I wonder where his faith will be in two years when he finds out that one-million dollars isn't a lot of money. Especially if you live in NYC.

Do you think he'll learn piety, or just become an atheist "again"?

Unless ofcourse we pay them... One MILLION DOLLARS!

>> ^luxury_pie:

But nonetheless he IS drawing a very intimidating picture there. I for one never realized so clearly the "place" we as a human race have in the universe. Besides the fact that he uses outdated or non-accurate scientific references as it seems. Please keep in my mind that this man is a historian and as I see it he doesn't base his whole argument on the laws of thermodynamics rather then his own abstraction of complexity and development.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't many if not all of the facts he mentions about the first "steps" of the universe currently accepted facts/ assumptions of astrophysics, if one could say so?
His train of thought seems pretty straight to the point and his conclusion is absolutely true. We are indeed destroying the "goldi-locks-conditions" that led to our existence.


I agree. Yet I wish he would also point out that in the last ten years we've found extreme life in places you'd NEVER expect. This might throw the "goldi-locks-conditions" partially out the window. This year we found life not based on carbon, but phosphorous (this is by rote memory, it may have been sulfur) and even arsenic! We may actually have quite a bit of extra-terrestrial life in our own solar system. Just not sentient (or lacking ways to create incredible machinations of the mind), yet.

What humans need to learn is that we will kill ourselves as WE need that, "goldi-locks-conditions", to live. Almost all current life except the kind I mentioned would be devastated by our actions. We WILL die, and be replaced for a good 4-5 billion years. If we get to one million I'd be surprised.

If you're talking grey-goo stuff though, then I'll give you that...as the most hilarious way to screw ourselves over... I'm just thinking of alien telescopes looking at our planet and wondering WTF is that!?!

/The last bit is my sarcastic bastard side showing through.

>> ^MarineGunrock:
Now that I go back and read your comment again, I see I mis-read it and shouldn't have downvoted. My bad.
I too have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and my tour in Iraq was no picnic. For several years, I wanted to be a cop, and I would still like to, but I have come to realize though introspection and professional help that constant mortaring has re-wired my brain to the point where I should not be a police officer. It has left me with an extremely short temper, and that would most definitely lead to no good. I can only hope that others in my position do the same.
Semper (Fi/Paratus/whatever suits you).
>> ^Lawdeedaw:
>> ^MarineGunrock:
And yes, for the record, I do believe that all capable persons have a moral obligation to help when possible.

Hey Marinegunrock, you have a right to downvote my comment, and I have no problem with that. Still, I would like to explain a bit about my comments---because I think you might have the wrong impression (I tend to fuck up on expressing my thoughts.)
Soldiers and Marines returning from overseas have two types of medals. Those they wear on their chests, and those they wear in their minds. They live life on the edge in a warzone. I don't remember a day my unit wasn't mortared over in Iraq--but I served nevertheless. That does not mean I, or other servicemen, adjusted well upon return... And they certainly were not ready for a career in law enforcement!!!
However, instead of wearing this mental medal proudly, instead of saying, "I am a motherfucking Marine or Soldier, I have issues," people are saying, "Hey, I went through hell and came back flawless. Love me please."
Just because we are heroes doesn't mean we are right in the brain my friend. You have to be wrong in the head, or you don't survive--or you get others killed...




Don't worry Marinegunrock, for every one good comment out there---there are one-million ignorant comments. In other words, in a world of trolls, it takes a constantly keen eye to tell between the shit and the diamonds. Hell, I don't even have half the time, so I learn the people when I can... In fact, that's why I explained myself to you---because I can see you post reasonably.


I am greatly impressed that truth matters to you more than blind-emotions Marinegunrock; I am honestly impressed. Few people would admit any problems anywhere, and that's why we as people, and this country, have so many--we break em, but we don't attempt to solve them.

