Futureal delusions

high density food production

2009-07-01T07:33:00.001-07:00

So I've been thinking about food production on a seastead. Ideally you could have a fully closed system that produces a balanced diet, all of this as small as possible. I've come up with
something, and I'd very much like some comments.

(not pictured: destination of livestock)

The base of the food pyramid consists of a plant that can be used as a substrate for mushroom cultivation. Grass would do, it grows easily and relatively fast in most every climate. In addition to being a substrate for mushrooms, it could also be fed to livestock such as chickens, sheep goats and cows. Other options are kudzu, which grows at an astounding rate and is also edible, suited for both humans and livestock. A third possibility is bamboo. some varieties grow very fast and are edible. Furthermore, bamboo would provide material suited for carpentry or gardening (trellises).

These plants all produce cellulose to be used as a mushroom substrate (cellulose will henceforth encompass all carbohydrates produces for the purpose of serving as a mushroom substrate). Cultivating a combination of these plants is likely a safer bet than maintaining a monoculture which may be affected by a disease or deplete the soil of certain nutrients.

Mushrooms are grown as a bulk food with the production of starch in mind. Ideally fast growing strains of shiitake, oyster mushrooms, honey mushrooms or others that grow well on the available substrate could be isolated. These mushrooms can be eaten fresh, dried for storage, ground up and used as flour or used as animal feed. Certain mushrooms such as the reiki/reishi may also be used for medicinal purposes (asthma treatment).

I am unsure about the best way to dispose of depleted mushroom substrate. Composting seems the most likely destination.

The fruiting of mushrooms produces considerable amounts of carbon dioxide which must vented off. Composting too produces large amouts of carbon dioxide which may be recovered for the production of algae. This exhaust is bubbled into a bioreactor where algae are grown under artificial light. Certain strains of algae can be eaten fresh, dried and/or cooked and should not be disregarded as a source of food or animal fodder. The chosen algae should also produce algae oil which is useful as biofuel or as a source of nutritional fat. After removal of oil, algae may be used as mushroom substrate (research required!), used as animal fodder or composted.

In addition to these sources of bulk food, a small garden should be maintained to provide additional nutrients and tasty ingredients as well as seasoning. Even very small gardens can produce large amounts of produce and herbs. Patti Moreo has achieved wonderful results with her urban garden. The path to freedom project shows what can be achieved on a larger scale.
Additionally, a hrdroponics installation could be maintained and fertillised with "compost tea".

Livestock may prove challenging. Even small animals like chickens require a certain amount of space if health is to be maintained. Aditionally, livestock produces food much less efficiently than plants. Fish are supposedly the most efficient animals. With seasteading in mind, simple fishing would be a great option. However: fish populations may be contaminated or undesireable for human consumption.

Fish can be caught, killed and fed into a maggot bucket to provide chickens with a substantial portion of their nutritional requirements. If fishing is easy enough, this would provide you with a serious source of meat and eggs. Another source of healthy, tasty fish would be to raise them yourself. Worm beds, just like maggot buckets would be a marvelous way to recycle waste meat as well as many other scraps.

This is a work in progress and any comments would be appreciated.

Brittish DNA database to encompass a lot of children.

2008-03-21T15:28:00.001-07:00

Despite scrapping the original plans for a national DNA database, a lot of new entries are being made as we speak. One million children are already on file, some of whom are below the age of criminal responsibility.

To benefit the general public? I for one hope so, yet doubt it.

We'll never run out of oil?

2008-03-16T14:39:00.001-07:00

More on ethanol from cellulose

2008-03-14T03:41:00.000-07:00

They're calling it celulosic ethanol now, fancy name, but nothing different from bioethanol or drinking alcohol.
Anyhow, cellulose is all around us, and has often been a waste product of a lot of processes. Plant stalks, corn cobs, cut grass and kudzu are full of it. You could go through the expensive process of turning it into paper, cotton has a use of its own of course, but turning cellulose into fuel is a new matter.

I've written about the Q-bacterium in the past, well, there's a new player on the "fuel from grass" battlefield, the Chesapeake Bay marsh grass bacterium, S. degradans with it's zymetis enzyme. This comes at the same time as a large-scale study on the production of switchgrass for ethanol synthesis.

Mankind will find a way ...

Mind Probe operational in 3 ... 2 ...1 ...

2008-03-07T02:58:00.000-08:00

Scientists over at Berkley University have succesfully built a device that allows one to analyse what another person sees, by exposing the subject to a series of pictures and analyseing the resulting brain activity, they determined which images trigger which responses.

