why has China (one of the greatest engineering nations throughout history) stayed with the chopstick when the population eats so much rice.

I believe this one is to frustrate non-Chinese people who like Chinese food and think they should eat it the traditional way.

They of course don't necessarily abandon…

Andrew Stevenson wrote:

... any other reference points for sources of slavery (energy) runs out and empire/entity contracts?

As Anarchangel points…

But that movie 'Who killed the electric car?' was interesting viewing.

I'm a big fan of the connections series which explored the relationships between technologies over time and the neat ways one discovery can trigger something apparently unrelated.

I think the above is the other side of that coin. As…

And no I don't subscribe to the secret water powered engines that big car companies have withheld :).

I don't either.

But that movie 'Who killed the electric car?' was interesting viewing.

Delicious Ham

And didn't nations derive from alliances of tribes (at the time of which we speak), and tribes derive from family groupings?

How deep do you want to go? I've a hunch that DNA's…

I think it's safe to say that ideas of moral decline as the basis for the collapse of the Western Empire have been left in the early twentieth century.

I don't mean moral decline in terms of alcholism, sex and cruelty. The point I'm trying to make is a bit…

However, perhaps slavery and conquest also engendered a moral corruption that undermined their moral and institutional virtue.

I think it's safe to say that ideas of moral decline as the basis for the collapse of the Western Empire have been left in the early twentieth century.

How adaptable were the…

For some reason it made me remember Joan Didion's "Where I was From" in which she contemplates why California is the way it is. Settled by people who were not used to staying put and solving problems, but whose solution was always to cut…

Sorry to hear about the pride and joy having a hard time , I think I have mentioned before that the first 21 years are the worst .

Re slaves the most recent example must of course be Russia & the Soviet Union. The…

Ultimately, the Roman empire fell because they lost the battle of Adrianople, when the Goths wiped out the Roman field army. But the interesting thing is that Rome had suffered…

Like Amory Lovins said, people care about cold beer, not the energy needed to run the fridge.

People rank the factors like capital cost, running costs, appearance, fitness for purpose, street cred etc…

Actually, for certain tasks – fast, ad-hoc travel over a distance – the car is a fantastic tool.

Good call. I guess what I was getting at is that there have been a lot of (sometimes small) innovations that could improve the efficiency of cars which are not taken up…

The parallels with late 20th century technology are easy to observe. Internal combustion of gasoline is not the most technologically advanced use of energy, particularly in the form of the car (especially the SUV:)).

Actually, for certain tasks – fast, ad-hoc travel over a distance – the car is a…

A comment on steam power. While steam power was known, the problem with it was the quality of the metals used for boilers. Steam engines need boilers that can tolerate high pressure and temperature and metalurgy just wasn't up to…

That child has a very, very, impressive squalling howl, with a terribly distressing top note of anguish. You should mark it NSFW. You should also market it, for car alarms.

Colic? Reflux?

A paediatrician at Starship once told me said he was forever giving new parents earplugs... he said they…

Intersting interpretation, any other reference points for sources of slavery (energy) runs out and empire/entity contracts?

I'm trying to remember if one of the examples in Diamond's book focused on slavery. I'd need to look through it to check, having read it a whole year ago, it's been wiped from…

An interesting theory David.…

There will have been other cultures that used slavery and then had the supply cut off. The one that leaps to mind is the US, or rather the confederacy. But this has technological changes…

On the other hand, I think (without claiming too much) that it is mildly interesting and mildly informative to look at history through the lens of energy. But, of course, as a former energy engineer, I would think that...

Which is exactly why it's so gosh-darned interesting, because specialists in…

Colic and reflux and cow's milk protein allergy, poor chap. He's really had a tough start.

And so have his parents...

It's not so much the philosophy, as the nutter* I live with, who reads classics just for fun, and is inclined to sit and watch swords and sandals films…

Interesting theory, I've seen it alluded to here and there but not to that degree.

Our posts seemed to have overlapped — fascinating info! Would you be able to direct me to where this interpretation is discussed elsewhere — I'd be very interested... (and marks off to…

... where's the evidence that 'slave energy limits' was a prime factor? Is this something that anyone else has theorised on? I note no footnotes in that crucial point.

I've talked this interpretation (I wouldn't go as far as to say 'theory' — except in an ironic…

Colic? Reflux?

The piece on the decline and fall of the Roman empire is also impressive.

Didn't one of the…

An interesting theory David. I had never thought previously about people as a form of energy – it felt wrong.

i'm not so sure. from my distant study of classics (undergrad), it was slavery that prevented both the hellenes and the romans from developing machinery.

they couldn't see past slavery…

You jumped very quickly from 'running out of slaves' to 'empire had to contract to sustainable levels'. I know you did this a while ago, but where's the evidence that…