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[Tovagulet]

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[Maher]

Don't have one. And never had.
But I really would like to try it

[ollenberger]

I haven't had a cellphone since 2007. It's amazing how dependent pple become on cells. I like not having one- I value my privacy and don't have to deal with "you didn't answer" my call crap. I do text via google voice on my 3G kindle these days (free 3g on the 3g kindle). Aren't there android "emulators" or anything like that?

[humbert]

Its not like we are dependent from cell phones...
They are really useful.
Imagine you go out from your house, and someone wants to know where you are... because you haven't arrived home yet... They can call you and tell them where you are. If you didn't had a cellphone, then they wouldn't know and worry about you.
or what if you change plans and go somewhere else, in your house no one would know you changed plans.
What we are really dependent is from electricity.

I don't know about you guys, but here in America the land line has all but become obsolete. More and more people are using cell phones in their place, and I depend on mine heavily. Because of the way cell service is set up, I am able to call my mother in Miami any time I want without paying anything -- not just from here but from anywhere in the US. The Apple iPhone 4 (OS 5.01) includes an app that allows me to view in a second where any other iPhone 4 user is. The app gives me both the address and their location on the map. I don't even have to call them. Naturally that person has to have me on their list as someone authorized to do it.

Yes we are dependent on electricity, but we are even more dependent on the fuels used to generate it. In about 200 years there will probably be no more oil or gas, so all we'll have is coal, which causes pollution (especially if it's high in sulfur). I don't think they can dam up any more rivers for hydroelectric power. I think our only hope is to do like the French -- go nuclear.

Ollenberger -- if you don't like cell phones naturally I respect your tastes, but you're forgetting the simple fact that if you want to protect your privacy, simply turning the phone off will work perfectly. You can throw it in your car's glove box and use it for emergencies, such as if you were involved in a traffic accident or your car breaks down.

[ollenberger]

I don't think cellphones are evil. I just don't use one. People are dependent on cellphones. If you think or write down about how many times a day you look at your cellphone for any reason it would probably surprise you. My wife does have a cellphone for emergencies. It is a pay as you go phone and is just for emergencies. Cellphones are a great technology that I feel I don't need.

Electricity has been a necessity since the refrigerator. Fuel has been a necessity since before then. I read somewhere (cant remember where) that world fuel reserves would be empty in under 50 years. Thats just a statistic that can't really be proved though. It WILL however run out eventually. It won't last forever. The question what will everyone do then? Oil is A HUUUGE energy source worldwide.

[humbert]

I don't think cellphones are evil. I just don't use one. People are dependent on cellphones. If you think or write down about how many times a day you look at your cellphone for any reason it would probably surprise you. My wife does have a cellphone for emergencies. It is a pay as you go phone and is just for emergencies. Cellphones are a great technology that I feel I don't need.
Electricity has been a necessity since the refrigerator. Fuel has been a necessity since before then. I read somewhere (cant remember where) that world fuel reserves would be empty in under 50 years. Thats just a statistic that can't really be proved though. It WILL however run out eventually. It won't last forever. The question what will everyone do then? Oil is A HUUUGE energy source worldwide.

Regarding cell phones, exactly my point. I can understand that you feel you don't need or want one, but they're great to have around for emergencies or even non-emergencies. To give you an idea, many times I've done things such as call my wife at the supermarket to tell her to bring such and such an item that wasn't on the shopping list and later we realized we needed it.

I believe the first item that used electricity was Edison's light bulb, which was revolutionary in the sense that it turned night into day and made this a 24-hour world (before this, everthing shut down at night). Refrigerators have been around since before electricity. I even remember as a little boy in Cuba that every few days a guy would deliver a block of ice and put it in an insulated area atop the refrigerator. It was a crude system but it worked. Refrigeration powered by electricity was invented in 1902 by Dr Willis Carrier, a man in the photochemical business who had to stop his work during the summer because of the heat.

Regarding the availability of fuel, I'm not that pessimistic. I read there were still possibly some 1 trillion, 200 billion barrels of oil left in the world, and more is being discovered every day. Of course it will eventually run out, but certainly not in 50 years. Add to this the fact that there's natural gas, methane, and of course coal. According to what I read, there's enough coal for 1,000 years. Still, I strongly believe the world must get off its dependency on fossil fuels and rely more and more on sources such as wind, solar, ethanol, biodiesel and of course nuclear. If some day they perfect a fusion reactor (and I affirm they will), that should pretty much solve our energy problems right there.

[ollenberger]

The day it takes more energy to harvest resources is the day we're out of fuel. We can have resources left, but if we use more resources to obtain the resources we are after then its over. The cost of oil would skyrocket to the point where it wouldn't make financial sense.

I understand there are other sources of resources- I was saying that Oil is the main resource. We spend either 10 or 100 calories of oil for every calorie of food we eat. (I cant remember which statistic it is). This includes the oil to harvest, grow, and deliver our food. If we run out of oil we run out of food- that is if it happened now.  In the future I'd hope we would be more able to handle that transition.

We need oil for plastic. Plastic is everywhere. Not all plastic is recyclable and cant be recycled forever.

My main point being oil will run out, but will be unobtainable before it does. Life as we know it today would have to change to make up for oils absence. Other resources would have to be utilized, but we wouldn't necessarily have enough to compensate for the lack of oil. Again all of this can't be proven because of the diverse variables.

[humbert]

Of course you're right, sooner or later we will run out of oil and, of course, the fact that oil isn't used only for fuel but for the manufacture of many other things. Still, I'm sure you agree that the primary use of fossil fuels today is for fuel, manufacturing takes a back door in comparison.

I firmly believe that one reason we're still so dependent on oil for fuel is pure economics -- oil is just plain cheaper. Once this situation begins to change, you'll see the development of alternate sources of fuel skyrocket. There will even be alternatives for the manufacture of plastics and other materials that need oil. There's still so much oil out there that this hasn't happened yet. I'd even go as far as to say that it won't happen in our lifetimes.

[ollenberger]

Like I said... no way to prove any of this. It's just an interesting thought, with interesting alternatives to what today we call normal.