Why Elon Musk is considered a genius defies common sense. His companies are toys for boys. He just fantasizes out loud then assembles great dev teams, mainly by means of extravagant spending. His politics are abhorrent. His ethics, if he has any, are subterranean. He and Trump both live in sanitized, air-purified, reality-proof capsules whose windows are video screens that loop select snippets of their own self-edited triumphs. But they are not invulnerable, as the upcoming election will amply demonstrate—IF we get out the vote, every vote. No more carping from the sidelines, people. Time to wade in and work for democracy.
Apartheid Baby born with an emerald spoon in his mouth is only a genius in his own mind, but because he has more money than anyone else in the world, people believe he is what he says he is. And why should he care about the future of the earth He'll be dead. They will all be dead.
Their narcissism, egotism, and Reaganism were on full display throughout the call. And the tragedy is that an unknown portion of this world respect and emulate those characteristics. They believe that these traits are assets in the quest for money, power, and “success”. The question is about the percentage.
The number of listeners on their chat reportedly peaked at 2 million. There were at least that many players on Twitch last night. So let’s hope the Trump/Musk sycophant pool is shrinking. We still need to call out the disinformation, share the facts and marginalize these two and their ilk as quickly as possible. We press on.
Musk and Trump, together at last, is a perfect encapsulation of what is wrong with an economic system that lauds and rewards conmen, no matter the destruction they bring to the society and world.
We need an AG for President and Jack Smith for USAG.
Musk created and has maintained the facade of being a genius for so long but the cracks are starting to show now. To act like a climate expert spewing his 1000 parts per million bs. Just read his words:
"And so we're now in the sort of 400 range. We're adding, I think about roughly two parts per million per year. So, I mean, it still gives us, so what it means is like, we still have quite a bit of time, but so there's not like, we don't need to rush and we don't need to like, you know, stop farmers from farming or, you know, prevent people from having steaks or basic stuff like that."
Yeah, uh Elon, dude, like i think we do, man, ya know that, like, don't ya? Really? * insert eyeroll here *
We're already reaching temperatures too hot for us & other animals & plants to survive in, & extremes in drought, wildfires, floods & storm systems, with 420 ppm CO2. Imagine what it'll be like when it's 500 ppm, to say nothing of 1000 ppm! And CO2 isn't the only greenhouse gas whose concentration in the atmosphere is rising precipitously. We're already at temperatures higher than humans have ever experienced before. They're rising faster than ever before, & every time previously, rapidly changing temperatures have been accompanied by mass extinction, as they are today.
Mr McKibben, you sat through that whole two hours? My God, you must have strong stomach. I watch "Useful Idiots" Monday Mourning " show every Monday, because the show's hosts, Katie Halper and Aaron Mate, watch the MSM Sunday talk shows so I don't have to, and I appreciate their sacrifice, and yours. Thanks to you all.
So Musk's understanding of climate science is remarkable. How does a guy get that rich and remain that stupid? I guess by being predatory, sociopathic, amoral, and just plain vicious. His fortune grows just like the cells in a malignant tumor, and he and his ilk should be "treated" accordingly. Where's the human race's immune system when we need it?
I guess the civil war is underway. Of the battles raging, the most dangerous (as the Musk & Dirty Donny bullshit session displays) is this:
(US oil industry + US evangelicals) vs (science + the global poor).
We know what oil fights for…and evangelicals aid them by fighting science (ala book bans, etc.) and attacking the separation of church and state.
Why do Hansen (and famously McKibben) talk 350ppm (< present)? In large part because feedbacks in the climate system make the damage distribution highly lognormal (see peer reviewed research on tipping points). The risk we are loading makes the financial crisis look like a blip. And who are the Harold Hamms and Southern Baptist Conventions loading that risk onto? EMDCs the global poor.
Carbon ppm is a huge problem but not our worst challenge. We have already blown though several tipping points already, like a drunk speeder and we are facing more than an AMOC shutdown. Atmospheric currents can change too. Fluid dynamics are fluid dynamics. Methane is a huge threat. Increased yearly world lightning strikes as are going on right now, can change atmospheric chemistry and not in our favor. The oceans are rising from multiple causes including sheer thermal expansion. Species are migrating northward but not all can make it, while the polar regions are rapidly heating up. Meanwhile idiots hog the bandwidth in our info-sphere, and tribalism lowers the species IQ. Some apex species we turned out to be. The world needs a reboot.
