R.C.Macaulay wrote:
At some point in time it becomes necessary to recognize some
problems have no solution tasks and simply turn your head in a
stance of inevitiability. Al Gore has profited by profiling global
warming and Bono the same with Africa but neither have a solution.
Africa is imploding in on itself, with any attempt to help being
frustrated. Climate changes occur but any attempt to modify climate
is futile. All the feeding of guilt will not solve insoluable problems.
As I expect everyone here knows, telling me things like that are like
waving red meat at a hungry lion. Frankly, such attitudes are
anathema to the spirit of science, technology, and America -- three
things I hold dear. Of course I acknowledge that people are capable
of screwing things up. Of course I know that we might destroy
ourselves and the ecology. Heck, we may destroy the world in an hour
with thermonuclear bombs. And it goes without saying that there are
some potential natural disasters we cannot cope with no matter what,
such as the Sun going nova, and there may be irredeemable man-made
disasters such as CO2 released from permafrost -- but there isn't
yet, as far as I know.
As things now stand, global warming and especially the situation in
Africa are entirely our fault, and our problem, and I am certain --
beyond any doubt -- that we have the power to fix these problems. As
John F. Kennedy said:
"Our problems are manmade - therefore, they can be solved by man. And
man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond
human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly
unsolvable - and we believe they can do it again."
Anyone who doubts that is betting against the tide of history. You
are betting against human resilience which has survived incredible
trials for millions of years as we came through "the evolutionary
furnace" as Florman called it. And you are forgetting that we have
transformed the whole face of the earth and we can do it again, and
again; we have untold energy at our fingertips; the bounty of the
whole solar system just outside our reach; and we are surrounded with
everyday technology that people even 150 years ago would have found
"indistinguishable from magic." How can anyone doubt that we have the
power to forestall global warming, or bring properity to the millions
of people in Africa?!? Strictly in terms of material resources and
physical energy, we could easily create as much wealth for all 6
billion people as only a first-world millionaire enjoys today. The
only thing stopping us from doing this is widespread ignorance and
the will to act.
Are there food shortages? We could grow enough food for everyone on
earth in an area the size of Atlanta. Is there not enough meat? In
the last few years, my friends at NewHarvest.com have brought the
cost of cultivated meat (meat grown in vitro) down from $100,000 to a
few thousand dollars per kilogram. It is just a matter of time before
meat will be as cheap as tofu, and as clean and easy to make. Do
people in Africa lack capital? Look at what the Grameen Bank has accomplished.
No technically educated person should claim these problems cannot be
solved! There are only two difficulties: 1. Deciding which of the
many solutions is most likely to work, at the lowest cost. 2. Pushing
aside the ignorant naysayers and greedy fools who say we can't solve
the problems and we should just give up.
Here is what we must believe and act upon, right up until the last
member of our species goes extinct. In October 1941, after 10 months
of war, Winston Churchill said:
". . . surely from this period of ten months this is the lesson:
never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never -- in
nothing, great or small, large or petty -- never give in except to
convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never
yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
Regarding our special predicament: I don't care if Albert Gore and
100 million scientists world-wide refuse to look at cold fusion, or
ridicule it, or promote crazy ideas such as ethanol instead. I don't
care about the "apparently overwhelming might" of Nature or the DoE.
If we try hard enough, and we are lucky, we WILL push this vast crowd
of idiots aside. It isn't a sure thing. But I am not finished yet,
and frankly I wouldn't recommend you bet against me.
- Jed
