Mineral Future


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  • #100420 Reply
    Clark

      Michael, your intervening post indeed wasn’t visible when I posted. However, it doesn’t answer Shibboleth’s question, which was about animal species other than human.

      #100418 Reply
      michael norton

        Arse drops out of lithium as new buyers of EV dry up.
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbxwhYOcn4E

        #100423 Reply
        Shibboleth

          With the greatest respect, Michael, you didn’t. How do other species manage to survive and flourish without ‘modernity’? How did humans manage for tens of thousands of years to do the same until the iteration from two centuries ago led us to this dead end?

          #100425 Reply
          michael norton

            Shibboleth, September 9, 2024 at 22:26
            Quote
            “How did humans manage for tens of thousands of years to do the same until the iteration from two centuries ago led us to this dead end?”

            Shibboleth, I have tried to answer. I am not an animal behaviourist.
            I can imagine that almost all species eventually become extinct.
            I can imagine that for most species there are many animals, they probably do not ponder their “human” condition, as do many humans. These animals have sex and breed, usually every year, they often have multiple babies. So they keep going by having many babies.

            David Reich,
            has tried to explain that mostly for pre-human and human existence, we have lived in isolated, small groups.
            Only occasionally interbreeding with other groups.
            He claims almost all these small groups became “locally” extinct, taking whatever skills they had developed, to their graves.
            Only when we banded together in a big enough number, could we teach other skills, and those skills could be kept in play.
            This was our road to modernity.
            The rest is history, some of it has been written down.
            All empires fall.
            Perhaps the American empire will fall and take its many failings, to the grave.

            #100427 Reply
            michael norton

              I think Mr. V. Putin is actually saying, he wants and end to the war with Ukraine and a friendly return to trade with Europe. He said the Poles have shut down the gas lines from Russia through Poland, and some of the Nordstream pipes have been blown but some still work.
              He has also said the Russians are building plants/ports to export L.N.G.
              He also says that some European countries are falling into a black hole and this is partially because they are no longer taking Russian Methane, particularly he means Germany.

              It does seem that the Russian – Ukraine War is bringing many things to a head, particularly in Europe.
              30% of all the world’s resources are in Russia.

              #100434 Reply
              Shibboleth

                Michael,

                Can I suggest you find a copy of Edward Bellamy’s ‘Looking Backward’ – possibly your local library can source one? It was published in 1887 and sold over 1 million copies one the first edition. It begins in the year 2000 and goes back in time to the publication date. Think it might help.

                Good luck.

                #100437 Reply
                justin

                  “Looking Backward” by Edward Bellamy is available online in different formats:
                  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25439
                  https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=25439
                  https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/work?id=olbp51839

                  The original edition is available as scanned images, but they’re not so easy on the eye due to the stained and yellowed paper. However, there’s a cleaned up version at: https://archive.org/details/lookingbackward01bellgoog/page/n15/mode/2up

                  Naturally there are lots of summaries and discussions available too: e.g. SparkNotes, eNotes, JStor.

                  It also has a Wikipedia entry:
                  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looking_Backward

                  #100442 Reply
                  Shibboleth

                    Many thanks for the links, Justin. Much appreciated.

                    Over to you, Michael.

                    #100469 Reply
                    michael norton

                      It now seems that many of the European car makers are struggling, perhaps it is the dictat to go for all out EV by 2035?

                      Even the U.k. economy is flatlining, since Labour came to power, yet they want growth?

                      “It was a particularly poor month for car and machinery firms”
                      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2045wpddy2o

                      I think Ed Milliband would like to ban all gas guzzlers sooner than 2035?
                      As we shut down our coal excavation, as we shut down our steel blast works, as we wind down our Methane industries, as we wind down our oil industries, I understand Grangemouth is soon to be shut.
                      Where will people go to work?

                      #100473 Reply
                      Clark

                        “Where will people go to work?”

                        I dunno. Where did they go to work before money was invented?

                        #100474 Reply
                        Shibboleth

                          Where did they go to work before money was invented?

                          One of the many interesting proposals in Looking Backward. I wonder if Michael has reached that bit yet…

                          #100470 Reply
                          michael norton

                            The Just Transition Commission

                            Grangemouth closure “most likely outcome”
                            https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8vd7r768eyo
                            Quote BBC

                            “The Just Transition Commission includes experts and leaders from trade unions, voluntary organisations, environmental groups, business and industry.

                            Its purpose is to advise the Scottish government on how to cut carbon emissions in a fair way.

                            The term “just transition” means shifting from one industry to another – in this case a greener one – without the devastating impact on communities which was felt when the coal mining and steel industries ended.

                            When the announcement of the intention to close Grangemouth was made, the commission said it would be a key test of whether a just transition could be a reality.”

