[mdlug-discuss] Ethanol vs gasoline economy [Was: [mdlug] Automotive technical info ...]

[Ingles, Raymond]

> From: allen

> >  Just as a note, in software, where duplication and distribution is
> > (to a first approximation, at least) free, the commons 
> can't be exhausted
> > and the tragedy doesn't arise. This is one of the reason open-source
> > software works so well.
> >   
> And why, among people who don't quite understand it, engenders 
> flinty-eyed suspicion.

 Yes, that's why education about how it actually works is so important.

> Of course, open-source software isn't free so much as it's so cheap 
> that, for all practical purposes, it's free. Of the various 
> components of cost in software it's the labor that's free.

 Actually, it's the labor that costs, but not necessarily in money.

> >  It's worth noting that if the same principles could be applied to
> > material objects, a lot of current economic models would break down.
> > One reason why things like 3D printers and nanotechnology could make
> > for interesting times in the future.

> Also, I'm less certain then you that the arrival of the messiah, i.e.
> when material objects become free, will necessarily result 
> in the "kid in the candy shop" future you anticipate.

 Um... have you ever heard of the proverbial Chinese curse, "May you live
in interesting times"? I didn't say there'd be pie in the sky by and by.
I said there would be "interesting times".

 I figure one of the very possible results of such an economic upheaval
could be a big war. And so one of the reasons why I push for space travel
is so that there's a good chance of spreading our eggs into more baskets
than just Earth.

 Such a war is not guaranteed, of course. But it's worth planning options
just in case.

> Allen's Law (Allen's Law? Yes, why not?) of Conservation of Agony states 
> that any decrease in pain is offset by an increase in pain, usually in 
> an unanticipated area, so that agony is conserved. Examples are ubiquitous.

 I'd dispute that rather strongly. For example:
 http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/pinker07/pinker07_index.html

> Decreases in travel time are offset by increases in the time needed to 
> get to the point of departure, or, once embarked, result in inescapable 
> proximity to cologne addicts or crying children.

 Different issue entirely. Google the concept of a "happiness set point".

> I'd better stop. I'm starting to frighten myself with thoughts of a 
> horrifyingly utopian future of peace, plenty and tranquility, populated 
> by people with perfect teeth, bodies and psyches, with all the hair they 
> want where they want it and none where they don't.

 So long as there are humans that *are* human in any meaningful sense, there
won't be a 'utopia'. But that Pinker article above nevertheless gives hope
for the future.

 Sincerely,

 Ray Ingles                                (313) 227-2317
 
 "Una saus victus nullam sperare salutem." - The one hope
       of the damned is not to hope for safety.

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