Brut de fonderie et grossier à souhait :

I think you innocently forgot the easiest solution, the ones humans have always used, it’s called “taking”. On a small scale it is known as theft and is illegal, on a large scale it’s called geopolitics and usually includes wars. We are in one right now,check the headlines (unless you really think iraq/iran/afghanistan/venezuela, etc, “disputes” are all about something other than oil and natural gas) there are a rough handful of major powerblocs in the world, and around 1/4 resources required left for this and the next generation. Each of those powerblocs need all that there is available. There is very little at all for the generation after that, no matter where they are. The powerblocs are lining up resources now, first come first served with the most power wins. We can see who is occupying what now. The second and third tier get some dregs. We can see those guys running around the planet “buying” long range energy and mineral resources now. Again, both the above are simple verifiable data. Fourth tier folks got zip, and never will get zip, you can see that now if you look at severely under developed nations. They are out, too late. Once the dregs that the second and third tier nations are using start to go, they will be looking really good to everyone, sloppy seconds or not,so that’s when the really big wars will start, because human society pretty much always winds up with megalomaniacs as leaders. And if you give them any sort of excuse, they susually go for the insanity option. Just their nature is all, not even weird or unusual to see it. There’s been a few exceptions in history, but not too many, most world “leaders” are batshit powermad insane. Their “closest advisors” are pretty much all batshit powermad insane. They are all surrounded by large gents who follow orders without question. They control all the serious guns. All them guys above dig power and wealth. Power and wealth are measured in oil and fighter planes and missiles, etc, now. That stupid money thing is to keep people amused more than anything else, real wealth is tangibles and all the big guys know this, they use money as political tools now.

This is not hard to see what is going to happen.

Oh ya, “technology” will solve the problems all right, by reducing the population levels around the globe to a few percent of what we have now. Look right now, that’s where the bulk of the really important cash for tech R&D is going, and where a ton of the brains wind up working. Inefficient as various governments can be, combine them with big factories and they “manage” to come up with a few pretty horrendous toys.

It is going to suck hard.

We’ll keep building crap throw away stuff right up until it is too late to do anything important about it, because no leader would ever stay in power long (I am speaking first, second, third tier where they have a semblance of elected government, fourth tier are always run by pure anarchy and warlords) if he spoke the truth to the people, that they would need to drop their lifestyle down to a fraction of what it is now to eek another century out of what we have left.they just aren’t going to do that to any extent beyond a few noises.

And we’d need to be doing it yesterday.

And it hasn’t happened so there ya go.

J’adore.

Via Slashdot.