Beginnings ...

I suppose I should introduce myself. But I won't.

The decades from 1950 to 1970 saw the most consistent rate of economic growth recorded in the Western world. These decades also saw the rapid transformation of social orders.

This ended in 1973. An oil embargo was imposed, by Saudi Arabia, in retaliation for the US support of Israel in the 1973 war. This embargo caused a dramatic slowdown in the economies of the UK and US. Oil had become the energy source of choice.

Oil became the energy source of choice out of efficiency. It has a very high energy to weight ratio, and the energy can easily be liberated by combustion.

Oil fueled power plants, oil fueled transport. More than anything else, oil fueled agriculture and fed the world. It was easy, and most importantly, cheap, to build this world. A man could make a lot of money. By 1973, women could make a lot of money too.

So profit follows the easiest route. Water flows downhill. In 1973 the easiest route was for the economies of oil dependent countries was to invest heavily in oil exploration. A lot of money could be sunk into the North sea to recover the newly expensive oil.

Economies were flush with energy and money. Most importantly, this had secured domestic sources of energy. Once their energy supplies and finances were secured, money flowed.

In the UK, investment in research and development was slashed. A disproportionate amount was slashed from energy research. We had the energy now. Water flows downhill.

Investment in industry was slashed. We had the money, we could buy what we needed.

Money from oil, and the energy it gave us, was plowed into farms and invested in the City of London.

Farms grow food, so food became cheap. Money grows money, so money became cheap.


We knew that oil worked. We knew that farms worked. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Why invest in new ways and means. Why invest in new people. Everything works just fine. The oil flows, and the money grows.

In the past four decades, the technology in our pockets has changed. We imagine a high tech future. Everything is smart. Except.

The growing miniaturisation of our computers is matched by the stagnant bloat of technologies barely changed in forty years. Ships are ships, they burn diesel. Airplanes are airplanes, they burn kerosene. Except for when they are drones and then they burn people.

Farms are farms. Diesel tractors turn soil, eroding away seasons. We burn oil to power the chemistry of fertilisation and mix it into the earth.

There's no blame here. It's just that we've set ourselves up to take the easiest route. It's the way that makes the most money. We reward risk takers but we don't take risks as humanity. We just accept the inevitable end.

We need to understand energy, and how our lives are powered. Most importantly, we need to appreciate that doing things differently isn't just more expensive. It's more expensive because it's worth more.

I'm a scientist. It is my job to try and achieve the impossible and fail repeatedly. That's what has built our modern world. And it's a complete waste of money. But it makes everything worth more.



The whole is more than the sum of its parts. The more parts, ever greater the whole.