There is no inherent reason to believe that synthetic fuel from electricity will be cheaper than aluminium or zinc air batteries (potentially mechanically recharged if we can't figure out a good electrolyte for rechargeable batteries). Lithium is not the only game in town, but it's the one for which most of the claimstaking patents have run out ... it will take a decade or so for the same to happen to other chemistries suitable to car and grid batteries.

For synthetic fuel you first have to go from electricity to methane and then from methane to liquid, all to just throw it in an ICE again ... that's a lot of round trip losses, makes sense to keep the old fleet running but I doubt it makes sense in the long run.

Not too different from jobs I've had in the past ... not ones I relish, but then there are lots of jobs in this world I don't relish ... but not a lot I wouldn't do when broke and with few options.

Did I suggest it should be done by slave labour?

75%.

There is no shortage of arable land in the US, also it doesn't take a whole lot of a reduction in meat consumption to make up the difference. IMO each country in the world has it's own responsibility, also one to provide temporary assistance to other countries ... but not to enable them in self-destructive behaviour.

Mankind as a hole has to stop breeding itself into a fucking pit eventually ... overpopulation of the world is not a good argument to persist in factory farming, it's an argument for birth control. We are already running out of antibiotics ... we'll run out of all magic bullet Xticides eventually.

It notes that the NOP allows it's use (which admittedly is relevant for imported food). The EPA won't certify it for any agricultural use though and it has been phased out in the EU as well. So at least the hippies who buy at the farmers market won't eat vegetables sprayed with Rotenon (unless the farmer broke the law).

PS. I don't buy organic food, but I'm starting to get allergic reactions to fruits and vegetables which I never had trouble with in the past (and not all the time now). Usually imported too when I check afterwards, I might have to become a hippy as well :/

Just ban the chemicals needed for factory farming and it becomes economical ... we'll need a far greater percentage of our population working on farms though.

"copper and sulfur" if that's the worst examples he can come up with of pesticides used in organic farming I'll take it.

I wouldn't be surprised if long term use of blood transfusions could cause allergies.

What you really want is a brain dead clone to tap blood from (and supply replacement parts when necessary).

If so, how long have select groups of people already been doing it?

Private ownership of natural monopolies is a threat to my security.

There is more competition for backbone services, not to mention the threat of Google's massive amounts of dark fiber.

From your first link :

"There are aberrations, of course. Americans are relatively productive and work relatively long hours. And within the American labour force hours worked among the rich have risen while those of the poor have fallen. But a paper released yesterday by the New Zealand Productivity Commission showed that even if you work more hours, you do not necessarily work better. The paper made envious comparisons between Kiwis and Australians—the latter group has more efficient workers."

You need bioreactors for that (ocean water is not very nutritious). PV + power to gas seems to me the best approach.

Plenty of ocean though ...

For a while it was a middle class game, for a middle class with lots of leisure time. The current remaining middle class works far more than the old middle class.

Golf is returning to being an upper class game ... but that means much less players and thus less courses.

Be sure to hold your breath waiting for that too happen.