Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: Joe L. Ogan on 13/02/2010 19:01:08
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Would an unlimited supply of free energy solve the world food shortage? If by some miracle an unlimited source of free energy were discovered, would this give the resources to raise unlimited amount of crops in an enclosed environment, pest free, controlled temperature? If something similar to this is not discovered soon, there will be much starvation among the people of the world. Thanks for comments. Joe L. Ogan
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Technically, it would help a lot I guess. I wonder whether such a rapid technological advance would damage the world in the short term though. The disruption to the world would be immense. Large corporations would go broke overnight and many people in the world have a very fast change in their lifestyle. The world balance of power could shift hugely in a short time.
On the other hand, keep looking :-)
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Energy is only one aspect that limits life. Space is another. And you need certain other resources to create food. So, I would speculate that an unlimited supply of energy would help to let people live in areas that cannot sustain the current numbers of humans(and most likely even increase those numbers), sooner of later you bump into other limits that end the growth and bring back the numbers to sustainable levels. Living as if something is limitless does not result in stability.