9+ day china traffic jam...
By
Durakken,
Posted on: 2010-08-24 02:41 in Comic and Hero-Villain Culture
Yeah the multi-day traffic jam is bad enough, but the bit in the article where it mentions their coal mining industry averages 7 deaths a day is the truly pathetic part of this. 
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Imagine if our country had over a billion people when we hit the industrial age....
But seriously that is just sad to read about.
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China is vaulting and hurtling into the 21st century and its infrastructure just isn't ready yet. It's suffering from massive growing pains. What started this 9 day jam was the insatiable demand for electricity and the coal burning generators that supply it. To me the story really isn't all that funny but, it is very interesting in terms of technology, infrastructure and China's astoundingly rapid progress--with a lot of pain along the way--to join the post-industrial world.|
Originally Posted by Durakken
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That and it makes me grateful I ride mass transit.
"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."
China's advancement right now is stupid. It would be better if they tried something new and better than cars since their infrastructure isn't as there as America's is.
Now that we have readily available electricity and various electronics it makes more sense to create a public tube transportation system underground that is computer controlled. Doing so would allow for energy conservation, help with land problems, and make transportation quicker which allows for more productivity.
They're working on it some weird mass transit ideas already.
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Man, that thing just has "massive accident with multiple deaths and mutilations" written all over it.
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Originally Posted by Obsidius
They're working on it some weird mass transit ideas already.
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Did you know that, by some accounts, China is posed to surpass the US, Japan and Europe as an implementor of green technology? This is just in terms of sheer size but I think it's something we need to pay attention to. Whatever other faults China may have, I have the impression that their leaders realize there is simply no possible way for them to raise their standard of living without being green automatically. All other paths are just too costly or limited.|
Originally Posted by Durakken
Now that we have readily available electricity and various electronics it makes more sense to create a public tube transportation system underground that is computer controlled. Doing so would allow for energy conservation, help with land problems, and make transportation quicker which allows for more productivity.
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Originally Posted by Obsidius
They're working on it some weird mass transit ideas already.
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"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."
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I'm not saying that they aren't already "green"er than america or whatever. I'm saying that it's stupid to keep building on old technology to do something when you have an opportunity to build a whole new system that would be that much more better.
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Originally Posted by synthozoic
Did you know that, by some accounts, China is posed to surpass the US, Japan and Europe as an implementor of green technology? This is just in terms of sheer size but I think it's something we need to pay attention to. Whatever other faults China may have, I have the impression that their leaders realize there is simply no possible way for them to raise their standard of living without being green automatically. All other paths are just too costly or limited..
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In general I agree. And China, lacking a lot of the old infrastructure found in post-industrial countries and the expenses entailed by replacing that old infrastructure, has good opportunity to build new systems that are green right from the start.
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Originally Posted by Durakken
I'm not saying that they aren't already "green"er than america or whatever. I'm saying that it's stupid to keep building on old technology to do something when you have an opportunity to build a whole new system that would be that much more better.
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"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."
A part of whats driving this surge in growth is instability.
The populace of China has never been really particularly wealthy. There are individuals, certainly, but "poor common folk" is a fair assessment of bulk of China's population over the past few hundred years.
Suddenly, we're seeing TONS of folks in China rapidly acquiring money. Only these are folks simply not used to this kind of income level and how to handle it on a long term basis.
Because of the previous relative poverty, there is a very real fear of losing all the new wealth tomorrow. The financial and banking systems in China mostly raw and new and a lot of folks simply don't trust them. The whole system is unstable.
So, like starving men being given a meal, they burn through it all rather than pacing themselves and planning for the long term future.
They spend like crazy and always want their income NOW NOW NOW. Forget lengthy investments, many businessmen in China jump into deals wanting to make as much quick cash as possible in two years or so, and as SOON as the profit from a venture starts to dip they cash out and start another company somewhere. They might buy a factory for a single huge manufacturing order, and when it's done and they don't see more orders immediately incoming, they sell the factory right away, probably to another guy with a big order.
All this breakneck development is fueling a huge surge of growth. Factories, entire cities are going up overnight as everyone wants a piece of the action. With that growth comes a massive increase in resource consumption. Which is great in the short term.
The problem is, it's not sustainable.
The resources will not be able to keep up with demand at the rate things are going.
I point out the "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium as endemic of the current state of affairs. It's gorgeous and impressive and they spent a ton of cash to build it. They hoped to impress the world with their creation, both to encourage investment and as a point of pride.
But if you visit the Bird's Nest today, you'll find problems. They used cheap materials to build it, so you find crumbling concrete in places. Paint is peeling away revealing rotting hastily installed plywood instead of proper wall construction. Steel is rusting away due to a lack of protective treatments.
It's a live for today, forget tomorrow attitude.
And there's a real worry that the massive growth represents an economic 'bubble' that when it pops will throw thousands, even millions of companies there into bankruptcy. Which only fuels people to more frenzied money-making as everyone wants to make their profits before it all maybe falls down.
If China can rein it in, start developing real infrastructure and long term planning, there's still time to prevent a crash from happening. The current global economic downturn has help a bit to cool off growth, but it won't last.
The talk about "green" China also kinda makes me roll my eyes. Do folks know HOW many THOUSANDS of coal-burning power plants got built in China in the last 5 years alone? Not a single one with any kind of pollution controls. Ditto with the surge in car ownership.
-np
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So I assume that the top 2 cars are for loading and unloading passengers while most of the people stay in the bottom car until they are ready to get off.
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Originally Posted by synthozoic
Oh that's just the start of it. Have you seen their idea for high speed trains that run in a continous loop and never stop at stations? It's brilliant if they can get it to work.
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The first step in being sane is to admit that you are insane.
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Yep, there you have it. |
Originally Posted by starphoenix
So I assume that the top 2 cars are for loading and unloading passengers while most of the people stay in the bottom car until they are ready to get off.
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Or if the train is put in a continuous loop going around some big circuit of cities and towns, the train's occupancy goes up and down depending on time and demand.
But it doesn't have to be in a loop. The main thing this idea does is eliminate the expense of starting and stopping for intermediate stations along a route, This saves a great deal of energy and time along a route.
It's a clever idea and it's a wonder no one has thought of it before.
"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."
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Doooooom.|
Originally Posted by NinjaPirate
The talk about "green" China also kinda makes me roll my eyes. Do folks know HOW many THOUSANDS of coal-burning power plants got built in China in the last 5 years alone? Not a single one with any kind of pollution controls.
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Look, never say never.
Do you know how many nuclear power plants China plans to build to reduce its coal usage by 2050? More than 300. That's almost equal to all the nuclear power plants in the entire world presently. The Chinese are dead set on raising their standard of living and they realize there simply is no other way for them to do that except to go green. It's either that or doom the entire planet and themselves to hugely expensive environmental damage. Or just continue to wallow in the poverty of their dirty electrical generation technology forever.
I'm an optimist. They'll do it. And they'll be a shining example to the rest of us.
"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking of them."
http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...xpressway.html
That is just funny...even without the asians are bad drivers prejudice joke >.>