Simon Michaux is an associate professor at the Geological Survey of Finland who is obsessed with ensuring humanity survives the transition away from fossil fuels that he and many others see looming on the horizon. We’ve previously spoken with him about his “purple transition,” his thorium reactor, ammonia engine, and alternative battery chemistry vision for a resource balanced future (Ep 259) and about the inspiration he’s gleaned for his work from the Jacques Fresco and Venus Project (Ep 275). In this third installment, we dig into the details of Simon’s Prometheus Project, both in context of what kind of resources are necessary to build an ambitious demonstration city in a mineral rich region of the Peruvian desert, and in context of what kind of people he needs to make his plans become a reality. Can Simon succeed where so many others have failed?
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(00:00) Go! Overview of the Prometheus Project
(00:13:23) Utopian Ideals and Human Nature
(00:23:26) Cultural contrasts in literature
(00:28:00) Engineering against environmental challenges
(00:34:00) Collaborative decision-making in Finland
(00:44:21) Social dynamics in planned societies
(00:52:16) Formulating a new social contract
(01:15:04) Sustainable Development in Challenging Environments
(01:29:25) Defenses Against External Threats
(01:38:39) Nuclear Technology and Geopolitical Considerations
(01:49:23) Grassroots Funding and Project Launch
(02:10:04) Challenges in integrating financial sustainability into visionary projects
(02:19:04) The role of technology in solving resource challenges
(02:33:00) Challenges of societal transition
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PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities.
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