How America Lost Its Leadership in Technology
I’m not sure what features of 21st Century America scare me most. How, precisely, did we go from being the world leader in technology and innovation to becoming an afterthought in just a decade or so? The answer is found, as usual, by following the money. Big money has lined up on either side of Congress, resulting in an atmosphere that is so fiercely partisan and deadlocked, and so hostile to the concept of government generally, it’s amazing we can still muster public support for our fire departments.
Of course, my area of focus is energy, so I happen to see this playing out mostly in that space, but I’m sure the people following the other major industry sectors are struck by the same phenomena.
Here’s an article on the Romney/Ryan ticket and its alignment with Big Oil. If you want to know why the Chinese are leaving us in the dust vis-à-vis innovation in energy (arguably the most important arena in the 21st Century), you really don’t have to look that much further than this level of corruption and stupidity.
The article and the link overlook the fact that China is committed to developing the liquid thorium fluoride reactor (LFTR). For considerably more information, do a google search on “china thorium molten salt reactor”. Actually, they are working on two types of nuclear reactors that would use thorium instead of uranium. Unless we get moving, and fast, we certainly will be left behind.
My fear is that we will fail to expand the use of nuclear power and fail to develop a better, safer, and more economical nuclear power system until after it has been conclusively proven that renewables are not up to the task. The developing countries, to lift themselves out of poverty, will clamor for more energy regardless of how dangerous, dirty, and conducive to global warming it is. Already Germany and Japan, which are fully developed countries, are increasing their use of coal in an effort to jettison their use of nuclear energy. The non-nuclear energy sources which will provide sufficient power will be so destructive that it will little matter what energy sources we use here in the U.S. of A. By the time that we finally realize that without nuclear power civilization as we know it is doomed, it will be too late. Human beings will not become extinct, but there will be famines and wars that, with modern weapon technology, will be far more destructive than anything the world has ever previously known.
Rejecting nuclear power on the basis that it is too dangerous would be comparable to rejecting the use of automobiles because too many people break their arms cranking them. Just as the solution to broken arms resulting from cranking automobiles was to develop a better starting system, i.e., electric starters, the solution to the undeniable risks of nuclear energy is to implement a safer nuclear technology.