A Lesson from Terraset

[pbmdh]

"Drill here, drill now, pay less............until one of these idiots creates another BP disaster, hooray for ecological destruction!"

[jwoodswce]

@pbmdh

I mindless hypocrite. Without oil, you would not have a computer with which to make that comment.

Instead of advocating the use of government force to prevent my access to oil, why don't you set an example by eschewing all the benefits you receive from oil? You can start by stopping your use of plastics; next, don't buy any products that were trucked to your store. After you have achieved the existence of a subsistence farmer, then send me a comment via carrier pigeon.

[pbmdh]

@jwoodswce

You sure assume a lot just from my small, small comment. Did I say "Nobody should ever use oil, ever!"? No, I said no such thing. The problem with you (and the big oil community) is that you want unregulated chaos. Fuck the environment, right? If we got what you want, we would just end up with a hundred more BP's.

[jwoodswce]

@pbmdh

No assumptions on my part. I just understand the full context of your statement; in fact, I probably understand it better than you do as demonstrated in your reply.

You want product without production, which you and your fellow travelers inhibit through non-objective laws. With rising prices, the constraints on oil production are political, neither geological nor technical.

Historically, we have witnessed politically caused food famines; yet, you advocate a political energy famine?

[tothatextent]

Many people think 'Green Technology' is 100% positive on all levels. Just as this guy is stating, it is very expensive. Many want a battery car made. After several attempts to make a battery car, many car companies deemed it too expensive and harmful to the environment.

[julietanimeluvr13]

get away from my school -.-

[gregtube88]

I'm writing this off the top of my head, so feel free to prove me wrong (or augment my point), but my understanding is that experts engaged by both parties have said that drilling off the US coast will have virtually a zero effect on oil prices for at least 10 years.

[PaulMcKeever]

Wonderful. I'm facebooking it (and adding it to the YouTube Objectivists Group vids, of course). Sorry I didn't see it sooner: I have almost no subscriptions (for reasons not relevant here), so I depend upon keywords (or submissions) when looking for new vids to add to the YTOG.

[abandonship42]

Agreed on the energy issue with a caveat: It would behoove us to look at the environmental impact (pollution and erosion) that can occur and safeguard against it. If we can do it in a clean way with little impact on other spheres, excellent. The problem in the past with off-shore drilling has been (at least here in Louisiana) loss of wetlands (and yes, I know that wetlands are also destroyed by tropical systems).

As for the political philosophical underpinnings of your argument, I disagree

[VoicesintheHead]

I don't agree with you. The reason alternative sources of energy have not succeeded is because oil has been readily available. Yes, Oil is a very good source of energy, but it is a non-renewable resource. It also produces incredible amounts of energy. But we should look into other kinds of energy and modernize them. I'd rather have nuclear energy than drilling for more oil. (look at me, talking from a country that produces shit loads of oil) :P

I think OIL is the false prophet, my friend.

[horvay]

Every year, we find more oil. Congress should just let up on the issue, and let entrepreneurs deal with it. If the field is free, it will find ways to provide more and more energy, even when oil runs out.

Did you know oil used to be a nuisance? It was entrepreneurs who made it what it is today. A free market is a creative market. If it decides to use nuclear energy instead because its the most cost effective, then I agree with that.

Congress shouldn't control our lives like Jim says here.

[Moragauth]

Agreed.

[Moragauth]

One thing though - how "clean" is oil's history? I think it partially became as widely used today because of government intervention. It's not really a free market. From a pragmatic POV though oil is currently one of the only viable options, nuclear energy being very unpopular (needlessly so.)

[Moragauth]

There's still a lot of popular fear of nuclear energy though... a lot of it is nonsense, but it's a major stumbling block.

[horvay]

I believe, from my limited knowledge on the subject, that the early history of oil is pretty "clean" in that respect.

It used to be when someone poked around in their backyard, and oil started sprouting out, they would become rich. This was because there were no government regulations that would prevent them from drilling there. Wasn't even thought of.

[legendre007]

Excellent! :-D