Elon Musk: Burning Fossil Fuels Is the 'Dumbest Experiment in History, By Far'

[caraher]

Not an original observation, but put very succinctly:

"If we don't find a solution to burning oil for transport, when we then run out of oil, the economy will collapse and society will come to an end," Musk said this week during a conversation with astrophysicist and Cosmos host Neil deGrasse Tyson.

"If we know we have to get off oil no matter what, we know that is an inescapable outcome, why run this crazy experiment of changing the chemical composition of the atmosphere and oceans by adding enormous amounts of CO2 that have been buried since the Precambrian Era?" he added. "That's crazy. That's the dumbest experiment in history, by far."

Tyson sounded surprised: "Can you think of a dumber experiment?" he asked Musk.

"I honestly cannot. What good could possibly come of [staying on oil]," Musk said.

Also some good stuff about former Republican congressman Roscoe Bartlett

[Demeter]

1. Elon Musk is being disingenuous

and deceitful. Just what one would expect from a profiteering 1%er....

[caraher]

2. In what way(s)?

It's no surprise to anybody that he hopes to make a buck, but I don't think that invalidates the basic point.

[Demeter]

6. Musk is like the anti-Darwinian denying his descent from apes

Musk denies the great debt his business venture owes to the fossil fuel-using scientists and engineers that came before him, or the ones who provide his raw and finished materials today. Or the infrastructure, which is not in any way converted to renewable energy as yet.

[GliderGuider]

8. That was my immediate reaction as well.

He hasn't stopped dreaming yet and taken a hard, clear look at what's actually happening in the world. He's just one more technophile clapping for Tinkerbell -walking proof that being rich doesn't mean you're wise.

[brush]

3. How so? He builds electric cars not gas powered ones.

Pls explain what you mean.

[Demeter]

5. Every component of his "electric" car is built using fossil fuel

His technology would not exist without the century or two of scientific advances fueled by fossil fuel.
To advocate a change to a better power source is fine.

To ignore the debt owed to the pioneers in technology who didn't have solar power, or worse, to call them names, is disrespectful.

[brush]

7. But we have to start somewhere

Not being powered by gasoline is a step in the right direction for the auto industry as automobile exhaust is one of the world's biggest contributors of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and thus, climate change, sea level rise and all of the negatives that come with that.

Once other alternate energy sources come on line those who build auto components will rely less and less on fossil fuels to produce their products.

As the article states, fossil fuels will run out. We need to move on to other sources of energy so the world's economy is not based on a finite fuel resource.

IMO that makes all the sense in the world.

Fossil fuel got us this far but now the time to start passing the baton on to green fuels before the world becomes inhabitable.

[GliderGuider]

9. A >possibly< safe concentration of atmospheric of CO2 might be 350 ppm.

We are now at 400 and rising. There is no way to take it back down before the climate system breaks, because the climate system is already showing distinct signs of breaking.

That's a classic definition of "too fucking late."

[Gman]

4. Actually the "experiment" worked quite well

But it has outlived it's usefulness and has become hazardous because if failure to develop alternatives.