He makes some errors in the science, and engages in some armchair hypothesizing (see graph above), but the overall conclusions are not affected.
He romps through evolutionary psychology, sociobiology, and behavioral neuroscience on his way to explaining why we have an addiction to oil.
It clearly is not intended to be a definitive work. Rather, it is intended to lay a the groundwork for a way of understanding how we got ourselves into a predicament, and why it is so hard to get out.
Among his conclusions is the notion that we cannot change the biology, thus government regulation is needed. I think he's right.
He could improve his work by expanding on the explanatory power of Cloninger's tridimensional theory of personality and psychopathology. He also could benefit from expanding on what is known about the neurobiology of addiction. A bit of dual inheritance theory wouldn't hurt.
This probably cannot be done adequately by just one person; it would have to be an interdisciplinary effort. Not only that, but, once completed, it would hardly be a blog post. It would be a multi-volume series.
Link: Neuroscience and the Origins of Oil Addiction
Brain & Behavior
Environment
Comments
I would suspect that the embodied energy content of heroin and cocaine is rather higher than that. It's imported from Afghanistan, right? Further, they actually use petrol in the refining process.
Also, what if you spend your stock options on cocaine? (Which appears to be quite a common use for them.) Very studenty.
Posted by: Alex | July 7, 2008 9:50 AM
Alex : But heroin and cocaine must be very efficient to transport. They have to travel a long way but if you can transport a few kilograms of the pure drug, that's hundreds of doses.
Posted by: Woobegone | July 8, 2008 5:43 AM
There is also the fact that were they to be legal, the energy costs would become trivial.
Posted by: Woobegone | July 8, 2008 5:44 AM
"Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question." --Thomas Jefferson: 1st Inaugural, 1801
Posted by: nikki | July 8, 2008 10:07 PM