Bio-Tech: Uses and Abuses

No that's cool. I know all of what you said. I guess I just wanted to know what you meant by your somewhat cryptic "charge".

An idea I like to suggest if hydrogen powered cars ever make it to the market is putting wind turbines at the equivalent of gas stations. The turbine generates electricity, which in turn is used to harvest hydrogen from water, supplied by regular plumbing, and refine the hydrogen into whatever form the fuel cells require. The only overhead cost would be the installation and upkeep and the monthly water bill. No need to ship hydrogen in from anywhere, as gas is shipped now. Elimination of three steps: 1) drilling for oil 2) refining the oil 3) shipping the gasoline. All done on-site.
 
We could genetically engineer sustainable biomass. Something living, but not really alive by any social standard -- imagine a glob of flesh with the simplest of organs. We could then feed it itself and use the heat it generates for power. Like the machines in the Matrix do with humans. I think that would work well.
 
it's pretty gross to think about...but i think it is a possibility if we don't slow down our earthly spread. right now it takes 9 times the amount of land (i think) to grow feed corn to raise cattle to the age adequate for slaughter, that it takes to raise enough human corn to feed us the same caloric value of the meat. does that make sense? i might be wrong, but it's something like that.

anyway, something around 90+% of corn grown in the U.S. is for livestock.
 
Don't know about the stats, but I do know that farmers are paid to NOT grow anything. If we went to alcohol for fuel, we wouldn't depend on anyone other than ourselves. Besides, farming is good for the environment (since destroying it is counter-productive). We have enough corn and grain in storehouses to last us for about two years right now. And with tobacco being pushed out of the farming community (living in Kentucky, I've seen this plenty), the farmers are mostly switching to cattle or corn. Again, they will reach the point of the government telling them to stop.
 
GT, you're right. Basically, it takes around 9 kilos of grain to produce 1 kilo of beef. If everyone stopped eating beef (which is somewhat unrealistic) or we found a way to grow a steak from bacteria and protein in a jar, we could feed 9 times more people.

It only takes 2 kilos or so to produce 1 kilo of poultry. So eat more chicken, less beef. And fish is even cheaper. 4 servings of fish a week, 4 servings of chicken, and 1 or two servings of beef (a meat serving being about the size of a deck of cards) is a good amount of animal protein intake.
 
As much as you can stomach, my zombie friend, as much as you can stomach.

And please note, I was not giving nutrition advice there, I was outlining a diet that allows you to eat the breadth of livestock available, that emphasizes the kind that will help conserve resources.
 
Actually, I would say it's closest to pork. Which is part of the reason pork is the worst meat for you (weird but true).

Pigs and humans are biologically similar. They use pig-flesh and pig-hearts for transplants in extreme cases. Least chance of rejection (other than another human part, obviously).
 
45 minutes?! I don't know if I could take that. Not that I wouldn't like to try, but that would take way too much away from sleep. I would have to go to bed at 8pm just to make sure I would be awake the next day!