bastion

The thought process that owns almost everyone, and that is central to our problems, globally, is thinking that some things should not exist. This causes, internally, big feels of violation, which are almost inevitably projected outwards in a way that disempowers the person feeling violated.

For example, thinking that totalitarianism shouldn't exist, or sexism, or racism - but these are all normal human activities that will repeat, regardless of how unhealthy they are. Accepting that they exist allows you to approach them honestly.

The real question is whether or not you'll respond, and if you do, what that form that response will take. But to do that effectively, one must fully accept that the thing exists, and/by processing the feelings that that entails.

once you're not fighting it's existence, you can respond naturally to it, and fluidly adapt to it.

yes. this is why we're all here discussing alternative energy and fossil fuels. But ignoring you're enemies' strengths is not exactly the smoothest move.

Solar is, on a consumer level, possibly more cheap than gas for a car now, in many areas. But more is actually done with oil->gasoline framework, including plastics and chemicals which would all need to be developed into new processes. I don't disagree that we need to replace these, but oil is literally free energy, and it's a substance with a lot of uses.

And that fact is one of the big reasons that oil is so hard to compete with - it is literally energy we do not have to generate. All other forms of energy we must actually capture the natural energy flow. In oil, it has already been captured - we're burning biomatter from years long gone. That's what makes it hard to compete with. Although, the competition is getting better, and that's good.

as far as the costs for a vehicle go - I actually live on solar, with a very cost effective system at $25k, 14kw.

If I had an electric car and drove 15k miles per year, I'd need up that system by 11kw at least. That's adding about $20k to that system.

Where I am, gas is cheaper tha than $3/gallon, but let's say it's $3/gallon.

at 30mpg gasoline, that's about $1500. At 30mpge, with my lower-than-average system costs, that's $2000. ..and that's not including maintenance and repair to that system.

Sure, there are a ton of other factors to take into account, both for and against. But electric is no clear winner from a personal-benefit perspective - particularly when you take cold weather into account for lithium batteries, and the inability to resolve an out-of-fuel situation easily. Sure, there are services. ..maybe. depending where you are. But, it's far from ideal for a lot of people.

anyways - no, nuclear is definitely not as cheap, but it provides base load power, which is critical. only alternatives there are fossil fuels, geothermal, and hydro. But the main draw for 3rd and 4th gen nuclear is how low-impact and environmentally friendly it can be, while still providing base load power.

now, if Sodium ion batteries live up to their promise of cycle longevity, then providing base load could be done by lots and lots of storage. maybe not cost effectively, yet, but it could, maybe.

Agreed all around, with one caveat.

On chemistry - Sodium Ion is a pretty solid bet for many reasons - material availability, energy density by weight, longevity (for some chemistries - others are only comparable to lithium), low-temperature operation for charge and discharge, cost, power (charge and discharge speed), very high round-trip efficiency.. Also, it's ecologically sound, in comparison with any other battery tech out there currently, and it's at the beginning of it's innovation arc. Also, it's a tech heavily invested in by China, which has already spurred competition in other countries.

I'll be attaching myself to that chemistry here in the next couple years to the tune of what I expect to be about ~$8k for about 50kwh of battery, as I'll need a bank of them for my place soon that can handle quite a few days without sunlight while running a modest workshop and basic home needs. I might need to go larger than that, but.. ..energy storage isn't cheap, and I can add to that at any time, unlike with lead acid storage.

I think that both putting your pet down and not doing so must be an honest consideration.

As their caretaker, you can empathize with them the most. Imagine what you would want in their situation, and do it. You have the ability to cognize this - they do not.

There are humane services that will come to your home so they don't even have to leave a familiar environment. But sometimes, your buddy still has joy in life, even though he's all wobbly.

..in the end, the truth is that it's a judgment call, and you do the best you can - and make your choices in a way that, if they were there in your head with you, and could understand your choices, they would love you for it, and that you can love yourself for.

I mean, I might just prefer:

[warning: rape, gore]

or whatever awfulness is present.

Because we don't need to generate the energy, therefore it's got a cost advantage, even though the true cost of it is that it contributes massively to climate problems.

That is: batteries must be charged, the plants to make biofuels must absorb solar energy for at least half a year to have energy present, the solar panels to power the grid must sit and soak up that energy, generators must be physically turned for hydro.

the only things that have pre-existing energy that we just "tap for free" are oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear.

the best track for us to go on is to go for 3rd or 4th gen nuclear, and sodium ion batteries, imo. Solar is a close second. Hydro would be up there, but it's too disruptive ecologically.

Survival and reproduction aren't the purpose, they are simply structural. Perhaps, simply as experiences, they could be of the purpose.

To grow, experience, and create.

This life, that means exploring the manifold between spiritual and physical reality, and making cool shit happen, as well as reconciling 'paradoxes'. To play with the rules. To explore the connection of love and power. To face fears.

Earlier: similar, but with more fears to face.

..or the metanareative can be the structure of the story itself.

Here's a few frequent ones (Kurt Vonnegut for more):

Someone ran into a set of problems and then solved them.

Some people met, overcame some stuff and then ended up together.

Things were bad and got better.

Things were bad and got worse.

A specific thing needed to be done and someone did it.

yep. more things:

the "current meta" of a game is the currently winning stream of thought about how to play the game.

metacognition is thinking about how and why you think the way you do

Yeah.. ..I really love some of the core Swedish ideals, and it's sad to see this happening. I really hope that Sweden is able to generate an effective response to the incoming ideologies without sacrificing their own ideals.

When people get too soft, times get hard (bullies win when people are too soft). A genuine balance needs to be struck, which requires a lot of personal processing by many people, as well as time for the resultant answers to spread through the culture. Sweden may need to limit immigration in the mean time to give time for that to occur.