                            Moving away from Coal/Methane/Oil might be sensible, in the medium term but they do not really say where the old workers will in future earn their livings?
                            If people cannot earn a living and the country goes down the tubes, how is that helping?

                            #100480 Reply
                            michael norton

                              I expect that during The New Labour Governments first five years, we will all learn much, the hard way, the pensioners will learn this Winter, that Winters are cold and their governments has thrown them to the wolves.
                              The next lesson will be that almost no steel will be produced in the United kingdom, yet we are on a roll with The Royal Navy, great fleets of submarines and frigates are being constructed in England and in Scotland.
                              We proposed to build many Type 26 in the new The Janet Harvey Hall.

                              The Global Combat Ship has been designed from the outset with export in mind.
                              Type 23 frigates, and for export.
                              https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news/2023/october/16/20231016-work-starts-on-gigantic-new-hall-to-build-navys-type-26-frigates

                              When you build a new naval vessel, you need to understand the provenance of the metal.
                              When you build a new nuclear powered submarine you need to understand the provenance of the metal
                              When you build a new nuclear power station you need to understand the provenance of the metal.
                              If we are to have an all electric future within the next few decades, where will these minerals come from and as we are broke and getting more broke, how will we pay for this electric future?

                              #100486 Reply
                              Shibboleth

                                You mean when, not if. I guess we’ll find out soon enough who it helps, but it’s unlikely to be humans. You will have two options then. Have a big party and don’t stop until you drop. Or start digging – not just planting food, but building your next home, underground. Warm in winter, cool in summer. More resistant to nuclear fallout. More difficult to find and thus more secure. Have you ever visited Skara Brae or the cave houses in the Dordogne? Or read The Road by Cormac McCarthy? Or Last Man Standing by Davide Longo? Money and earning a living don’t feature.

                                #100491 Reply
                                michael norton

                                  Quote BBC
                                  Labour’s green policies are costing jobs and “hollowing out working class communities,” the leader of the GMB union has warned.

                                  Gary Smith told the BBC the new government had to stop “decarbonisation through deindustrialisation” and called for an “honest debate” about the government’s plans for British industry.
                                  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgq2xpxx81lo
                                  Ed Milliband wants to stop firms from selling Internal Combustion cars by 2030, six years time.
                                  He wants us to travel by battery bus or electrified railways or by E.V cars or E.V. scooters.
                                  All road vehicles use tyres.
                                  E.V. vehicles have to have special expensive tyres, as the E.V.cars are about three quarters of a ton heavier than a petrol car.
                                  If Ed Milliband wants all Coal, all Methane, all OIl production stopped, where does Ed Milliband think the material for the tyres will come from, perhaps he thinks it will come from China?
                                  The stuff that the tyres are made of comes from plants such as Grangemouth.
                                  We could revert to rubber plantations but most have been ripped out.
                                  It would probably take fifteen years to start tapping rubber from a plantation that has not yet been planted.
                                  Is there any joined up thinking in Net Zero?
                                  Where will the building blocks come from to build all these millions of homes the New Labour Government have promised?
                                  Building blocks come from the Coal or Methane industries, it is a way of using waste or by-products.
                                  Apparently the last Coal fired electricity station is about to be shut down in the United Kingdom.
                                  I doubt we will mine much metals in the U.K. to fulfill this new Electric Future.
                                  Too dirty, too old fashioned.
                                  Get real Ed. Milliband you are slaughtering our jobs, you are making this country a waste land.

                                  #100496 Reply
                                  Clark

                                    Michael, you just ignore everyone else on the thread. It seems like you think you’re the only person with anything worth saying.

                                    #100500 Reply
                                    michael norton

                                      Clark, I don’t think that is true, I often take my time answering.
                                      I do not think the world will end in a fireball in the near of moderately near future.
                                      I really do think in the U.k. 30 times more old people die of the cold, than die of the heat.
                                      This thread is about minerals.
                                      There does not seem to be any coherent thinking about how we will pay for, both in terms of cash but more importantly in terms of wasted working lives, for this vision of an all electric future.
                                      I have said several times, that I do not think this will happen within the timeline that the Elite people think it will happen. The economy will be crashed first, with vast numbers roaming the streets, if the Elite people cannot take the proles with them on this vision, how will it function.
                                      This is how I predict it will go, in chaos by society breaking down, not because there is too much Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere but because the population no longer go along with this head long rush to electrification.

                                      #100502 Reply
                                      Clark

                                        Michael, no one has claimed that “the world will end in a fireball in the near or moderately near future”. You are the only contributor to have raised the matter. Answering questions no one has asked as if that is what they said is just a sneaky way of ignoring them.

                                        I have asked you where you think money comes from. That is just one of the half dozen questions of mine that you have ignored, before we even start considering any other contributors.

