If current technologies can't solve the problem for political/societal reasons? We need better technologies.

Improving technology is easy. "Just fix everything that's wrong with the society and the problem will go away" isn't.

It's way, way easier to improve solar panel and battery storage tech until fossil fuels are completely uneconomical than to get the entire world to abandon fossil fuels while fossil fuels are the most economical source of energy by far.

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Marha01 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Exactly. What the "JuSt ChAnGe ThE pOlItIcS" people don't get is that it could often be easier to develop a much better new technology to solve a given problem than to fight with the political and societal establishment in order to force it to implement a solution using existing, worse technology.

	▲	watwut 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Their argument is that the problem remains, just with different technology. And the problem of corporations being too powerful will get only worst if said corporation gets more power via new technology. The problem of fascists actively creating technology feudal hell for majority will also get worst if those get unique access to powerful technology.

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jasonsb 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> It's way, way easier to improve solar panel and battery storage tech until fossil fuels are completely uneconomical than to get the entire world to abandon fossil fuels while fossil fuels are the most economical source of energy by far.

No it's not. I mean technically it is, you're 100% right. But politically you're 100% wrong. They can't wait to slap a tax on sun, panels, storage etc. and bring your costs of living higher than when you were using fossil fuels.

	▲	ACCount37 7 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		You can fight the economic forces, but you can't win. The moment you stop pushing against them is the moment the economic reality reasserts itself. Even if one administration was all in on fossil fuel, and fully opposed to renewables? Best it can do is buy fossil fuels some time, in one country only. In the meanwhile, renewable power is going to get even cheaper - because there are still improvements to be made and economies of scale to be had in renewables. Fossil fuel power not so much. The economic incentives to abandon fossil fuels would only grow over time. This is the kind of power the right technology has.
	▲	scarmig 7 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Even if you believe that the US government is 100% dominated by fossil fuel interests and everything it does is to ensure their existence and profitability in perpetuity, if solar or renewables became sufficiently economic, those interests (at the behest of their shareholders) would start investing in renewables for the sake of higher profits.

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watwut 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

See Trump attacking wind and solar energy, trying to use his power to stop it. See Republicans applauding it.

The tech was the easy part. The social and political issue is the impossible part.

	▲	ACCount37 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		In the long run, Trump changes nothing. It's not like Trump can to make the learning curve work backwards and make the economics of solar power worse globally, the way it was done to nuclear power. Solar power can already compete with fossil fuel power on price, and it's getting cheaper still. The economic case for fossil energy is only going to get worse over time. Even a string of anti-fossil-fuel administrations in the US could only delay the renewables for so long before the cost of propping up fossil fuels would become unbearable to the country's economy.