I am not going to write about nuclear power. By the end of this article, you will know why. The global economy is on the cusp of its Fourth Industrial Revolution. And like the previous three, this one will be driven by — quite literally — a concentrated burst of energy. In the early 19th century, the original Industrial Revolution was based on harnessing steam energy; in the late 19th century, the second followed with the employment of electrical energy; in the late 20th century, the third was built on the exploitation of computing energy. And, as will become all too apparent in the coming decade, the fourth will be rooted in renewable energy. Such supercharged progress is born from mixing the most basic laws in the universe, thermodynamics, with economics. When humanity harnesses a higher form of energy, we are capable of doing much greater amounts of work with it. And much greater wealth results. There is nothing more to it. Nor less. We are leaving the age when, to generate power...

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