                                        #100503 Reply
                                        glenn_nl

                                          You expect too much, Clark. Like the late (and highly unlamented) ‘N’, Michael prefers to talk and talk and exaggerate and make things up, and ignore everyone else. In the latter’s case, using talking points from the Express, Torygraph and so on which match his prejudices (and denialism).

                                          Sifting through the denialist propaganda takes work and an open mind – effort, in other words. Far easier and more comforting to decide there’s nothing wrong, and/or nothing to be done.

                                          #100504 Reply
                                          michael norton

                                            Shibboleth
                                            “Where did they go to work before money was invented?”

                                            I expect, in some places, money has been about for three thousand years, all, way before the Industrial Revolution and the use of Coal.
                                            People worked locally, in their own village, about 90% of them were engaged in the basics of life, catching fish, cutting down trees, excavating minerals and herding goats and growing cereals and root veg, digging ditches and wheelbarrow dung.
                                            Not something that many would want to go back to.
                                            The modern world is the modern world, can we even escape?
                                            I doubt it.
                                            We have to play with what we have got.
                                            Nobody seems interested in the greening world, at least in part, brought about by more Carbon dioxide in play.
                                            Nobody seems interested in returning our soils, to be alive, so they absorb much more Carbon and give us healthier food.
                                            Nobody seems interested, in how millions will earn their daily bread.
                                            If you can’t make virgin steel, or mine for Coal, or Methane or Oil, where will these people earn their livings?

                                            Quote BBC
                                            “Scotland’s only oil refinery confirmed to close next year”
                                            https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg3gwkkk4mo

                                            #100506 Reply
                                            michael norton

                                              Here is a hint at what I’ve been getting at.
                                              “something has got to give”

                                              Quote BBC
                                              “U.K. national debt is on course to treble over the next half a century due to several pressures, according to the government’s official forecaster.

                                              Those pressures include an ageing population, climate change, and rising geopolitical tensions, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said in a report.

                                              The OBR said without extra tax revenues or a return to post-war productivity levels, the public finances were not sustainable over the long term, and “something has got to give”.
                                              https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cewlwkg82ggo
                                              Mr. Jones added “that the U.K. was facing the “highest debt since the 1960s, highest taxes since the 1940s, and debt on track to be almost three times our GDP”.

                                              #100512 Reply
                                              Shibboleth

                                                Did you read Bellamy’s novel, Michael? Justin was kind to provide links above. I’m sure you’ll even find a link to his thesis on YouTube. It’s only a couple of hundred pages – an afternoon’s read.

                                                #100513 Reply
                                                Ginger Ninja

                                                  Giving away all of our infrastructure along with the removal of our institutions is what done it. British “justice” isn’t being run by Britain neither are the “intelligence” services, the media or the networks. We’re not a sovereign nation. If you want to see what we’ll become look at any country in South America, Germany post WWI, or maybe Gaza.

                                                  Any country that can’t feed itself is doomed*. Our green and pleasant land is being concreted over to make way for a never ending supply of spreadsheet integers for the GDP graph; helpful souls that also prevent the locals to galvanise into any form of resistance.

                                                  *Our cow herds fell to disease about the same time as a trade deal was being implemented, the Irish herds were culled to prevent climate change (cough cough). No wonder people are sceptical eh? It’s like the Indian farmers all over again.

                                                  All it took was a handful of traitors to open the gates. They, the traitors, are now rich beyond their wildest dreams. Every good idea gets financialised by the gate-keepers before implementation, so only a limp husk of it ever reaches the people. And whomever resists slips under the waves on a yachting trip, or dies on a park bench.

                                                  Their minions are the eyes and ears, the “influencers” their voice, the politicians their agents. They are corporate greed personified. They are diseased. The great American experiment was supposed to be free from the corruption, instead it became a much worse form of it.

                                                  Just ignore me. Practicing writing a novel based on conspiracy theories. Is it too much?

                                                  #100530 Reply
                                                  Clark

                                                    Four hundred years ago there was no USA, therefore there were no US dollars. There are a hell of a lot of dollars now. Where does it all come from? I challenge the idea that there is not enough money to do important stuff. Loads of it apparently sprung out of nowhere when the Conservative government wanted to pay the middle and upper classes to do nothing during lockdown. A load more sprung into the pockets of Boris Johnson’s best friends. If it can pop into existence for Johnson’s mates, why can’t it do the same to upgrade the grid?

                                                    #100532 Reply
                                                    Clark

                                                      Michael, what do you think are the meaning and significance of “the U.K. national debt”?

                                                      By ‘significance’, I mean things like: what happens if it gets too high? Or too low? How much is too high or too low?

                                                      “Debt” seems to be a different thing for governments than for people like you or I. If you or I fall short on debt repayments, bailiffs will search us out and try to take our stuff or evict us from the place we’re living. Bailiffs don’t have the legal power to arrest or imprison us, but a court order can empower police to do such things. But nothing like that is going to happen to a government.

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