Hypothetical scenario...

[Robert Walper]

Suppose that in the next couple of years, an invention comes out that defies science. Energy and power without fuel or limit. Devices (we'll call them "black boxes") are built that produce an endless supply of electrical power for any electrical powered systems. And so long as said devices are physically intact and 'on', they produce an endless supply of power. For the purpose of putting the system's size in perspective, a large house can be powered indefinitely by one the size of a small room.

How would the world change with such an invention?

[frigidmagi]

Well you can kiss OPEC goodbye, along with the coal industry, natural gas industry... Alot of what we do is based off of securing resources for power generation, coal mining, oil drilling, etc, etc. With no more need for that it stops. The middle east and other nations across the globe become backwaters of no import, Russia's natural gas industry crashes and honestly that'll hurt their economy a bit.

On the other hand, nations like Japan, China or India suddenly become dramatically less depentent on outside sources to fuel their economy allowing to grow in new ways and develop new strageies.

Nations like the US and Brazil find themselves also riding a wave of expanision, even while large sections of their economies simply disappear. Dramatic change will happen in a decade at least.

Basically expect to see a complete rewriting of who's who in the world at every level, there will be winners and there will be losers. Big winners and big losers.

[Ra]

For one thing, the oil problem would be solved, as oil-fired power stations and gas-powered cars would become obsolete overnight; within five years most people would switch to Black Box powered cars, while those who couldn't afford a new car would probably come later. Our reliance on money-grubbing, fundie wacko controlled energy supplies ended, there might be another economic boom worldwide. Also the anti-nuke whores would get to shut up, as the nuclear waste problem is no longer a thing to worry about.

Being the resident cynic, I say this economic boom would become a bubble, and then bust. Also the middle-east, without the billions in oil revenues coming from the West, goes apeshit, attacking Israel and anyone else who gets in their way, before simmering down due to a lack of *shock* money, the only thing sustaining global jihads in the first place. Massive amounts of lawsuits and corporate upheval occur here in the States as the "good old boys" system revolving around oil and politics is turned upside down. Possibly some riots by petroleum industry workers, civil instability, and a stock market that resembles a rollercoaster at a Six Flags theme park.

I couldn't say what the long-term effects would be, but literally limitless energy would basically turn the world upside down. And while lots of shit would fly at first, it would probably turn out better, in the end.