This allows them to know what the subject is looking at.
Now the countdown is on: how long untill Sandia is able of putting the entire thing in a nutshell?

Brittish DNA database plans scrapped

2008-02-23T05:18:00.000-08:00

The idea of starting a compulsory national database of DNA profiles was deemed "unpractical and morally questionable" by the home office.
Now, only people who are detained for a criminal act have their DNA sampled and submitted to the current database, even when no charges are pressed.

This is great news! It's a dangerous slope to go down to, getting the DNA of evry individual citizen. It would also take a very long time indeed. Getting somebodies (1 person) dna (through the Polymerase Chain Reaction and tandem pair recognition method) into a database takes only a couple of hourse, and a good 15 minutes of a labworkers time.

At a relaxed pace a phorensic DNA lab could run about three tests per PCR/TPR machine per day, without cutting much into the time of labworkers. DNA samples provided by the police, taken from arrested criminals would be given priority of course. let's say 6 tests * 5 days a week * 51 weeks a year = 1530 tests per lab per year.
Even if the government called up on the civillian "market" for DNA analysis, limited itself to just the demographics most prone to criminal behavior, it would take an extremely long time.

This can be worked around though; working in a continuous fashion, taking the DNA from people at (say) age 12, maybe even outsourcing the majority of the work to India or China, they could have a sizeable Database withing aproximately ten years, much faster if a lot of money is trown at it.

So make no mistake, it could be done. I like to believe that the Brittish government still cares a bit about steering away from Orwells predictions, maybe they just being cheap :p

Oil now at $100 per barrel

2008-02-19T14:30:00.000-08:00

Well, I don't think prices will be dropping fast, if at all.
Soon, gasoline will no longer be economic to be used in cars, and the petrochemical sector will finally start to restrict the use of crude oil to polymers (plastics) and medication!

By then, let's hope we've got some decent alternatives.

Belgium celebrates the day of the artisan.

2008-02-17T04:21:00.000-08:00

A lot of artisans and craftsmen opened up their shops to the general public today. On the news: a woodcarver and a micro-brewery brewing a local specialty.
There were calls to not let these forms of art, traditions and products that have additional value over mass produced num-equivalents go to waste.

I hope that the future will bring prosperity to the degreee that people can continue to do these things in their ample spare time, or alow rich patrons of the arts to support people with the skills to provide others with these amazing objects and foodstuffs.

Litterary equivalent: The diamond age by Stephenson: the Victorians buying handmade objects such as furniture and paper for their artistic value, in spite of being able to have them made by advanced machinery.

Sinfest!

2008-02-17T02:09:00.001-08:00

Piezoelectric fibers

2008-02-13T13:45:00.000-08:00

Piezoelectricity has always been a fascinating concept to me, getting electrical energy directly out of friction. Now, humans have succeeded in growing piezo-active fibres around kevlar, this opens perspectives to turning objects like clothes, flags and sails into power generators.

Will you soon be recharging your cellphone by plugging it into your pants? Will you save on your power bill by putting wall to wall piezocarpet into your appartement?

Read more on wired.com!

Reflection upon the tax system.

2008-02-11T13:21:00.000-08:00

Hat tip to TSLR:

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. He said, "Since you are all such good customers, I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80."

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men -- the paying customers?

How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share"? They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33.

But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay!

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, "but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

"That's true!!"shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up any more. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University of Georgia

Walmart arcology?

2008-02-07T14:58:00.000-08:00

I just read that walmart will be opeing up medical facilities in some stores ...
People have attempted to "live" in walmarts, they offer food, shelter, restrooms, now medical facilities ... couple that with a decent café/resteaurant and a motel, coupled to an office building, and you're halfway towards arcology.

Okay not really, but they're a coming, you hear!

Paying with Euro's in the big apple

2008-02-07T14:53:00.000-08:00

Shopkeeprs in NYC are beginning to accept Euros as legal tender, eyeing the poor exchange rate of the us dollar. The same low rate has attracted boatloads of tourists whose money will buy a lot more accross the pond.
Inflation can be a very painfull affair indeed ... now if you excuse me, I'm going to check out radioshacks overseas shipping policy.

Drugs in the future?

2008-02-05T05:48:00.001-08:00

It's been a recurring, if not central element in cyberpunk and science fiction: widespread use of legal dugs.
William Gibson shaped his sprawl flooded with designer drugs, and the inability to consume them was a major factor in convincing the main character of "neuromancer" to join Armitrages crew, similar themes exist throughout the other two books of the sprawl triology.