You would need one million of these plants at a cost of $246 trillion to meet the world's energy needs. As such, I think solar is a good additional source of power, but if we want to get off fossil fuels, we need more and better nuclear power.

edit: Early on in the video, the guy says we could power the world by covering 1% of the world's deserts with solar plants, as if that wasn't very much at all. I was interested so I checked, and that would be 300,000 square km of solar plantage.

I don't want to come off all negative, but it bothers me when these things are presented as though there was some easy solution if only we would make up our minds to do it. That sort of thinking leads to putting off the problem.

Aww that was so good. I like laughing like that. Robot chicken should get one million dollars for another season of these.

>> ^quantumushroom:

Number One:
Our government is in debt. How do you cure debt?
Cut spending? Sure. Tho less spending doesn't remove debt you've already accumulated.
To pay off 14 trillion in Debt. You need 14 trillion in Income
Taxes = Income.
Taxes are not "income", as governments which didn't earn the $$$ use force to collect. Government is not a performance-based enterprise, it's a necessary evil.
Reducing government from a tick bigger than the dog it feasts upon to a reasonable size is part of the equation. The other part is LOWERING taxes for all, which paradoxically creates more revenue.
The obamateur's corrupt excuse of an administration--even with majority voting power--has failed.
Number Two:
No one who MAKES 1 million dollars a year EARNS 1 million dollars a year.
Earning implies you did work.
No single person can physically work to create one million dollars in equivalent value per year. Physically impossible.
Income is an indicator of how much others will pay for an individual's performance. While I think it's total nonsense that people worship some asshole that can slam dunk a ball through a metal ring, others highly value this skill, so much so they make these ring-dunkers multi-millionaires. And the team owners that pay these 'outrageous' salaries reap financial rewards that make those salaries a bargain.
The average American only EARNS about 2.4 mill in LIFETIME earnings.
Which means, anyone who MAKES a Million+ a year STOLE the money EARNED by the VALUE of other people's hard WORK in order to write themselves such fat paychecks.
Sounds like socialist claptrap. This "rigged game theory" is what justifies the redistribution of wealth (at gunpoint) that the obamas of the world believe in. If there is any 'stealing' going on, it's being done by the looters who hand out wealth to people who had absolutely no role in creating it.
The left in America apparently learned nothing from North Korean, Cuban and Soviet experiments about the failure that is communism, and nothing about rampant socialism from the collapse of Greece.
November 2nd. Change is coming.



And the right that borrows money to aviod tax-cuts, or avoids cutting defense when it is needed? And before it is said, ALL of the right is debt-lovers but deniers... 1/1000 at least. "Cut this program, cut that program, but NEVER, ever My programs..."

^GenjiKilpatrick:

Number One:
Our government is in debt. How do you cure debt?
Cut spending? Sure. Tho less spending doesn't remove debt you've already accumulated.
To pay off 14 trillion in Debt. You need 14 trillion in Income
Taxes = Income.
Number Two:
No one who MAKES 1 million dollars a year EARNS 1 million dollars a year.
Earning implies you did work.
No single person can physically work to create one million dollars in equivalent value per year. Physically impossible.
The average American only EARNS about 2.4 mill in LIFETIME earnings.
Which means, anyone who MAKES a Million+ a year STOLE the money EARNED by the VALUE of other people's hard WORK in order to write themselves such fat paychecks.
That or they speculated. Which is more luck than work.



The only thing you seem to understand is that for as far as you binge, that's how equally austere you have to become to reverse it. We can't just break even in terms of producing and consuming, we have to start producing MORE than we consume. Which is virtually impossible for any generation to vote at this point, so you are going to see a destruction of the currency almost certainly (informal default).

Government is a burden we have to bear. You may want to have a world empire, but that Soldier stationed in Japan is consuming a lot of stuff without producing. Citizens must sacrifice so that he may exist. The same goes for most of government and a huge percentage of the population works for the government now, and they retain their voting rights despite that conflict of interest.

