<h4>Gas, $10 a Gallon, Good, Yes...No?  Maybe?</h4>
<img src="images/stories/gas_prices.gif" alt="Gas Prices" align="right" width="350" height="450"/>
          I can already here everyone shouting at me on this, "Are you crazy!?!?!  Ten dollar a gallon gas a good thing, how can you even think that?".  Believe me I can understand how one might find me naive for just stating such a thing.  All I ask is that you hear me out, at the end, if you still think I'm "crazy" I'm sorry to have taken up your time.<br /><br />
          To see an outline of possible effects of $10 a gallon gas, check out this article by Shirley Skeel on MSN from May of 2008:<br /><br />

<a href="http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveonaCar/WhatIfGasCost10DollarsAGallon.aspx?page=1">What if gas cost $10 a gallon?</a><br /><br />

          If you stopped to read the article, you may have noticed, the author sites gas hitting $10 a gallon with a crude price of $350 a barrel.  If we look at the ratios today, we can see where a gallon of gas could possibly hit that mark at just over $250 a barrel.  Have the ratios changed, absolutely.  Will you continue to pay more per gallon in the near and distant future, of course, we all will.<br /><br />
          Keep in mind that article is from 2008.  We were just starting to crash hard economically at that point.  So part of what has kept those prices down has been lower demand, due to fewer commutes and more frugally minded consumers.  As the economy begins to gain steam, we will see the demand increase as well as the prices.  The civil based issues in supplier countries are also compounding the problems.  Is this really any different from 2008?  Come to think of it, is this any different from 1970?<br /><br />
          We knew then that we had a dependency issue with oil.  Let's be honest here, the issue is not just foreign oil, but oil as a whole.  Unlike other replenish-able commodities we can not put a oil seed in the ground, tend it and come back to harvest.  The sad reality in this is that we have known for decades we need to find alternative solutions.  I don't mean alternative in the sense of supplemental either, I mean complete replacements.  Even new societal life strategies for living a possibly "oil addiction free" life.<br /> <br />
          You're probably thinking, I've pretty much killed my point?  That all I'm showing is how horrible the world would be should $10 a gallon gas become the norm.  Actually, no.  As a society we take no action that is not directly required of us.  So until the system in place strains to the point of breaking or actually becomes broken, we take little to no action.  It is just really hard to get that many people living individually to come together in unison.  To accomplish mass mutual reaction, we must impact people at the daily core of their lives.  In American history we find that these are the only times in which we as a people come together collectively to solve problems and grow as a society.<br /><br />
          I am not saying that these gas prices are some sort of conspiracy to get us to take action, to refocus on areas of scientific, technological and social development to come to collective conclusions.  Far from it, these are inevitabilities when living on non-replenish-able resources.  We just have a good solid producing industry in oil addiction so why break a good thing early.  It works, don't look to fix it.  With the possibility becoming more and more real, maybe it is the driver needed to get people to focus on true energy generation replacements.  The driver that produces a whole new way of harnessing energy for use.  Perhaps it will even challenge the conventional concepts of physics and quantum mechanics propelling us to a new and beautiful future.<br /><br />  
          This $10 a gallon gas situation could lead to a call for nation-wide mass transit.  With the majority of society feeling the pinch, getting on the buses and rails and coming to the conclusion, it is very time consuming to use these services, maybe the focus will shift to better funding of these services.  Providing much needed resources to expand and develop the overall offerings to be efficient and effective.  Maybe we will finally see the development of high-speed or Maglev super trains to get workers to the urban cores that need them from more job impoverished locations.  Combined with busing, internal to the urban and suburban centers, or other foot traffic to road methods of transport.<br /><br />
          These are just a couple of new possibilities that can come about from $10 a gallon gas.  I think what scares us the most is we are not ready for it.  If these possibilities were already in play, or close to completion, the gas issue would not be an issue.  Perhaps they are happening right now.  Maybe your neighbor has a new technology or method they are working on in their garage and just waiting to release it.  Maybe a new routing algorithm is being developed at IBM to more effectively route mass transit traffic.  It is hard to say.<br /><br />
          Hey, we can all hope.  But what has to happen for us to act?<br /><br />
John Reagan<br />
jreagan@boredbrains.net<br />
www.boredbrains.net<br />