The BBC made a great short movie with very strong cuberpunk themes to accompany "the If debate" ... if drugs were legal. Which emulates the future with almost complete drug legalization: the good sides the bad sides, police and corporate world and criminals etc. ...

The government in Huxleys "brave new world" used drugs to control the population, todays situation is similar in a paradoxal way.
Thousands of people go to jail on drug related charges, often victimless crimes. These people come out of jail economically weaker, destitute sometimes. Their property is often seized and sold to further the means of hunting down drug criminals; the proceeds of selling seized property fuel the militarisation of police forces.
No-Knock warrants are a hazard to both the residents of the house being invaded, and the police officers carrying out the warrant. All of this despite the meager amounts of drugs seized on average. Still, these actions are a major source of revenue, which serves to strengthen the seizing forces even more.

This money comes from ordinary citizens who buy drugs. Ideally, the consumers will stay out of jail and keep pumping money into the black market. Then police officers will be able to seize the money (and hopefully arrest a professional criminal in the process). No other tax system drains the population so effectively of money, which they willingly give up.

Why on earth would a government decriminalize drugs? It wouldn't really have a huge impact on availability to come down harder or softer, and they could be taxed. But those taxes are nowhere near the funds seized from the drug trade, especially if you can build a police force that seizes as much as possible from criminals without destroying the black market entirely.
Meanwhile, the war on drugs is a great "reason" to maintain a strong police force, and it provides tools of propaganda for the war on terror, as well as effectively making a growing demographic a slave to the penal system.

In comes the incorporated government: Would they legalise drug use?
If it would benefit them, then yes. If it would allow them to permanently bind employees without causing significant damage to profits, yes. If it would reduce the cost of keeping a working population entertained during their time off, yes. If it would allow them to prolong a mans working day without loss of concentration, yes. If it would make people break down and die before the age of retirement, yes. If it would turn their corporate slaves into an apathic mass unable to rise up and break free ... of course they will.

The Q bacteria

2008-02-04T06:34:00.000-08:00

After processing a wheat or corn harvest, a lot of "waste" remains. Many plant parts contain very though components such as cellulose (found in cotton, paper, wood etc. ...)

A new bacteria, equipped with amazingly strong enzymes, is capable of digesting cellulose and turning it into ethanol, which is suited as generator fuel, carburant and a reagens in the production of ethylene, gasoline and plastics.

Our society, which relies heavely on hydrocarbons as a means of energy storage and transport, will endure long after the oil well have dried up.

...

Oh yeah, this means we can now make booze out of kudzu!

New tool to track people.

2008-02-03T05:44:00.000-08:00

Hair could already be screened for drug metabolites, allowing investigators to track a subjects (1) history of drug (ab)use. Now, hair samples could also be used to track said subjects whereabouts throughout time.

Studying the compositions of a trees annual rings allows scientists to determine the composition of the soil as well as other enviromental factors. Human hair also absorbs certain agents from it's enviroment. By analysing the exact composition of a hair, and comparing it to reference samples taken at a location, it is now possible to determine when someone has spent time at a certain place, and for how long.

This new technology is of course being touted as a crime-fighting tool, as well as a means of screening people applying for political asylum.

1: ambiguity intended

Biofuel aviation

2008-02-02T04:58:00.000-08:00

Airbus just had a plane fly on a combination of kerosene and GTL.

GTL being the lazyman equivalent of "Gas To Liquid", essentially a liquid carburant made from natural gas. Natural gas: methane, ethane and some other light hydrocarbons can easely be made on an industrial scale, as well as in your backyard. A big enough pile of pig manure is a great source of methane. Farmers across Holland are using "biogas" installations.

One thing I love about mankind: We will always find a way to cope with our problems. when oil runs out, there will be alternatives. The minions might not be able to afford them though ... something to keep in mind.

Ever so much bigger they grow

2008-02-01T09:49:00.000-08:00

It was recently reported that Yahoo was laying off a rather substantial amount of people.
Now, both Microsoft and Google are bidding for ownership of the company.

Remember that governments can only dream of having the voluntairely-provided information on citizens that Google has, and that Microsoft is pretty much the biggest and most powerful player on the software market. I wonder which of them will manage to absorb sun microsystems when the time comes.

Seriously, I'm running a blog on Google servers, they know my real names, address, phone number, bank account, my mail runs through them, ...
How much do they know about you, and would you ever divulge that information to a uniformed public servant?

Comprehensive articly about future energies.

2008-01-31T04:19:00.000-08:00

Only yesterday I wrote about future means of manufacturing fuels, turns out "the independant", a brittish newspaper ran a similar story that same day. I swear I didn't steal anything!

