I don’t understand why there’s no secondary option if Strait of Hormuz goes down. Obviously there are alternative routes out there but why big gas companies even governments did not see this coming. Are they okay losing billions? Or do they actually have a plan that ordinary people don’t know about?

  • starlinguk@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    The oil companies made a backup plan, patented the hell out of everything and then shelved it. Source: I used to work for one.

    • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      A patent means that a design is publicly published. If it was patented there would be designs that anyone could read and build for personal research. There would be YouTubers showing off their work. This happened 15 years ago when 3d printing was still under patent protection.

      China in general doesn’t care about US patents until they’re big enough to be sued. It would be on Aliexpress next to the retro game consoles that include hundreds of stolen roms.

      And Patents are only good for 20 years.

      So yeah, quit the bullshit. I’ve heard stories about miraculous inventions being patented and sat on by oil companies for 50 years. There’s no car that can run on water. They’re all scams that became urban legends.

      • starlinguk@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Gee, I wonder who’s right, the person who literally worked for one of the largest fossil fuel companies in the world or the random Internet stranger 🤔

        • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          If your claim is true then you could show the patents. They’re public. You’d know that if you actually worked for an oil company in the capacity to know anything about patents.

          I taught a TCPIP class a few times to Chevron in Houston so technically I worked for one of the largest oil companies in the world too.