> I am talking about being possible where we can make virtually anything directly from carbon in the air,
I really would like a citation for this, perhaps several. How do we make various metals from carbon from the air? How could we make the silicon for the solar panels? Lubricants for the wind turbines? Lithium for the batteries? Or will all batteries be made out of pure carbon?
Metal is required for industrial civilization. Even if it isn't, not everything could be made from just the gaseous elements in the air.
I really do love the idea that we COULD do that. If you're right, what I am doing is completely unnecessary. In that case, I will gladly accept that I am wrong.
But if I am right, then civilization will start to destabilize and we will have to give up advanced technology and I will also accept that and work towards making that a better future.
I may not be right all the time, and honestly, TRULY, hope that I am wrong....feel free to email of course if you ever want a deeper chat.
Happy to provide citations, but I think more explanation is in order. The stuff we currently make from metals and petroleum are not optimal, they are just whatever we could easily make from those things we could find historically.
With precise, programmable control over biochemistry, we can make almost any organic carbon based molecule from almost any other carbon source- but obviously not things like metals. However, I posit we will be able to make things with drastically superior performance that fills all of the same use cases. Consider for example that Dyneema - which is just simple straight saturated carbon chains- is already 15x the strength of steel on a weight basis. I'm talking about being able to predict the properties of a molecule ahead of time, and then make something with exactly the properties we want.
It would be quite shortsighted to make a more environmentally friendly way of making the exact same stuff when those things were limited by constraints that no longer apply and we have the potential for drastically superior materials (stronger, more durable, lower toxicity, more recyclable, etc.) for a specific problem- but it depends on what specific problem you are addressing.
As I imply below we should also be able to biosynth silicon-based stuff :)
FWIW I doubt we understand biology enough today to make biomanufacturing more efficient than conventional industrial processes, see the non sequitur of fungi based meat substitutes.
However, in the meantime, we can defo learn from bio to improve or even revolutionize our processes.
The other thing is: CO2 capture is also going to be far less feasible than increasing albedo, that's where we should focus our short term imagination. Don't lose hope for albedo increase to be
biotech based, in the short term, though!
(Eat meat that shit little yet fart more like humans)
True, in addition to things like diatoms making silicon structures, magnetotactic bacteria make iron containing metallic structures to detect magnetic fields. It is in principle possible to both recycle and manufacture metal and silicon objects biologically with precise control over 3D structure... but a lot further off from making carbon based small molecules and polymers.
Hey, if you're for degrowth, demetallization, and not just defossilfuelization/depolymerization is the way to go.
Basically, replace most electricity with photonics, the rest with ionics. We have efficient ion-flow based computing and flying machines, don't we? (Birds & brains)
As for how to revamp the rest of the "irreplaceable" material culture not based on photosynthesis: What's in it for me to talk to you about this :)? How many years further have you seen than Grothendieck, since Fuller was not so visionary after all? (Including, how to fund actionable, scalable stuff, that's 30 years give or take 5)
(Note that there are siliceous, if not entirely silicon-based, lifeforms on earth. Diatoms, molluscs, etc, perhaps a significant amount of our low-end chips already come from them, through seasand? :)
I really would like a citation for this, perhaps several. How do we make various metals from carbon from the air? How could we make the silicon for the solar panels? Lubricants for the wind turbines? Lithium for the batteries? Or will all batteries be made out of pure carbon?
Metal is required for industrial civilization. Even if it isn't, not everything could be made from just the gaseous elements in the air.
I really do love the idea that we COULD do that. If you're right, what I am doing is completely unnecessary. In that case, I will gladly accept that I am wrong.
But if I am right, then civilization will start to destabilize and we will have to give up advanced technology and I will also accept that and work towards making that a better future.
I may not be right all the time, and honestly, TRULY, hope that I am wrong....feel free to email of course if you ever want a deeper chat.