Re: the future long term financial apocalypse of the USA

On Tue, 21 May 2024, Scott Lurndal wrote:

D <nospam@example.net> writes:

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Please don't post MIME.  This is usenet, not farcebook.
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The availability of cheap energy was the result of several hundred
million years of stored solar (in the form of fossil fuels), the bulk
of which has been consumed.  With deleterious side effects that may
not be reversable in any human timescale.
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What system will replace capitalism is not clear, but it will likely not
be pleasant.
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https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/10/the-energy-trap/

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I disagree. I think we'll continue to grow when we start with asteroid
mining, deep sea mining etc. We're not even close to the end. Eventually
we'll colonize other planets.

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Dr. Murphy addresses those topics as well.  You are clearly suffering
from wishful thinking.   Colonization of any planet is currently
way beyond our capabilities - it's not even clear that humans can survive
on any planet other than earth using only in-situ resources.  Even
Mars, which would be the most likely candidate, suffers from the lack
of a van allen belt and thus the radiation at the surface pretty much
precludes any substantial settlement by humans.

There is no fundamental law that makes it impossible for human beings to colonize other planets, and I did not state that this will take place tomorrow.
Needless to say, I disagree with you, and I have not seen anything which seems to make that possibility impossible. We are talking long time scales here, but I thought that was easily understood, but let me just state it for the sake of clarity.

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In terms of energy, this is a solved problem which is only being stopped
or slowed down by politicians and over regulation.

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Please enlighten us with exactly how those problems have been
solved, and exactly which regulations you think are standing in
the way.

Nuclear power. The regulative burden of building nuclear power is well known in many countries in western europe. I think I've heard about 5 years from plan to production in south korea, but I'm not sure. Cutting regulations and moving to cutting edge SMR:s should cut that.
Basically, we could expand nuclear massively, absent politicians, and of course complement that with solar/wind where possible and desirable.
Looking at gasoline, that's another cheap source of energy and where I live taxes on it is 50%, those could be removed.
I could go on and on, and yes, I guess you might say it's wishful thinking or that those regulations keep us safe, and I disagree with both. I think it is absolutely possible to give everyone plenty of technology at a low cost with current technology.

There is no alternative form of energy production (including nuclear
and fusion) that can support the historic growth in energy consumption.

Nuclear, sun, wind, oil, all combined can absolutely support massive energy growth. We can mine thorium as well, and with modern technology reuse spent fuel.

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In terms of what eventually will replace capitalism, I imagine some kind
of post-scarcity society ? la Star trek with nano-technology, ubiquitous
solar power, 3d-printing and so on. But that is of course today just
science fiction and speculation.

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And likely will remain so.

I disagree.

A more comprehensive survey of all your proposed solutions is
discussed here, with supporting math.
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https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9js5291m

I cannot see where he says that anything is impossible and I cannot see where he discusses thorium supply and SMR:s. Can you point me to those sections please?