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This might be a stupid question … but would harnessing geothermal somehow be akin to allowing a hot ember to cool to room temp? Would we do the same to the core? I guess not since it’s radioactive and giving off heat I guess?

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It’s not a stupid question. In most threads on geothermal energy this does come up and a lot of other people have answered it though.

The short answer is that there is so much heat in the massive amount of melted rocks and metal under our feet that we could never possibly cause any sort of significant cooling of the earth.

Awesome! Then I’m onboard. Let’s do it! god knows we need the power — let’s hope it doesn’t all go to AI or to mine bitcoins

Don't worry: Jevons' paradox assures us that once the power becomes cheap enough, some application even more frivolous than bitcoin mining will be invented to consume it.

I'm waiting for replicators.

Perhaps the problem could be different. Wouldn't the energy gathered from renewable sources otherwise be used by nature? At which point will the amount we capture be large enough to impact sognificantly the ecosystem?

In theory yes, over a geological timescale. In practice, it would be like worrying about the sun expanding and engulfing the earth, when it reaches its red giant phase, when you are installing solar panels.

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