The main thing that you're missing is that tax revenue from production goes up when production goes up, and taxes affect the incentive to produce. How does a state collect a 100% tax on someone's income when that income flees the state or just throws in the towel as a result of that tax increase? You could have had more tax revenue at a lower percentage, no? Clearly, there is a point at which the rate negatively affects the revenue since "rich" people can just sit on their money for lack of incentive in trying to produce more, a portion of which would have been paid to people helping produce it.

Number One:
Our government is in debt. How do you cure debt?

Cut spending? Sure. Tho less spending doesn't remove debt you've already accumulated.

To pay off 14 trillion in Debt. You need 14 trillion in Income

Taxes = Income.

Taxes are not "income", as governments which didn't earn the $$$ use force to collect. Government is not a performance-based enterprise, it's a necessary evil.

Reducing government from a tick bigger than the dog it feasts upon to a reasonable size is part of the equation. The other part is LOWERING taxes for all, which paradoxically creates more revenue.

The obamateur's corrupt excuse of an administration--even with majority voting power--has failed.


Number Two:
No one who MAKES 1 million dollars a year EARNS 1 million dollars a year.

Earning implies you did work.
No single person can physically work to create one million dollars in equivalent value per year. Physically impossible.

Income is an indicator of how much others will pay for an individual's performance. While I think it's total nonsense that people worship some asshole that can slam dunk a ball through a metal ring, others highly value this skill, so much so they make these ring-dunkers multi-millionaires. And the team owners that pay these 'outrageous' salaries reap financial rewards that make those salaries a bargain.

The average American only EARNS about 2.4 mill in LIFETIME earnings.

Which means, anyone who MAKES a Million+ a year STOLE the money EARNED by the VALUE of other people's hard WORK in order to write themselves such fat paychecks.

Sounds like socialist claptrap. This "rigged game theory" is what justifies the redistribution of wealth (at gunpoint) that the obamas of the world believe in. If there is any 'stealing' going on, it's being done by the looters who hand out wealth to people who had absolutely no role in creating it.

The left in America apparently learned nothing from North Korean, Cuban and Soviet experiments about the failure that is communism, and nothing about rampant socialism from the collapse of Greece.

November 2nd. Change is coming.

I agree 100%. I would add to it that it doesn't trickle down either. They go out and buy a private jet and a second local mansion, meanwhile to support that lifestyle they fire over 300 employees and deny the rest raises. They talk about how taxing is the redistribution of wealth, while ignoring the fact that to keep their high salaries and excessive lifestyles they have to take that money from the workers down the line which is true redistribution of wealth.
It's not like people making that kind of money would even feel the tax anyhow.
Sadly I fear that since the Democrats seem to lack any sort of courage or conviction that the Republicans will just let the whole thing expire, or eventually to protect the poor and middle class the the Democrats will grovel and give in and let the rich keep their extra 3%...

>> ^GenjiKilpatrick:

@<a rel="nofollow" href="http://videosift.com/member/quantumushroom" title="member since June 22nd, 2006" class="profilelink">quantumushroom
Number One:
Our government is in debt. How do you cure debt?
Cut spending? Sure. Tho less spending doesn't remove debt you've already accumulated.
To pay off 14 trillion in Debt. You need 14 trillion in Income
Taxes = Income.
Number Two:
No one who MAKES 1 million dollars a year EARNS 1 million dollars a year.
Earning implies you did work.
No single person can physically work to create one million dollars in equivalent value per year. Physically impossible.
The average American only EARNS about 2.4 mill in LIFETIME earnings.
Which means, anyone who MAKES a Million+ a year STOLE the money EARNED by the VALUE of other people's hard WORK in order to write themselves such fat paychecks.
That or they speculated. Which is more luck than work.

@quantumushroom

Number One:
Our government is in debt. How do you cure debt?

Cut spending? Sure. Tho less spending doesn't remove debt you've already accumulated.

