New York Times on the Web Forums
Resource
Area for Forum Hosts and Moderators
Technology has always found its greatest consumer in a
nation's war and defense efforts. Since the last attempts at a
"Star Wars" defense system, has technology changed
considerably enough to make the latest Missile Defense
initiatives more successful? Can such an application of
science be successful? Is a militarized space inevitable,
necessary or impossible?
Read Debates, a new
Web-only feature culled from Readers' Opinions, published
every Thursday.
(12717 previous messages)
rshow55
- 05:11pm Jun 27, 2003 EST (#
12718 of 17697) Can we do a better job of finding
truth? YES. Click "rshow55" for some things Lchic and I have
done and worked for on this thread.
We know enough now to solve these
problems - the energy problem on a profitable basis
- the carbon sequestration problem at a cost that ought to be
satisfactory - far lower than alternatives I've seen -
starting from where we are.
Some things are clear.
Both jobs need to be done at large scale -
on equatorial oceans. That is where the sunlight is, where
the calm conditions are - and where the area is.
Neither job requires breakthroughs - the
solar energy job could be done with photovoltaic
efficiencies of 3% - for very cheap solar cells -
(efficiencies now held to be too low to be commercial) -
rather than the higher efficiencies now thought to be
necessary. High efficiencies are plainly better than lower
ones - but most of the engineering tasks required for large
scale solar hydrogen would remain unchanged if 30%
efficiency collectors were available to substitute for 3%
efficiency collectors.
The job of burying hydrocarbons made by
photosynthesis is a straightforward one - and plants and
equipment now available could be used, though improved plant
selection, breeding, and harvesting machinery would reduce
costs as experience accumulated.
Both jobs require an appreciation of scale - and
involve scales that FDR or Eisenhower would have understood
and been able to handle very well.
Big scales. Where essentially identical jobs are done -
efficiently - many times. I'm taking a while trying preparing
a better draft of the "briefing" I have in mind.
A main message is this. The DOE and other agencies are
doing excellent work - worthy of support, and maybe more
support than they are getting. But some large scale
engineering decisions are already well defined by
circumstances - and these circumstances - which aren't likely
to change - ought to be understood.
gisterme
- 03:22am Jun 28, 2003 EST (#
12719 of 17697)
I wish robkettenburg03 would get a life.
lchic
- 03:58am Jun 28, 2003 EST (#
12720 of 17697) ultimately TRUTH outs : TRUTH has
to be morally forcing : build on TRUTH it's a strong
foundation
... a different life ...
lchic
- 05:32am Jun 28, 2003 EST (#
12721 of 17697) ultimately TRUTH outs : TRUTH has
to be morally forcing : build on TRUTH it's a strong
foundation
Pop Popped to Iraq (?) GU Talk
http://talk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?50@@.4a9157f2
fredmoore
- 09:58am Jun 28, 2003 EST (#
12722 of 17697)
"Hear Ye ... if ears reach out to listen ... why then not
assume that minds reach out to Learn Ye ... 'learning' is key.
(re fredmoore above) "
Well ... say around 5% of students fit that bill and want
to learn.
What about the rest who are caught in the system?
They are the ones who need good, motivated, well paid ( IE
happening) teachers. They are the ones that are easily
distracted by media hype if not given the inspiration of good
teachers.
Being blinkered and not looking at the whole system will
inevitably lead to confusion. If people want improvements in
the US educational system, start at the TOP and give teachers
the salary and funding to get on with the job and get beyond
the 'alligators' snapping at their creative energies.
Dr. Frederick Von Frankenstein.
Suite 2, level 8, 305 Pitch st Sydney.
lchic
- 01:24pm Jun 28, 2003 EST (#
12723 of 17697) ultimately TRUTH outs : TRUTH has
to be morally forcing : build on TRUTH it's a strong
foundation
The question that comes out of the above FVF is
What is it about the Edu-Sys that switches
kids to OFF?
- competitive aspect -- only 5% see themselves as
succeeding
- failure to re-enforce sucessful
individual-edu-skills-growth
- failure to dove-tail Edu-Experience with real world
- minds not knowing where they will later 'fit' in the
general system
- need for a teen-work-edu-system that's both in-out of
classroom
- total underfunding of Edu-System
(4974 following messages)
New York Times on the Web Forums
Resource
Area for Forum Hosts and Moderators Missile Defense
|