Bravo, Bill. While I feel a bit sorry for you for having to repeatedly explain the basics (and good that you do), there are many news items here, e.g., new solar film technology out of Oxford with the potential of 45% efficiency. Thank you, too, for revealing Musk's intellectual laziness and lack of empathy as we destabilize our Earth's life support system. "Wait till we blow past 1000 ppm CO2?" Good grief. I was unsure on one point: the median date of 2030 for thermohaline shutdown in the Atlantic and will look into that. Thank you. As Earth champion, Terry Link, recently emailed: "carry on" Bill. ~L. Julian Keniry
Bill, from the Nature article you linked to in your August 5 newsletter: "We predict with high confidence the tipping to happen as soon as mid-century (2025–2095 is a 95% confidence range)."
Appreciate getting the abbreviated version of Trump/Musk exchange. Transcript looks like script from movie “Dumb and Dumber”. But not, you know, funny.
Biofuel story is depressing. They were invented as an incremental emissions reduction tool before EVs were a thing. It is shocking and immoral, with so much of the world in drought and famine, how the majority of our water and land and agricultural activity is not about making food at all. And how fossil fuel companies, who pretend to turn their noses up at wind and solar as “not their core expertise”, are happy to get their dirty hands into farming.
If you can burn it, it fits Big Oil's business model.
The only upside of all of this is, there's an enormous amount of land being used uselessly to grow ethanol, so we have some margin for food-growing in the future.
Thank you, Bill. I've never been on twitter or X and I wouldn't waste my time listening to two crackpots if I did. Nothing either of them said has a milligram of sense in it. I'm really interested in this solar film Oxford has invented. How long before it hits the market do you think? How soon before all roofing shingles regardless of base material will be this solar film. I sure hope Oxford doesn't sell the patent to some nasty billionaire.
'the great currents of the Atlantic will collapse between 2037 and 2064, with a median prediction of 2030.' the link please. Can the median be outside the range given?
Why Elon Musk is considered a genius defies common sense. His companies are toys for boys. He just fantasizes out loud then assembles great dev teams, mainly by means of extravagant spending. His politics are abhorrent. His ethics, if he has any, are subterranean. He and Trump both live in sanitized, air-purified, reality-proof capsules whose windows are video screens that loop select snippets of their own self-edited triumphs. But they are not invulnerable, as the upcoming election will amply demonstrate—IF we get out the vote, every vote. No more carping from the sidelines, people. Time to wade in and work for democracy.
He is only considered a genius by those who worship wealth, Tom. Those of us with any degree of intellect see him exactly as you describe.
There was a young man on You Tube who literally ripped apart a Cyber Truck by hand.
That young man deserves a medal. Ugliest vehicle on the road.
Apartheid Baby born with an emerald spoon in his mouth is only a genius in his own mind, but because he has more money than anyone else in the world, people believe he is what he says he is. And why should he care about the future of the earth He'll be dead. They will all be dead.
Even the vampire Peter Theil will be dead.
Their narcissism, egotism, and Reaganism were on full display throughout the call. And the tragedy is that an unknown portion of this world respect and emulate those characteristics. They believe that these traits are assets in the quest for money, power, and “success”. The question is about the percentage.
The number of listeners on their chat reportedly peaked at 2 million. There were at least that many players on Twitch last night. So let’s hope the Trump/Musk sycophant pool is shrinking. We still need to call out the disinformation, share the facts and marginalize these two and their ilk as quickly as possible. We press on.
Musk and Trump, together at last, is a perfect encapsulation of what is wrong with an economic system that lauds and rewards conmen, no matter the destruction they bring to the society and world.
We need an AG for President and Jack Smith for USAG.
Why does being lucky with,
you know,
money
make folks think their,
you know,
voice is,
you know,
important,
and needs to be,
you know,
heard.
A rich baboon is still a baboon.
Stop handing them a microphone.
😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
Musk created and has maintained the facade of being a genius for so long but the cracks are starting to show now. To act like a climate expert spewing his 1000 parts per million bs. Just read his words:
"And so we're now in the sort of 400 range. We're adding, I think about roughly two parts per million per year. So, I mean, it still gives us, so what it means is like, we still have quite a bit of time, but so there's not like, we don't need to rush and we don't need to like, you know, stop farmers from farming or, you know, prevent people from having steaks or basic stuff like that."
Yeah, uh Elon, dude, like i think we do, man, ya know that, like, don't ya? Really? * insert eyeroll here *
We're already reaching temperatures too hot for us & other animals & plants to survive in, & extremes in drought, wildfires, floods & storm systems, with 420 ppm CO2. Imagine what it'll be like when it's 500 ppm, to say nothing of 1000 ppm! And CO2 isn't the only greenhouse gas whose concentration in the atmosphere is rising precipitously. We're already at temperatures higher than humans have ever experienced before. They're rising faster than ever before, & every time previously, rapidly changing temperatures have been accompanied by mass extinction, as they are today.
