re: #80 Killgore Trout

He wrote a book about it. The World is Flat. He makes a very strong case for the fact that globalization is inevitable, unstoppable and ultimately not really all that terrible for those who adapt. It’s really worth reading even if you’re not convinced by the end.

From what I have read of his writings elsewhere, Friedman is a technocopian, believing in some magic technology that will somehow overcome depleting energy resources, overpopulation, climate change, and the like.

Globalization is totally dependent upon affordable global transportation, which in turn is dependent upon continuous and (if economies “grow”) increasing energy supplies and other resources.

I question if by the last half of the 21st century the “global economy” will have successfully switched to non-carbon energy sources. Additionally, the deforestation of the rest of the large tropical and even (eventually) boreal forests will be large scale eco-system changes the affects of which will make for one of the great extinction events on this planet.

Call me a dystopian if you like, but I do not buy Friedman’s belief system.