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CEO Wanted University Scientists Dismissed Over Link Between Fracking and Quakes

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Re: CEO Wanted University Scientists Dismissed Over Link Between Fracking and Quakes

#41

Post by iamcurious »

omgitstom wrote: post #17

What is the point of research / science if we dismiss it at the cost of generating money? I find myself asking this question all the time. I feel that capitalism shouldn't be the end goal, with a profit motive. It got us to where we are today, but I do not think it is going to take us where we need to go now or in the future.

[Capitalism] got us to where we are today.

What got us here today was a kludge of many different things. Often proclaiming to be one thing while being something different. Markets arise everywhere where there is demand and supply. So there was always some capitalism even if it was outlawed or frowned upon. At the same time, families are everywhere and the ones I know follow planned socialistic economies.

Re: CEO Wanted University Scientists Dismissed Over Link Between Fracking and Quakes

#42

Post by skore »

gadders wrote: post #12

Coal mines cause earthquakes as well [1]. Not sure if anyone has ever used that as a reason to stop doing it. [1] http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070103-mine-...

A casual google search tells me that there are about 1k coal mines in the US. The number of oil/gas wells that use fracking seems to range somewhere between 50k and 1.1m.

Re: CEO Wanted University Scientists Dismissed Over Link Between Fracking and Quakes

#43

Post by BrainInAJar »

IndianAstronaut wrote: post #40
nmrm2 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'm surprised it isn't working. Remember this next time someone suggests getting rid of tenure or cutting federal research funding. Especially for areas of research that are politically or economically hot (climate/environment, privacy, etc.)

This is actually the main reason for tenure. It is to protect intellectual freedom. Granted, nowadays due to excessive abuses by lazy faculty, the whole system is likely to die a slow death.

> due to excessive abuses by lazy faculty, the whole system is likely to die a slow death.

That's true of a lot of systems; Tenure, unionization, welfare. It becomes easy to stir people in to a frenzy to eliminate the freeloader problem while the question of whether the institution is too important to care about freeloaders remains ignored. In all the cases, perhaps freeloaders are just part of the price for a valuable system, and we should accept it.

Re: CEO Wanted University Scientists Dismissed Over Link Between Fracking and Quakes

#44

Post by Cshelton »

Sitting here in Dallas, Texas...we just had a 3.3 mag shake our tower just today. All of the Earthquakes are coming from mostly one main area of the DFW metroplex...which is an area that has a lot of fracking activity. This is getting stupid..property is being destroyed. Foundations are being cracked and these companies just get off with it while homeowners have to spend thousands to have repairs done.

A city directly north of the DFW metro, Denton, has actually banned fracking all together. Except the Texas state government already has a bill that will not allow cities to ban fracking. Talk about corruption and politics...the same money that's in Oklahoma is behind the politics here in Texas as well.

Re: CEO Wanted University Scientists Dismissed Over Link Between Fracking and Quakes

#45

Post by pas »

skore wrote: post #42
gadders wrote: post #12

Coal mines cause earthquakes as well [1]. Not sure if anyone has ever used that as a reason to stop doing it. [1] http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070103-mine-...

A casual google search tells me that there are about 1k coal mines in the US. The number of oil/gas wells that use fracking seems to range somewhere between 50k and 1.1m.

Alas, I'm not aware of better numbers.

> There are approximately 550 Class I wells in the United States. (Municipal Waste)

> The approximately 144,000 Class II wells in operation in the United States inject over 2 billion gallons of brine every day. Most oil and gas injection wells are in Texas, California, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Enhanced recovery wells are the most numerous type of Class II wells, representing as much as 80 percent of the approximately 151,000 Class II wells. (Oil & Gas related)

> There are about 165 mining sites with approximately 18,500 Class III wells in operation across the nation. (Mining via leaching)

http://water.epa.gov/type/groundwater/uic/

Re: CEO Wanted University Scientists Dismissed Over Link Between Fracking and Quakes

#46

Post by Cshelton »

pyvpx wrote: post #28
GFK_of_xmaspast wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crony Capitalism is just regular capitalism.

by definition it is not. just like communism isn't regular socialism. the world, collectively, could use much more political science education. the same could be said for nearly all bitcoin supporters (especially in the early days)

No matter what 'ism', greed is common among all of them, simply because it is a trait of human nature in many. And no known economic/social system ever tried has overcome greed...or some ruling power that kills everyone that is against them..I consider that to be a bit greedy...

Re: CEO Wanted University Scientists Dismissed Over Link Between Fracking and Quakes

#47

Post by mathattack »

greenpresident wrote: post #39
ceejayoz wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What surprises me isn't that Universities need money, it's how cheap they're willing to sell themselves. $20 million allows one guy to push around a university with an endowment and budget both more than 50x that. That's not cheap when you compare it to politics. $5-10M a year for Lockheed Martin helps it win trillion dollar projects like the F-35. https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D00000010...

Here is a description of the phenomenon, recently linked on daringfireball: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tullock_paradox

Interesting. I've also viewed it that the folks paying the economic rents are not coordinated enough to fight back.

Re: CEO Wanted University Scientists Dismissed Over Link Between Fracking and Quakes

#48

Post by juliangregorian »

ceejayoz wrote: post #27
mathattack wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What surprises me isn't that Universities need money, it's how cheap they're willing to sell themselves. $20 million allows one guy to push around a university with an endowment and budget both more than 50x that. [1] Generally naming rights involve doubling the endowment of a school. And of course you get some added influence, but $20 million in Oklahoma seems like it wouldn't even pay for 5 years of the football co…

> What surprises me isn't that Universities need money, it's how cheap they're willing to sell themselves. $20 million allows one guy to push around a university with an endowment and budget both more than 50x that. That's not cheap when you compare it to politics. $5-10M a year for Lockheed Martin helps it win trillion dollar projects like the F-35. https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D00000010...

I was surprised when I found out about the Countrywide Loans guy[0], he was buying congresspeople for low 5 figures!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countrywide_financial_political...

Re: CEO Wanted University Scientists Dismissed Over Link Between Fracking and Quakes

#49

Post by juliangregorian »

sangnoir wrote: post #36
ams6110 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nature is really the ultimate capitalist. Survival of the fittest. No safety nets, no sympathy for the losers... they just go extinct.

It's not that black and white. Ant colonies are ultimate socialist societies - communist even. From each ant according to its ability, to each according to its need

And that's not even black and white. Cheating rampant among ants: http://www.science20.com/news_releases/ant_life_isnt_a_commu...

Re: CEO Wanted University Scientists Dismissed Over Link Between Fracking and Quakes

#50

Post by undersuit »

sangnoir wrote: post #36
ams6110 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nature is really the ultimate capitalist. Survival of the fittest. No safety nets, no sympathy for the losers... they just go extinct.

It's not that black and white. Ant colonies are ultimate socialist societies - communist even. From each ant according to its ability, to each according to its need

Too much anthropomorphism. Ant colonies aren't a socialist society, they are an organism. One ant is no more capable than one human cell.
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