasia has been reading Vaclav Smil's Energy and Civilization, so we decided to sit down for a meta conversation about petroleum, prime movers, and geopolitics. This solo chat ties together a bunch of the conversations we've had on the show in the last year about climate, technology and the energy transition. Historically, we've been pretty skeptical when people start banging on about the need to transition to a completely electric grid, but Smil makes a really compelling point - all human endeavors depend on motive power. We go further to consider the downstream consequences of the prime movers we rely on, the risk of this being the last civilization for the next 20 million years, and the strange software called "progress" that was installed in humans when we departed from our primate roots. Sign up for our Patreon and get episodes early + join our weekly Patron Chat https://bit.ly/3lcAasB00:00 Go! 00:03:34 Material supplies do run out: assumption#1 00:09:38 Oil production going down or no? 00:15:38 If we run out, do we go back to horse & buggy times? 00:20:08 Why can't nuclear save the day? 00:24:47 The actual electric universe 00:29:00 Lucius Appeleus 00:39:14 Population & growth fears 00:43:48 Who or what are the barriers to Electricland 00:49:47 Diesel's failed vision 00:54:15 Why are we racing toward the future? 00:57:57 Relief of sufferring at the cost of all else 01:03:07 Calhoun & density epibehavior 01:06:51 Godlike machine future 01:10:49 Does AI threaten meaningful life? 01:18:56 Convenience v. painlessness 01:26:35 Solution set is in sight #Transhumanism #Humanity #Technology #Ethics #Philosophy #Evolution #SciencePolicy

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