To pay off 14 trillion in Debt. You need 14 trillion in Income

Taxes = Income.

Number Two:
No one who MAKES 1 million dollars a year EARNS 1 million dollars a year.

Earning implies you did work.
No single person can physically work to create one million dollars in equivalent value per year. Physically impossible.

The average American only EARNS about 2.4 mill in LIFETIME earnings.

Which means, anyone who MAKES a Million+ a year STOLE the money EARNED by the VALUE of other people's hard WORK in order to write themselves such fat paychecks.

That or they speculated. Which is more luck than work.

Again, you just ignored the facts that I presented to you.


>> ^bcglorf:

>> ^rougy:
Okay, by the numbers:
"As of 1992, Canada had accumulated over 200 million tonnes of low-level radioactive tailings from uranium mining, over one million cubic metres of contaminated soil and 900,000 bundles of nuclear fuel wastes.
The dilemma about how to properly dispose of nuclear waste continues to plague Canada’s nuclear industry."
(source)
"The results prove that Canada has one of the poorest environmental records of the industrialized countries. The primary finding is that for the twenty-five environmental indicators examined, Canada's overall ranking among OECD nations is a dismal 28th out of 29."
(source)
This would seem to contradict much of what you claimed above. No?

No, it doesn't. It just demonstrates your selective ignorance.
The overwhelming majority of Canada's uranium mining was all for weapons production, only a very small fraction was actually for civilian power generation. The heavy metals used in solar panels don't grow on trees either, back to the mines!
Canada's environmental record is almost exclusively based on oil production, what Canada's environment needs is MORE reliance on uranium, not less.

>> ^rougy:

Okay, by the numbers:
"As of 1992, Canada had accumulated over 200 million tonnes of low-level radioactive tailings from uranium mining, over one million cubic metres of contaminated soil and 900,000 bundles of nuclear fuel wastes.
The dilemma about how to properly dispose of nuclear waste continues to plague Canada’s nuclear industry."
(source)
"The results prove that Canada has one of the poorest environmental records of the industrialized countries. The primary finding is that for the twenty-five environmental indicators examined, Canada's overall ranking among OECD nations is a dismal 28th out of 29."
(source)
This would seem to contradict much of what you claimed above. No?


No, it doesn't. It just demonstrates your selective ignorance.

The overwhelming majority of Canada's uranium mining was all for weapons production, only a very small fraction was actually for civilian power generation. The heavy metals used in solar panels don't grow on trees either, back to the mines!

Canada's environmental record is almost exclusively based on oil production, what Canada's environment needs is MORE reliance on uranium, not less.

Okay @bcglorf, by the numbers:

"As of 1992, Canada had accumulated over 200 million tonnes of low-level radioactive tailings from uranium mining, over one million cubic metres of contaminated soil and 900,000 bundles of nuclear fuel wastes.

The dilemma about how to properly dispose of nuclear waste continues to plague Canada’s nuclear industry."

(source)

"The results prove that Canada has one of the poorest environmental records of the industrialized countries. The primary finding is that for the twenty-five environmental indicators examined, Canada's overall ranking among OECD nations is a dismal 28th out of 29."

(source)

This would seem to contradict much of what you claimed above. No?

What the fuck are you saying? You think "cost" is a meaningless word?

"Cost" is nothing more than a way of measuring the resources required to produce a product or service. If 100% of our time and effort is spent on health care, who produces the food we -also- need? Or is that also just indoctrination? Maybe we don't really need food, shelter or drinkable water.

"Cost should not even be considered" is a nice soundbite, but give it any thought and it's clear that it can't possibly work in the larger picture. As a simple example, let's assume that a new treatment is discovered that would completely cure heart disease. It only requires the complete output of one million people for several years to treat someone. The soundbite would say that such a treatment should be given to everyone...totally ignoring the fact that it's simply not physically possible.