Comments on: Deglobalization

By: Roger

Roger — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:56:02 +0000

Have you any thoughts or opinions on the impact of deglobalization on the trends in information technology. On one hand high oil prices would drive people to use technology to avoid travel, telecommuting and such. On the other hand, the rise of online resellers like Amazon has been driven the schlepping stuff long distances.
Thoughts on how this might work out?

By: Roger

Roger — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:56:02 +0000

By: prof baldwin

prof baldwin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:16:05 +0000

Why do we need oil as a chief source of global energy, when we have Obama's ego ? Obama's ego can power everything, and is a ready 'off the shelf' proven alternative energy source. Unlike wind/solar power which rely on raw materials from sensitive/unstable parts of the world, Obama's ego is a fully home grown domestic solution.

By: James

James — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:54:31 +0000

I have worked in the oil and oilsands industry. Folks need to know that the oil we need gets more expensive to extract as each day passes by. The cash costs and capital costs go up and these costs must ultimately be paid in full by the consumer. There is lots of oil, but the targets require massive investment, lots of lead time, lots of complex engineering, and huge numbers of staff to execute the production plans. i live on my grandfather's farm and have seen the rise from human and animal muscle power to gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. i am most happy when i am in my garden with my hoe- Pleasure or future necessity, it matters not to me. I am an Albertan and a survivor of the decades long boom and bust of the oil patch. I have always been ready for anything. Change provides the stimulus to thrive.

By: Radu

Radu — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:05:09 +0000

I don't really agree with you. It might happen that the price of crude oil jumps 100 next spring. It may jump 500 next year. In a very short run, sure, we'll have a smaller world trade. But the jump in oil prices, will trigger something else. First, high profits (the result of high prices) will trigger more investment into the oil business – tar sands, ways to extract more than 30-40% of an oil field – which in the long run will reduce the price of oil. It will also trigger investment in other parts of the energy business, solar, hydrogen, whatever. You make a very common mistake thinking oil is irreplaceable. That is the same thing we thought about coal. The world around you is all about energy and its availability on the world market is only a function of price. Sure, prices may even skyrocket. But in the medium-long-run, energy will get cheaper and cheaper unless, of course, governments don't regulate that market to the point where they suffocates it. Everybody is waiting for the oil age to come to an end, because there is “so little oil left in the world”. Well, I'm not sure it is going to happen that way. As far as I remember the stone and bronze ages didn't end because we ran out of stone and bronze…