Policy Changes or Updates to a more Sustainable Future

Hardware Hub Tech Policy & News
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Hello fellow humans!

What do you think would be the best policy changes or new policies that would help us (as a society) to reach a more sustainable future and could go in effect in the near future?

My take is that for the greatest effect we have to tackle the transport and agronomy sectors to reduce green-house gases emissions and have a environment friendly system for consumables production and waste management.
After that maybe look towards a better education system fostering skills over repetitive memorization....

What are your thoughts? Go crazy...

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Google is too useful to be private and have secrets
Personal data for blockchains underpinning identity systems

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invest heavily in nuclear and battery research.

once power grid is 100% nuclear and we have a break through in battery tech, we wont have to worry about energy, (and transporting it) and about 50% of our problems are solved right there.

they I would say invest in more bio degradable products and preserving green space, and we'd be in a good position.

sadly lobbiests (oil and "green") are against this and people prefer the feel good aspects of "green" energy rather than actual clean energy.

we're still dumb as fuck monkeys, and unless that changes we're pretty sol, lets hope the monkey on rocket experiments keep going well.

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@Ceasarion

We need to look at power production very hard. An electric car doesn't help the environment if you're plugging the result of coal into it. Nuclear, solar, and wind need much more effort, attention, and money.

And manufacturing... that electric car might do more damage in it's manufacturing than it helps in running it, depending on the materials used.

Agriculture... this really isn't "solveable" unless we go outside the box - the box here is Earth, and outside means colonies in space or on other rocks. The bottom line is that our population is simply too high, which means we need way too much space for agriculture, whether it's foodstuffs, feed for cattle or whatnot, or luxuries, in order to meet demand.

Education? Sure. Step 1, repeal Common Core in the US immediately.

A big step is going to be making people think. This involves education, yes, but it also involves banning things like driverless cars, limiting public transit to the poor and elderly and those who can't drive plus inner city. If someone's not thinking about their car, if it's just a robot that takes you from point a to point b, you have no real reason to consider whether it's a good choice environmentally.

@Bucksee

Not really on topic for sustainability, but I have two counterpoints. Mind, I prefer privacy to win out, just in a reasonable manner.

  • DuckDuckGo.
  • The public record matters for public actions.

@The_Space_Bear

Unfortunately, all we built was dirty nuclear in the US. Much, much cleaner nuclear power exists, but public opinion is against it because of faulty designs and bad luck, etc, and all our plants being dirty. How are you going to invest heavily in nuclear when the unwashed masses hate it?

I also think it's more about education than us being dumb. We have the capacity, now, for insane acts of intelligence. Just not the education to make it useful.

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Dictatorship.

we're a bunch of stupid monkeys, no amount of science and walking encyclopedia's will change that. :)

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Look, I've been running for Emperor for a long time here. Constitutional, non-hereditary empire is the way to go, it seems. Can I count on your vote?

Meanwhile, democracy/republic? Much better in theory, doesn't seem to work.

And monkeys....

No. Go to Home Depot. Chimp's local Home Depot is a stick. Big difference.

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nuke china, we'll be good for another 100 years or more.

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Agree with you there. I'm curious when Google was going to be taken apart due to anti-trust regulation but It seems like they dodged a bullet with the Alphabet makeover.

Battery research is a must! But on the matter of nuclear energy you're totally off ( I am working in energy ). The grid wouldn't benefit from 100% nuclear, nor would it be the most efficient system on such a large scale, even with better energy storage technologies, as the power demand varies greatly through the day and a nuclear reactor takes about 30-48hours to adjust output. If you wanna go "clean energy" fast you have to focus on replacing the energy from coal with renewable energy. After that all you have left is the transport systems switching to electric as that would be the only "green" change for transport becuse if we go to a majority electric vehicle systems they will still draw "dirty" energy and because of increased demand, probably more coal power-plants!

Bio-degradebles FTW!

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well the problem with green energy, what if you need more power in the middle of the night when the air is still?

also with nuclear we could always over produce/have UPS's to make up for usage spikes.

its a tough question because oil and gas is such a good way to produce power.

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You answered your first question with your second statement. You can use UPS's with Green energy to provide power in the middle of the night.

Oil and gas is a quick way to produce power, not a good way. A lot of the time power companies need to curtail green energy when its producing too much for demand. The perfect future would be nuclear and green energy working together with Capacitor banks, synchronous condensers and battery storage to provide a sustainable energy for demand at anytime.

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but it would still be more efficient and cost effective to produce it with nuclear.

something people tend to overlook is that green energy is not cost effective.

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@The_DM_Barlow

Power production management is key. Thankfully solar & wind are becoming cheaper each year with projected price/kwh of solar to surpass coal in 2020-25!

Biggest problem with EVs being not really sustainable are current battery materials. Let's hope we find a solution to that soon.

Banning driving assists/automation? Do you really think that would help people think? Cheap travel makes people visit places they otherwise couldn't have, and in my experience - living/traveling abroad was the most humbling experience of my life. It's true we have to consider the effects of car-travel being accessible to all but that doesn't work well in the US if you look at the failure of car-pooling efforts. But then again, it doesn't help if you have to drive 10miles or km to a shop.

Democracy vs. Dictatorship
Dictatorship is a way too seductive. It's just a matter of time until the shit hits the fan. That being said, we can now see that democracy is not a good solution long-term (people deciding against their own interest due to populism/stupidity). I would think and informed democratic meritocracy would work best: Elected representatives have to prove their knowledge on the matters discussed/decided to retain office; Voters need to pass a test to see whether they are informed on the matter they are voting on. Also policy debate would need to moderated so when they go off-topic somebody smacks them around the head.

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so you haven't even considered nuking china? just think if we can wipe it off the map - we'll get rid of biggest co2/toxic/ and so on and on - producing nations. We'll reduce population by 1,375,000,000 if we do it right. It will reduce co2 emissions by around 40%; Sustain wise we'll be back in 50's.

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I only consider nuking China on tuesdays....

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True, but you have to remember that (unless a breakthrough is made soon) solar is feasible only around the equator and wind near the coast and mountains... so one can't assume those to fix some problems because they still have their limitations... anyways there's for example water, wave and waste gas energy to name yet a few renewable alternatives.

Democracy aka dictatorship by the majority (tounge in cheek)

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problem with implementing voter screening, is the ruling party can jack up the requirements, want to vote on say net neutrality, they could take a requirement say, basic understanding of how the internet works, the back bone and data, and turn it into you must have 10+ years as a network engineer and understand how quantum physics affects data transmission.

its a tough spot because while I see and agree with you that we have way too many stupid people voting ignorantly, trying to curb that is a slippery slope. See how the ruling parties already try to limit voting by making it extremely difficult for people in demographics that would vote against them

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I see voter screening as a alternative to what dictatorship would have looked like and I agree that it has it's caveats. The worst thing in governance today is that we allow inclusion of representatives to have a known conflict of interest and the allowance of corporate lobbying and funding - fix that and even "democracy" won't look so bad.

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Just vote for me as Emperor. My campaign is simple.

"I'll get Logan to run the secret police."

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"limits onm reporduction"

you do realize the 1st world is currently having a birth deficit, I.E more people are dying than being born. Big issue for countries like Japan

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@The_DM_Barlow
Any other arguments for your election as Emperor? So far I find them lacking....
And naming Logan to run the secret poilce? Talk about being a kissass.....but Wendell..... :D

@B1gbadwo1f & @The_Space_Bear
Check your positions on population growth and why it's happening