Why Oil Is Going To Double In Price

There’s nothing more important than getting the fundamentals of the narrative correct.  At the highest level, we’ve got a major problem with economies that are wedded to a system of money that requires them to grow exponentially. Forever.

This is such an easy concept to grasp that it remains a modern mystery why the idea gathers almost no attention on the world stage.

And so cultures and nations just keep pretending as if everything is going to trundle along just fine from here.

Dreams of a technological utopia continue to dazzle people and blot out realistic conversations about the magnitude of the task at hand. For example, the world’s biggest technological salesman, Ray Kurzweil, has assured everyone recently that in just 16 years solar power will provide 100% of our energy needs:

Ray Kurzweil: Solar Will Power the World in 16 Years

Solar power, driven by exponentially-increasing nanotechnology, will satisfy the entire world's need for energy in less than twenty years. 

Currently, solar power supplies less than 1% of the world's energy needs, which has led many to disregard its future significance. Where they're wrong is that they fail to understand the exponential nature of technology, says eminent inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil. Just like computer processing speed—which doubles every 18 months in accordance with Moore's law—the nanotechnology that drives innovations in solar power progresses exponentially, he says.

During his latest Big Think interview, Kurweil explained:

"Solar panels are coming down dramatically in cost per watt. And as a result of that, the total amount of solar energy is growing, not linearly, but exponentially. It’s doubling every 2 years and has been for 20 years. And again, it’s a very smooth curve. There’s all these arguments, subsidies and political battles and companies going bankrupt, they’re raising billions of dollars, but behind all that chaos is this very smooth progression."

So how far away is solar from meeting 100% of the world's energy needs? Eight doublings, says Kurzweil, which will take just 16 years. And supply is not an issue either, he adds: "After we double eight more times and we’re meeting all of the world’s energy needs through solar, we’ll be using 1 part in 10,000 of the sunlight that falls on the earth.