In all seriousness, they also speak of synthetic hydrocarbons, but made from carbonmonoxide rather than ethylene. It is an option I had not considered, but it seems plausible. I'm looking frward to reading more into the matter.

They also dig a bit deeper into the issue of algae oil, as you can read in their article.
This too, I'll be reading into.

"DNA splice" children.

2008-01-31T03:54:00.000-08:00

(excerpt from "count Zero")
"But you have people? You got a man to go back to?"
"A woman, you want to know," she said. "Know anything about breeding dogs?"
"No," he said
"I didn't think so." She squinted at him. "We got a kid,
too. Ours. She carried it."
"DNA splice?"
She nodded.

When william Gibsom wrote this back in 1986, it was science fiction, now it may very well become reality.
Scientists have succesfully created a sperm from a human female embryo. They hope that they'll be able to create sperm from female bone marrow in the future, effectively allowing lesbians to have a child of their own genetic make-up.

Cyberpunk is happening today.

Biotechnological carbon fixation.

2008-01-30T12:20:00.000-08:00

Carbon fixation is accomplished almost entirely through fotosynthesis right now. We rely on plants to turn carbon dioxide into carbon hydrates such as suger and starch. The advent of synthetic fuels will require a large supply of these, but already enviromentalist groups and human rights activists are crying about the huge amount of staple foods required to provide with the wee amount of bio ethanol we're currently using. If we ever hope to synthesise kerosene and plastic from ethanol, we'll need a better way of producing these staples.

I don't think it's impossible to do this biotechnologically. We've managed to get bacteria to synthesise insulin, why not sugar? Set up a huge broth filled tank that houses these bacteria, and pump carbon dioxide through the tank. They'd need a supply of light as well, but that could be engeneered easely enough. Maybe large shallow tanks with lights strung over them, stacked on top of eachother. We've been using other microorganisms (yeasts) to turn sugars into alcohol for thousands of years, and we've got the chemical knowledge to use this alcohol to synthesise fuels.

This technology could also help us deal with world hunger, and it would allow small communities to generate a lot of food/energy themselves. It would also turn the agricultural world upside down. Imagine the price of starch plummeting, while fuel for harvestors and combines becomes prohibitively expensive. High density food production will also benefit areas with high population densities if transporting food became more expensive than producing it.

As for something that's happening now: algae oil.
Not exactly micro-organisms, but they get the job done, and the oil they produce is supposed to be great for making biodiesel.

If you've got kids: get them an education in biotechnology or process engeneering, for they will be the farmers of the future.

What is the incorporated government?

2008-01-27T06:43:00.000-08:00

Whenever I speak of the future and the incorporated government, people get confused. Do I believe that a huge corporation will seize control of public affairs? Do I believe in sovereign enclaves under corporate control?
Various models and posibilities have been explored in a myriad of *fictionous* books. Today I will explain what I believe will happen.

The first democracies.
Originally, the demographic that was allowed to vote was severely limited. In Greece, only free men were allowed to, and only free richmen could do so for all practical purposes. Later in Rome, issues arose with slaves who had been freed by their masters, or who accumulated enough wealth to buy themselves free. Should they be given the sane civil rights as the common citizens? What of the educated slaves who were used to copy books and teach children? The criteria for allowing people to vote have often been subject of discussion and strife.

Women have the right to vote today, but that wasn't always so. Their struggle to attain that right was long and harsh, and a very recent devellopment if you take into consideration how long democracy has existed.

Present day.
Today, citizenship goes hand in hand with the right to vote accross the world. In the US there could be issues with permanent residents, or the residents in DC. Felons don't get to vote either but generally speaking, there is a widespread right to vote amongst US citizens. Simillar situations exist around the world.
"Everybody" gets to vote, and everybodies vot carries the same weight.

Corporate democracy
There exists also a form of democracy withing corporations and large companies: stockholder meetings. Everybody who invested in the company, and some who work for it, get to have their say in determining policy. Everybody who has bought shares or stock gets to cast their vote, and the weight that your vote carries is determined by the investement that you've made. That's the essential difference between corporate and political democracy.

What about the "government" part?
It seems such a foreign concept to be ruled by a company, but is it really? What has the government ever done for you? Housing? Education? Your government taxes you, taking your money, and gives you something in return. A police force to keep you safe, firemen to protect your house from fires. An army to protect the borders, healthcare ...

