Exactly. The only problem is we only have access to one habitable planet to toy with. I think it makes more sense to just adapt to the changes that will happen rather than try to manipulate a system we don't understand and can't afford to completely destroy.

I agree that nuclear is part of the solution to our current problems, but we have to get over the social issue first. Nuclear is safe the public just associates everything to do with radiation and nukes with death.

I personally think that nuclear fission plants should be used until we can get fusion working for energy production or we can make space based solar reasonably effective.

The climate and global weather systems aren't some homogenous entity. Local climate and weather is not only coupled to transient effects from the sun and random fluctuations, but also geography. Some places will get hotter, some colder. Others will have more precipitation and others less.

Also, FYI warm air can carry more moisture. So a warmer upper atmosphere == more possible snowfall.

I'd be leary of either overcorrecting for climate change or having massive unpredicted effects. I'm all for trying to fix the problem. I just don't think our climate modelling is yet good enough.

Agreed. I'm an engineering student and I'm the head of one of my student competitions which happens to involve building a high powered rocket. I had to travel on the day of an important meeting for the competition and was forced to leave the task to a rather junior member of the team. I couldn't check in on one of team members when I was in either airport because I was afraid of being labeled as a terrorist and end up in an interrogation room because I was discussing basic rocketry with a team member.

3D modelling is way easier than producing good technical drawings, and you don't need the drawings for 3D printed components. The only time you would need them is if you had to submit them to another company or for checking the part for tolerances.

Kind of. I'm saying still have the battery. Just use the small engine for range extension on long trips exactly how the volt does it. Locomotives do it because the losses from transmission from mechanical->electricity->mechanical is a lot less than the losses for the insane gearing system that would be needed otherwise and you get max power at a stop all the way through max speed on the rails.

Are you at University of Washington or University of Wisconsin?

I've worked quite a bit with 3D printers and 3D printed components. You can put together a RepRap for $500 (Makerbot has issues, mainly with belts) and the filament is overpriced, but not terribly expensive. I don't believe that these devices belong in the kitchen or living room, but most definitely in the hobbyist's home shop, or in the garage next to the table saw and drill press.

You don't need to abandon gas/other burnable fuels. An easy solution to the range problem is to outfit the vehicle with a range extender in the form of a small gasoline/diesel engine. I think 30 horsepower would do. (I'm basing that off a figure I heard years ago that cars only use 10-15 hp on the highway. 30 hp should be enough to account for losses+running accessories.) Couple that to a generator to charge the battery and run the motors/accessories, and you should have a vehicle that can have a 400+ mile range and be able to refuel at existing gas stations.

It doesn't need to be ferrous, just conductive to prevent an MRI. However that doesn't mean that he can't get an MRI. Printed composites are not terribly conductive, so that may make it possible, but I cannot know for sure without looking at the literature/testing.

Selective Laser Sintering metal printing although much stronger than typical Fused Deposition Modeling is nowhere near as strong or tough as cast and treated metal components. It has it's place and this is one, but SLS is not great everywhere.

It would create a cohesive society.

Agreed. I work in a lab developing equipment for the calibration of sensors on earth monitoring satellites. There is active research going on even for space vehicles close to home and it is difficult to tell where else this research will be of use.

I still think it can be a good way to run a society. Even in the movie the portrayal of how it would 'actually' happen there was no extreme poverty or destitution, crime was not a problem. In the end anyone could vote, but to do so you had to earn the right to do so by serving society in a useful role. Additionally I like his view on crime and punishment: If it is neither cruel nor unusual then how is it punishment?