While there's a moral case to be made for fossil fuels — https://steemit.com/science/@freeradical/the-moral-case-for-fossil-fuels-an-unabashedly-biased-book-review — I assure you that I am very much a solar energy proponent. And while I'm obviously not as optimistic as famed futurist Ray Kurzweil that "Solar Will Dominate Energy Within 12 Years" — http://fortune.com/2016/04/16/ray-kurzweil-solar-will-dominate-energy-within-12-years — I absolutely agree with him when it comes to exponential growth in general:
An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense “intuitive linear” view. So we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century; it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate). — http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-law-of-accelerating-returns
So when he goes on to say the following, suffice it to say that I get it:
Within a few decades, machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence, leading to The Singularity: technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history. The implications include the merger of biological and nonbiological intelligence, immortal software-based humans, and ultra-high levels of intelligence that expand outward in the universe at the speed of light.
Or to put it another way:
We have reached a turning point in society. According to renowned theoretical physicist Michio Kaku, the next 100 years of science will determine whether we perish or thrive. Will we remain a Type 0 civilization, or will we advance and make our way into the stars?
Wait a minute: "Type 0"? No civilization? Zero, zip, nada?
Of course not, just not enough technological advance to get to Type 1 civilization:
Experts assert that, as a civilization grows larger and becomes more advanced, its energy demands will increase rapidly due to its population growth and the energy requirements of its various machines. With this in mind, the Kardashev Scale was developed [in 1964 by the Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev] as a way of measuring a civilization’s technological advancement based upon how much usable energy it has at its disposal . . . [The scale] has 3 base classes . . .
A Type I designation is a given to species that has been able to harness all the energy that is available from a neighboring star [100% solar energy!], gathering and storing it to meet the energy demands of a growing population. This means that we would need to boost our current energy production over 100,000 times to reach this status. However, being able to harness all Earth’s energy would also mean that we could have control over all natural forces.
The next step up – a Type II civilization – can harness the power of its entire star (not merely transforming starlight into energy, but controlling the star). Several methods for this have been proposed, the most popular of which is the hypothetical "Dyson Sphere." This device would encompass every single inch of the star, gathering most (if not all) of its energy output and transferring it to a planet for later use . . .
So we’ve gone from having control over a planet, to a star, which has resulted in us harboring enough “disposable” energy to essentially make our civilization immune to extinction. But now, onto Type III, where a species then becomes galactic traversers with knowledge of everything having to do with energy, resulting in them becoming a master race. In terms of humans, hundreds of thousands of years of evolution — both biological and mechanical — may result in the inhabitants of this type III civilization being incredibly different from the human race as we know it.
Sounds impossible? Perhaps, but what isn't? It's "impossible" that anything is, after all, including the is-ness of a supernatural creator. So let us focus our attention on the possible, which is to say, on our "Type 0" accomplishments to date, building on them in order to (1) free ourselves from the insanity statism and war and (2) set our sites not just on prosperity (in which the cryptocurrency revolution, including Steemit, stands to play a critically important role) but on the triumph over material scarcity, whereby homo economicus gives way to homo abundus and its star-studded future.
In so doing, we will return our birthplace to its own devices, fulfilling every environmentalist's wildest dreams.
Stellar post! 🌞