G
gaedhealic
Death of the Internet
I have not been spending too much time, almost none, considering the
consequences of oil depletion.
Then I ran into this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olduvai_theory
and reconsidered
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusian_catastrophe
So for the last few days I've been thinking about the fact that the
world's oil can not last forever. I mean, if the earth were a hollow
ball filled with oil, it would eventually be pumped out. Ah, but the
earth is not a hollow ball, it also contains a lot of rock, iron,
water and magma -- so it never was filled with oil.
The Olduvai Theory suggests that the peak oil production will soon
occur, if it has not already. After that, a few years will pass with
the oil supply beginning to lower, while demand continues to grow.
With demand still increasing but supply diminishing, the price will
rise.
With rising prices, increasing demand and diminishing supply,
something has to give. If you don't want to think about it, that's ok
with me, I avoided it as long as I could.
The primary use of oil is for energy -- electric energy. The internet
depends on electricity. Many, if not most, of the companies who
support the "backbone" do so as a secondary purpose. That is, the
primary reason they are in business is not to maintain the internet.
When the supply of oil (spell that 'electricity') diminishes to the
point that the cost of supply exceeds that which can be allocated by
companies for a secondary purpose, they will abandon the secondary
service.
I do not expect the internet to die suddenly on a given day, or at a
given oil price. I do expect the cost of internet service to rise, at
some point, with the cost of oil.
Internet connectivity and service will begin to diminish at that
point, and from then until blackouts begin to occur, due to failing
oil supply, at city and state levels.
Of course, by that time, there will be more severe collapse of
services to worry about.
owd
I have not been spending too much time, almost none, considering the
consequences of oil depletion.
Then I ran into this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olduvai_theory
and reconsidered
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusian_catastrophe
So for the last few days I've been thinking about the fact that the
world's oil can not last forever. I mean, if the earth were a hollow
ball filled with oil, it would eventually be pumped out. Ah, but the
earth is not a hollow ball, it also contains a lot of rock, iron,
water and magma -- so it never was filled with oil.
The Olduvai Theory suggests that the peak oil production will soon
occur, if it has not already. After that, a few years will pass with
the oil supply beginning to lower, while demand continues to grow.
With demand still increasing but supply diminishing, the price will
rise.
With rising prices, increasing demand and diminishing supply,
something has to give. If you don't want to think about it, that's ok
with me, I avoided it as long as I could.
The primary use of oil is for energy -- electric energy. The internet
depends on electricity. Many, if not most, of the companies who
support the "backbone" do so as a secondary purpose. That is, the
primary reason they are in business is not to maintain the internet.
When the supply of oil (spell that 'electricity') diminishes to the
point that the cost of supply exceeds that which can be allocated by
companies for a secondary purpose, they will abandon the secondary
service.
I do not expect the internet to die suddenly on a given day, or at a
given oil price. I do expect the cost of internet service to rise, at
some point, with the cost of oil.
Internet connectivity and service will begin to diminish at that
point, and from then until blackouts begin to occur, due to failing
oil supply, at city and state levels.
Of course, by that time, there will be more severe collapse of
services to worry about.
owd