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sustainable oil...

It's more a case of "enjoy tweaking the nose of scientifically literate people". The non-biological oil people are generally kooks or frauds, and the specific claims made here are well into the kook territory, because even if oil came from non-biological processes, a quick examination of the energy balance would show that the rate of regeneration has to be many orders of magnitude lower than current usage.
 
Anthony said:
It's more a case of "enjoy tweaking the nose of scientifically literate people". The non-biological oil people are generally kooks or frauds, and the specific claims made here are well into the kook territory, because even if oil came from non-biological processes, a quick examination of the energy balance would show that the rate of regeneration has to be many orders of magnitude lower than current usage.
Click to expand...
An excellent point, and one I was going to make myself -- although since you're apparently from Berkeley, I'm not at all sure that the guy who started this post is going to pay any attention to what you have to say anyway.;)

And even under current theory the hydrocarbons we're pumping out are a renewable resource, geologically speaking. All it takes is a couple of hundred million more years of patient waiting and we'll be pretty much right back to square one again.
 
Ah yes. "Dr. Gold".

I have no idea if Gold himself had the intent or if the theories he apparently printed ten years ago have since changed, but those theories are being used by the anti-evolution crowd to "refute" the scientific community's estimates of the Earth's age. This is all part of the War on Science.

But this is a Traveller board. Ahem.

This sort of "inorganic" (an incorrect use of the term, since methane is an "organic" compound; ie, it contains Carbon) process would have the effect in a Traveller setting of putting petrochemical resources on (or in) any world large enough to have a molten core, irrespective of most surface conditions or the current or former presence of life.

In a nutshell, oil would be *everywhere*.
 
Anthony said:
It's more a case of "enjoy tweaking the nose of scientifically literate people". The non-biological oil people are generally kooks or frauds.....
Click to expand...

I sense this is moving quickly into a heated political discussion! We know where this thread is heading. Heh.
 
Straybow said:
In a milieu characterized by cheap, proton-proton fusion, renewable oil is a non-issue.
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Don't know about YTU, but there's an awful lot of TL 5-7 worlds in mine. They love fusion gear from offworld when they can get it, but it's the very devil to keep running.

Plenty of fossil-fuel burners IMTU.

Heck, there's places that are running on coal and steam.
 
so using the idea from the article as a hook or maguffin of some kind wouldn't really be worth it?... kinda what I thought.

I watch the talking heads on the boob-tube, listen to the talk show prattle on the wireless and get to thinking how I can take current events and use it to my own feindish ends...maybe some religious fanatics (that want a nuke) on a balkanized world that have a beef with the local starport then? (that's just soooo much a cliche though...) :D

pity, I was hoping to find something that could lead to my PC's into getting entangled into all kinds of conspiracies and cover-ups...:(
 
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VT1099ace said:
so using the idea from the article as a hook or maguffin of some kind wouldn't really be worth it?... kinda what I thought.

I watch the talking heads on the boob-tube, listen to the talk show prattle on the wireless and get to thinking how I can take current events and use it to my own feindish ends...maybe some religious fanatics (that want a nuke) on a balkanized world that have a beef with the local starport then? (that's just soooo much a cliche though...) :D

pity, I was hoping to find something that could lead to my PC's into getting entangled into all kinds of conspiracies and cover-ups...:(
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We call them cliches for a reason...they are often rooted in truths and seem to reoccurring, so run with it.
 
VT1099ace said:
so using the idea from the article as a hook or maguffin of some kind wouldn't really be worth it?... kinda what I thought.
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Depends. Maguffins are not required to be realistic or even make sense, though I can't see how to get a plot out of this particular idea, unless you want the generic "kook claims vast conspiracy to cover up X".
 
Anthony said:
Depends. Maguffins are not required to be realistic or even make sense, though I can't see how to get a plot out of this particular idea, unless you want the generic "kook claims vast conspiracy to cover up X".
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there's always the old petro companies supressing truth to benefit themselves in a vast conspiracy (here on a imperial scale) with a fleeing scientist armned with evidence of the truth (who may later turn out to ba a kook ;)) and being pursued by:
1) agents of those petro companies that will stop at nothing to prevent the evidence coming to light (ie, kill the scientist & leave no witness)
2) Law enforcement is after him for questioning because his ideas and threats to uncover the truth and break the petro companies has a decidedly terrorist tone. (they'll question him for 48 hours and turn him over to psicological care center)
3) he's right, completely..there is a conspiracy and imperial cover-up but as a lone voice he is too insignificant for them to bother with and besides, a counter news feed from the PR department will take care of it... :smirk:

4)...
5)...
6)...
 
VT1099ace said:
there's always the old petro companies supressing truth to benefit themselves in a vast conspiracy (here on a imperial scale) with a fleeing scientist armned with evidence of the truth (who may later turn out to ba a kook ;)) and being pursued by:
Click to expand...
4) Nothing but his own imagination (mean trick to play on PCs, though)
5) Police, because he's escaped from an asylum.
6) As above, but he's not insane.

I wouldn't use petro companies, though; they're basically a nonfactor in the Traveller setting. Perhaps change "oil" to "zuchai crystals".
 
Egg-salad! *rubs hands together*

Anthony said:
4) Nothing but his own imagination (mean trick to play on PCs, though)
5) Police, because he's escaped from an asylum.
6) As above, but he's not insane.

I wouldn't use petro companies, though; they're basically a nonfactor in the Traveller setting. Perhaps change "oil" to "zuchai crystals".
Click to expand...
Yes, yes, please keep thinking that, and soon I will become the Petro-King of the Marches. :D Have fun with my new plastics and organic long chain molecule prices. :p
 
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