Toadfish Monastery

Quote from: Sibling Zono (anon1mat0) on February 25, 2010, 06:34:13 PM
That is in contrast to fossil fuels of which there is a finite amount stored on the planet and which are likely to last for the next 100-300 years at the current rate of consumption. In a completely technical term fossil fuels can potentially renew themselves only that the process of renewal is extremely slow taking millions of years.

A quick proof of this is that CO2 levels in the atmosphere have increased since fossil fuel use became widespread.  If nature could renew fossil fuels at the rate we consume them, there'd be little-to-no issue with CO2 increases.  There are some fringe mutterings about biogenic hydrocarbons (directly formed by bacteria, instead of from sedimentation of dead organic matter), but while this may be technically possible I personally think that any suggestion of widespread biogenic HC production is mostly justification for treating fossil fuels as a renewable resource.

It would be interesting to calculate an estimate of natural petroleum formation rates, and see whether this amount would be renewable enough to supply the petrochemical industry in theory.  In reality, extraction is the issue and nobody has the time to sit around and wait for new oilfields to form, but we should be able to squeak by on residual reserves if we quit using hydrocarbons for fuel. It's not technically necessary, but in many cases it's likely much more energy efficient to build on petroleum derived carbon skeletons than to build molecules from the ground up or extract the precursors from biological sources.

There are experts that say We will be the new oilfields in the distant future since we are on the path of (re)creating the conditions that led to the formation of those we currently exploit.

So the question should be: are we renewable?

Renewable, yes, sustainable, that is a completely different matter.

I think we are like batteries. Can be recharged a number of times but eventually won't hold a charge any longer. I think I must have come from a faulty batch,

Quote from: GriffinI think we are like batteries. Can be recharged a number of times but eventually won't hold a charge any longer. I think I must have come from a faulty batch,

Same here, Griffin.  After a moderately active week I'm exhausted and aching all over. 

Can something be defined not inappropriate without being appropriate?

eg.

It is not inappropriate to hand someone an umbrella when it is raining   ~true

Whether it is appropriate to hand someone an umbrella when it is raining is irrelevant   ~true

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Wait, are you suggesting that it isn't appropriate to hand an umbrella when it's raining? I fail to see the gray area.

I think "not inappropriate" is usually not used in Boolean logic, but in tri or multi-state human value judgements.  e.g. "Some people feel it would be not inappropriate for Ant and Dec to be bludgeoned to death with a cricket bat". By encompassing the middle-ground as well as the appropriate it evades the element of incitement.

Quote from: beagle on April 05, 2010, 05:28:45 PM
I think "not inappropriate" is usually not used in Boolean logic, but in tri or multi-state human value judgements.  e.g. "Some people feel it would be not inappropriate for Ant and Dec to be bludgeoned to death with a cricket bat". By encompassing the middle-ground as well as the appropriate it evades the element of incitement.

Zono, I think I am asking whether "X is appropriate" is exactly the same as "X is not inappropriate".

An analogy:

Sound.                 An MP who hasn't fiddled the expenses yet.
Not unsound.        Nothing was proved.

Erm, I think I get it although I still don't get the umbrella example, is there any social cue I'm missing about a person getting wet under the rain preferring the sky than an umbrella? Is giving umbrellas a faux pas in the UK?

The umbrella was a red herring.

I think it would not be appropriate to give commie fish to people during rain.

It wouldn't be appropriate to give an umbrella to a motorcyclist in the rain...