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Recent (click for RSS)- Russian industrial mobilization cannot alter the outcome of the war
- 15.6.22 Book review: The Invention of Humanity (Stuurman 2017)
- 27.5.2022 – What is good in life, on feedback loops possibly leading to collapse
- 20.5.2022 Friday – On extinction risk, commons risk, “natural disasters”
- 19.5.2022 – Bitcoin, Tether, Beanstalk
- On the Kremlin’s imperialism
- A Very Short And Fairly Understandable Introduction to Models
- What if we really tried to save our civilization? An introduction to Plan B
- Book review: McAfee (2019), More from Less
- Technology in a Post-Growth World: Lessons from the 1970s AT Movement
Category Archives: History of technology
Russian industrial mobilization cannot alter the outcome of the war
Could the Kremlin regime mobilize the Russian industry to produce enough war material to tip the scales in the war? In brief, the most likely answer is “no.” Russia does not have the industrial base required to produce enough modern … Continue reading
Posted in History of technology, Politics
Tagged Europe, Mobilization, Russia, Ukraine, United States, War
2 Comments
What if we really tried to save our civilization? An introduction to Plan B
Our society and, indeed, our way of life is facing an existential threat. The situation is grim, but not hopeless. These words could have been used to describe the threat faced by the world’s democracies in 1939, and they could … Continue reading
Posted in Economy and the Environment, Energy, History of technology, Politics
Tagged Climate, Environment, Plan B
1 Comment
Technology in a Post-Growth World: Lessons from the 1970s AT Movement
Hello again! This post about lessons we could learn from the 1970s Appropriate/Alternative Technology movement is derived from a presentation I gave at Helsinki Sustainability Science Days 2019, 9.5.2019. The entire presentation can be found here. The above presentation and … Continue reading
Necessity is the mother of inventors: my PhD lecture
The following is the traditional Lectio praecursoria a doctoral candidate in Finland gives to the audience before his/her PhD defence. This one is mine, delivered on 12th December 2017. Esteemed custos, esteemed opponent, ladies and gentlemen! You all are probably … Continue reading
Posted in History of technology, Innovation, Scarcities and constraints
Tagged Essays, Innovation, PhD, Research
9 Comments
Power and the (European) anti-nuclear power movement
This post contains some thoughts about the history of the anti-nuclear movement and in particular the European anti-nuclear movement as a struggle for power and empowerment; it’s posted here for convenience and as a reference, and as a caution against … Continue reading
Posted in Ecomodernism, Energy, History of technology, Nuclear energy & weapons, Politics
Tagged Europe, Germany, Nuclear, Power, Sociology
1 Comment
Confidence in 100% RE plans is poorly justified and may be dangerous
The recent publication of an unprecedented critique against the so-called “WWS” 100% renewable energy (RE) scenario has re-ignited the debate about the feasibility of renewable only energy scenarios in the United States and abroad. This is a long-overdue debate the … Continue reading
Posted in Ecomodernism, Energy, History of technology, Nuclear energy & weapons
Tagged climate policy, Environment, Nuclear, Renewables
3 Comments
Two fallacies that explain A LOT about energy discussions
I’ve been following the energy discussions actively for a decade now. Despite some incremental improvements, the debate goes round and round much the same way as it did in 2007: everyone agrees in public that we need to quit fossil … Continue reading
Posted in Ecomodernism, Energy, History of technology
Tagged climate change, Energy, Essays, Nuclear, Renewables, rhetoric
6 Comments
Stall warning for renewable energy?
A model that estimated the plateauing of nuclear and hydropower to within 20 percent of reality suggests that absent a technological breakthrough, the growth of new renewable energy – that is, wind and solar – will saturate and end when these new … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, History of technology
Tagged climate change, climate policy, Energy transitions, Renewables, S-curve
1 Comment
Atomic mail rockets, and how monocausal predictions are particularly dangerous
The new, shining age of information delivery was briefly at hand on June 8th, 1959. A Regulus cruise missile – designed for delivering a nuclear warhead to a Soviet city or port – landed neatly at the naval base at … Continue reading
Posted in Ecomodernism, History of technology, Nuclear energy & weapons
Tagged Forecasting, Future, Innovation, Predictions, Rocket mail, Space Age
2 Comments
Energy transitions: is everything different this time?
The debate about whether transition to low-carbon energy would be faster or slower than previous energy transitions somewhat misses the point. The real problem is whether this time everything is different and whether the low-carbon energy revolution will be complete … Continue reading
Posted in Ecomodernism, Energy, History of technology
Tagged Energy, Energy transitions, History of technology, Nuclear, Renewables
20 Comments
The unpublished notebooks of J. M. Korhonen 
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