Episode 45: Mark Mills - How Emerging Technologies Will Unleash Productivity

The Hale Report

The assumption that carbon fuel will recede in the rear view mirror of our electric vehicles just might be wrong. I first began to question the concept of peak oil when speaking with experts Albert Bressand many years ago, and then Daniel Yergin, both guests of this podcast. Then at a meeting in Washington of the National Association of Business Economists, I wandered into a panel session with Mark Mills. His explanation of the resource issues associated with electrification of the global economy was revelatory. It is not just a matter of sourcing rare minerals such as lithium and cobalt for batteries, it is how we will dispose of those thousand-pound batteries when they come to the end of their life cycle. One thing he said really stuck in my mind: “There is no such thing as renewable energy.” There are realities we must deal with in terms of mineral availability and toxicity. A physicist by training, Mark P. Mills is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and a Faculty Fellow at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University. I asked Mark Mills to join me on The Hale Report to explain his views on the future of energy and to discuss his book The Cloud Revolution: How the Convergence of New Technologies Will Unleash the Next Economic Boom and A Roaring 2020s Mark is an expert in all things energy, with a broader focus on the technology of energy and telecommunications. His in-depth knowledge crosses several domains, as you will soon hear. He is a first-rank iconoclast whose opinion I highly value-as do many others. Although you might think Mark is a pessimist based on his views on electrification, he is actually quite optimistic about the future. The thesis of his book is convergence- microprocessors, materials and machines will symbiotically create a new economic boom. He believes that we are at what is called a Perez irruption point, the end of the beginning of a phase change, named after the economist Carlota Perez.