The Combustion Trap
by Glen Hendrix There is a science fiction novel, Transmat World , that mentions "The Combustion Trap". It is the name of a theory wherein all civilizations go through the same process. The discovery of fire and its gradual increase in utilization to the point of planetary ruin before the civilization realizes it is even in trouble. In the book it is a theory put forth by an alien robot thousands of years in the past, but it is a serious subject that political leaders and scientists ignore at the peril of the future of humanity. Image courtesy of Alun Salt under a Creative Commons License. The atmosphere has been in equilibrium, more or less, for millions of years except for the great extinctions that wiped out most of life on the planet due to volcanic upheavals or comet/asteroid collisions. It has always recovered. For the next extinction , we are going to have to come up with a work-around for two r...