What is essential here is that you should recognise that these are all services that can be provided by private institutions. The only possible exception would be the "army" thing, and even then, we've recently seen the rise of large companies of mercenaries who fight alongside enlisted men in foreign theathres.

Large companies often provide their employees with vehicles, or encourage/sponsor carpooling,
corporate housing exists in many countries, healthcare, pension plans, security. Large companies have their oen fire and rescue squads, especially in the cheical industry, but also in harbors and on airports. These are all services that the government also provides, the corporation is complementing the government in some of its most essential tasks. Sometimes replacing it alltoghether (healthcare for example).
All of this comes out of the paychecks of those on the corps payroll, hardly any difference than taxation. And by "out of the paychecks" I mean: skimmed off the profits that would otherwise end up in shareholder profit or an increase in pay.

Can we really call this a form of government?
Easy question! A German car parts company is willing to set up a factory in the US; who's got more influence on that decision: the chambre of commerce or General Motors inc who will be using the parts? Who's got more influence on Government policy: grassroots political activists, or large corporations who will be bankrolling the re-election campaigns? What's a bigger incentive to maintain peacefull relationships with China? The US' desire for global peace, or the vast amounts of commerce in between continents by international companies?

No, this doesn't constitute a government, but it should be clear that companies already have a much bigger say in the lives of its employees than the government can ever hope to attain without being accused of fascism and being a totalitarian dictatorship. And more and more people are becoming directly or indirectly subjected to corporate actions.

Democratic governments are here to stay, and they will take every action they can to increase their power, but who you work for is going to be a biggie in the future, maybe some concrete examples on that tomorrow.

A future for gasoline?

2008-01-26T06:58:00.000-08:00

There's been a horrible amount of discussion concerning the price and availability of petroleum products.

Before anything we must realize: There is not enough crude oil available to sustain our need for petroleum products.
Simple fact, the amount available is limited, our needs over extended periods of time are not. Oil will run out, or at least become rare and expensive.

This will not happen soon, we will likely manage to come by easy to process oil for several decades. We may have multiple centuries worth of oil sand at our disposal, but it will eventually become too much of a hassle to process, it will become too expensive.

A lot of industries require petroleum products. The petrochemical industry caters to fuel suppliers, pharmaceutical companies, companies who produce paint, adhesives, plastics and artificial rubber. Where do you think your PVC tubing comes from?
Clearly, if oil were to disappear overnight, we'd be properly f*cked. Fortunately we know in advance what could happen, and where we will be hit. How do we cope with this?

Some things can be accomplished just fine without oil. Electricity can be gotten from solar panels or nuclear energy, hydropower and so on. Most people are concerned predominantly with their car. If our society evolves to one focused on huge cities with extreme population densities, then electrical cars become a very viable means of transport. Since you never have to travel outside of city limits, and you can recharge you vehicle almost anywhere (public outleds which charge money per KW/h you charge)

Aside from that, diesel can be prepared just fine from fatty acids. As long as we can farm olive oil and pigs are fat, we can make diesel in ridiculously simple factories, providing fuel for trucks and ships commuting in between cities, factories etc. ... I actually did this a month ago, I made some biodiesel from used frying oil, woked out quite well.
Alcohol is a somewhat viable alternative as well, also provided that you stay in a densely populated area, due to the large volume of alcohol required to run a car and the frequent re-fill of your gas tank it entails.

A bit more difficult would be to provide the petrochemical industry with an alternative. You can't make plastic out of just anything. True, but the most fundamental products: ethylene and ethylene oxide can be prepared just fine out of ethylalcohol, the drinking kind. Hardly as convenient as running a batch of crude oil through a steam cracker, but a viable way none the less.

You cant just make polyethylene (the plastic used for lemonade bottles, jerry cans etc ...) out of ethylene. And as long as the aforementioned steam cracker stays fed, fuel won't be a problem either.

There will not be a shortage of hydrocarbons (constituents of crude oil) unless there is a severe shortage of alcohol (or another feed source) from which to make it.
It will however be a lot more expensive than it is today. Let's face it: this planets oil reserves were godsent, and we've accomplished so much because of them, but now we've got to start working on plan B.

First post

2008-01-26T06:49:00.000-08:00

This is my second blog, after the gun debate critic.

Over time I've become interested in the evolution of politics and our society as a whole, this is where I intend to jot down my ramblings concerning the "advent of the diamond age", the dawn of an incorporated democracy, the collapse of western society when TS hits TF, TEOTWAK and assorted survivalist acronyms.

In all seriousness, I'll be tracking scientific, technologic and political events that contribute to my idea of an incorporated government, and matter-neutral living enviroments.