Mr McKibben, you sat through that whole two hours? My God, you must have strong stomach. I watch "Useful Idiots" Monday Mourning " show every Monday, because the show's hosts, Katie Halper and Aaron Mate, watch the MSM Sunday talk shows so I don't have to, and I appreciate their sacrifice, and yours. Thanks to you all.
So Musk's understanding of climate science is remarkable. How does a guy get that rich and remain that stupid? I guess by being predatory, sociopathic, amoral, and just plain vicious. His fortune grows just like the cells in a malignant tumor, and he and his ilk should be "treated" accordingly. Where's the human race's immune system when we need it?
I guess the civil war is underway. Of the battles raging, the most dangerous (as the Musk & Dirty Donny bullshit session displays) is this:
(US oil industry + US evangelicals) vs (science + the global poor).
We know what oil fights for…and evangelicals aid them by fighting science (ala book bans, etc.) and attacking the separation of church and state.
Why do Hansen (and famously McKibben) talk 350ppm (< present)? In large part because feedbacks in the climate system make the damage distribution highly lognormal (see peer reviewed research on tipping points). The risk we are loading makes the financial crisis look like a blip. And who are the Harold Hamms and Southern Baptist Conventions loading that risk onto? EMDCs the global poor.
Carbon ppm is a huge problem but not our worst challenge. We have already blown though several tipping points already, like a drunk speeder and we are facing more than an AMOC shutdown. Atmospheric currents can change too. Fluid dynamics are fluid dynamics. Methane is a huge threat. Increased yearly world lightning strikes as are going on right now, can change atmospheric chemistry and not in our favor. The oceans are rising from multiple causes including sheer thermal expansion. Species are migrating northward but not all can make it, while the polar regions are rapidly heating up. Meanwhile idiots hog the bandwidth in our info-sphere, and tribalism lowers the species IQ. Some apex species we turned out to be. The world needs a reboot.
Bravo, Bill. While I feel a bit sorry for you for having to repeatedly explain the basics (and good that you do), there are many news items here, e.g., new solar film technology out of Oxford with the potential of 45% efficiency. Thank you, too, for revealing Musk's intellectual laziness and lack of empathy as we destabilize our Earth's life support system. "Wait till we blow past 1000 ppm CO2?" Good grief. I was unsure on one point: the median date of 2030 for thermohaline shutdown in the Atlantic and will look into that. Thank you. As Earth champion, Terry Link, recently emailed: "carry on" Bill. ~L. Julian Keniry
yeah, should be 2050 for the shutdown, i've fixed it
Bill, from the Nature article you linked to in your August 5 newsletter: "We predict with high confidence the tipping to happen as soon as mid-century (2025–2095 is a 95% confidence range)."
Your link to the Oxford solar cell 'breakthrough' didn't work for me. Here's a link that works for me and hopefully will work for others: https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2024-08-09-solar-energy-breakthrough-could-reduce-need-solar-farms
I've given up a while ago trying to analyse their derangement. Maybe that's easier from outside the US.
I'll leave that to the psychologist, psychiatrists, and, sadly, future historians - if there are any.
Appreciate getting the abbreviated version of Trump/Musk exchange. Transcript looks like script from movie “Dumb and Dumber”. But not, you know, funny.
Biofuel story is depressing. They were invented as an incremental emissions reduction tool before EVs were a thing. It is shocking and immoral, with so much of the world in drought and famine, how the majority of our water and land and agricultural activity is not about making food at all. And how fossil fuel companies, who pretend to turn their noses up at wind and solar as “not their core expertise”, are happy to get their dirty hands into farming.
If you can burn it, it fits Big Oil's business model.
The only upside of all of this is, there's an enormous amount of land being used uselessly to grow ethanol, so we have some margin for food-growing in the future.
Thank you Bill for everything you do
Thank you, Bill. I've never been on twitter or X and I wouldn't waste my time listening to two crackpots if I did. Nothing either of them said has a milligram of sense in it. I'm really interested in this solar film Oxford has invented. How long before it hits the market do you think? How soon before all roofing shingles regardless of base material will be this solar film. I sure hope Oxford doesn't sell the patent to some nasty billionaire.
'the great currents of the Atlantic will collapse between 2037 and 2064, with a median prediction of 2030.' the link please. Can the median be outside the range given?
Nah, it was just a typo from me. Should be 2050.
Thanks Bill.
Question: is the new ultrathin material for solar energy production recyclable?
Yes, I’m wondering at the nature of it and also production methods. What is the ecological cost of producing and using it.