Democracy and Environmentalism

bozo's question doesn't have much to do with my point. It's his point and I largely but not completely agree with it. Again, I fail to see the connection between that and my points.

If you want to argue that the government should engage in various kinds of research to create new industries I'll listen. It's a tricky area though and I'm philosophically uneasy with it. That said my dad and the parents of numerous friends worked for NASA. The missle command and NASA dominate life here. There are more stories than I can count about the indirect benefits of the space program. Trust me, I understand the concept. The devil is in the details.
 
most technological innovation is organic, developed to improve or replace an existing technology. for ships, the steam engine was better than depending on the weather in order to sail. assembly line manufacture produced more than before. the gas powered engined replaced draft animals. each improvement in weapons improved our ability to fight.

alternative energy technologies don't boost production, don't make our cars less expensive, aren't cheaper than oil yet. so, no, i don't think alternative energy sets us up for some economic boom.

hook'em
 
"alternative energy technologies don't boost production, don't make our cars less expensive, aren't cheaper than oil yet."

Alternative energy will boost production, compared with production if alternative sources aren't developed. Cars will be cheaper, compared with their cost if alternative energy isn't developed. Alternative energy will be cheaper than oil, after oil's price increase in a post-peak world.

The problem is that benefits are long-term. We tend to be governed by short-term considerations.

texasflag.gif
 
before we developed gasoline engines, i suppose we could have been driving around in steam engine cars...but we weren't. there were practical reasons why not. i think alt-energy is in the same place now that steam-engined cars were back then. it's not practical yet. and govt funding of this research won't speed things along, mostly because in a contest between political connections vs necessity being the mother of invention, the politically connected waste resources that could be used by entrepreneurs to develop technology.
 
"govt funding of this research won't speed things along..."

You're right, it didn't work with the Manhattan Project and it didn't work with Apollo so why expect federal funding of alternative energy research to be any different.

God bless Texas!
texasflag.gif
 
the manhattan project was part of an actual war, not just a mere "moral equivalent of war" that liberals love to impose on us in reaction to the emergency du jour.

now, an x-prize approach to develop technologies might accomplish something.

hook'em
 
The techonology is already developed. It is the infrastructure and cost that is the problem. Chevy, Toyota, and Honda have fuel cell cars on our roads being driven by normal people as a study to show that it is very feasible for American people to drive hydrogen cars.

I wonder who is standing in the way of the hydrogen infrastructure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Recent Threads

Back
Top