June 1, 2023
Stars have been exploding for a much longer period of time than the Earth has been around. About 4.5 billion years ago, it took 10 to 20 million years for the Earth to become approximately its present size; and about 40,000 metric tons (over 88 million pounds) still fall from space every year. The oceans hold 71% of it all.
Traditional mining operations have sought high concentrations of a single element or substance. Separation methods (which are widely known) are typically used only to purify the material being mined. Another paradigm awaits. Currently, it is an unopened gift. Very little is separated from the oceans.
Any separation method can be automated. When a method separates item X from a mixture, the remainder that does not contain X does not need to be thrown away. If everything is separated into many classes or groups of substances, there is no reason to be disheartened or unimpressed by the tiniest group of substance isolated. Such things are not worthless. They can be saved. Saving a separated sample leads to an accumulation. In time, the class or substance becomes worth packaging or further separating.
Why should such a powerful and obvious paradigm be ignored for so long? It is not because it wouldn't benefit new enterprises. Changing the structure, tools, legal considerations, internal culture, and identity of an existing and profitable business is not easy; and the benefit of such a change is not immediate. The path of least resistance is new business.
Much can be obtained from rivers and lakes as well, but any solid material from mountains and tunneling can be separated to find everything that naturally exists.
In the separation paradigm, the biological dimension cannot be ignored; and in considering it, yet another virtually unused paradigm is revealed:
Separation of phytoplankton into its constituent nutrients, beginning with the separation of its protein into amino acids, is of very great importance.
Phytoplankton is the bottom of the ocean food chain. Everything that lives in the ocean either eats phytoplankton or eats something that eats phytoplankton. Either way, everything in the ocean receives nutrients from phytoplankton.
Phytoplankton uses sunlight and substances in ocean water to grow. When protected from their predators, phytoplankton produces 50 times as much food per square mile of sunlit surface as does rice. Phytoplankton ponds, whether isolated in the sea, or formed on land, would protect the phytoplankton and make it available for separation.
Other than the sheer volume of food obtained by this method, another factor makes this advantageous.
People do not eat protein sources to obtain protein. Our digestive system separates protein into amino acids. Obtaining amino acids for use in the body is the real purpose of eating sources of protein. Moreover, it is safer to eat amino acids than to eat protein. This is because the digestive process does not work well on all proteins. Rarely, some proteins do us harm. It is important to understand that animals and plants make proteins for their own purposes, not for ours.
Future Beacon will continue its work toward advancing the concept of the separation paradigm.
If you have an interest in the separation paradigm, please write with your comments and questions. Constructing a world of plenty is not merely a matter of continuing practices that seem effective. With a love of humanity, and the confidence that nature itself is not as arduous as we have felt it, please think about the future.
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