"When someone comes to your door asking for your vote, ask about not only the future, but also about today. If the candidate offers only status quo and dogma, wish them a good day and move on."
I read an interesting article this weekend about climate change. It was fun to read as some of it was common sense, some was the direction we are headed, and some made so sense what-so-ever. It spurred my thinking, thereby giving me some fodder for deeper thought. Besides all of which, today I need to take a brief break from all politics, all the time. Like everyone else, it is starting to wear on me, as we get closer to a week from tomorrow.
Okay - maybe this will not totally devoid of politics. What we need today, with people representing us, are change agents. I'm sorry - every time I hear someone from the Left say they are "progressive", I need to chuckle. Why? They are not progressive - not even close. They are tied up in dogma. And no progressive exemplifies that better than Education Minnesota. More of the same, more of the same, more money, same results. Meanwhile, the system remains broken, the achievement gap has not budged, inner city schools continue to be failures, many kids don't graduate, and many kids who do graduate don't know spit.
Every tool needed to fix our sagging education system is available today. Right now. Jeff Johnson knows that. He wants to fix our education system. However, by doing so, he will need to smash the status quo. Destroy dogma, the nesting ground of the school unions. That is why Education Minnesota can't stand Jeff. He is a threat to them.
During my days at Control Data, Plato, a computer based learning system, was developed. However, in the 1980's, society was not ready for for Plato. But Plato, and others like it (and better than Plato), are around today. I could go on for ten pages on how education could be reshaped using today's (and even yesterday's) technology - but I won't. I will only say this much - education reform, getting more for less, is possible today. VERY possible.
The article on climate change was dripping with doom and gloom, like most of them are. "We MUST get out of our carbon producing transportation devices!", the article said. And soon. Is that possible today? Yes and no. Yes, in that many companies can offer more telecommuting jobs, but don't. Why not? Trust and dogma. Today, thousands of jobs which are not home based, could be. Again, we need to break the status quo. Otherwise, we will remain stuck in the muck of dogma with jobs like we are in education.
There will be MASSIVE changes by 2025, or shortly thereafter. Trust me - this is fact. I have addressed this issue many times before, so I will only touch on it today. In less than ten years, people who cannot work from home, will be whisked to their employment location at 80+ mph. They will travel on roads which are filled with other autonomous vehicles also going the same speed. You will have no need to park, as you will be let off at your place of employment. When you want to go home, you just order up a ride on your smart phone.
Everything will be all electric. Most homes will have durable solar roofing resting over their shingles. Their efficiency rating will be at least double of what it is today. Capacitors will be in every house, to retain the excess power collected during the daytime. Most every item in the house will contain IoE (Internet of Everything). There will be no more cable as all communication will take place over the newly released 6g internet. Hyper-sonic transportation will start to be available for trans-Pacific flights. Robotic services will be prolific in many jobs which were once low or no skill.
Then what will be possible later? Not even futurists can fathom that one! Some articles I have read have discussed by 2050, we will not only have explored the Moon, but also started mining the vast amounts of Helium 3 which resides there. We will have finally explored all the unexplored areas of our oceans and Antarctica. We will have colonies on Mars, and will have started interstellar exploration. Electric transportation will be over, as hydrogen will be the fuel used on most everything that moves us. Keep in mind - 2050 will only be 25 years after the year which starts the era of the Great Change - that would be 2025.
When someone comes to your door asking for your vote, ask about not only the future, but also about today. If the candidate offers only status quo and dogma, wish them a good day and move on. If however, they offer positive change by what we have today, to smash the status quo, to keep an eye on the future, you might have someone to vote for.
I would propose something similar. If a candidate says we need to "do something" about Climate Change, threaten them bodily harm if they do not leave your doorstep immediately; they are brass-plated idiots.
ReplyDeleteAnd what use is Helium-3? Hydrogen-3, yes, but helium???
Solar rooftops are great, my house is designed for them, just waiting for the cost to drop by 90+% to make it economically viable.
And I'm not sure about the rest of it, either. I'm still using the same cell phone as I had 20 years ago and I still have a land line. I have two gas-burning cars and I intend to keep them for the next 20 years. And if anybody thinks all these electric cars can be powered by windmills, they probably believe we can just put the windmills on top of the cars and driving will charge the batteries!
Good reply Jerry, but Helium 3 is correct according to Popular Mechanics.
DeleteOK, I learned something. Helium three is useful "in MRI machines and [smuggled] plutonium detectors" and in "second generation fusion reactors. I can't imagine we don't have enough Helium 3 on Earth for the first two, and we don't even have FIRST generation fusion reactors working yet! Appreciate the long view, but SyFy is about equally accurate.
ReplyDeleteAs for getting off our fossil fuels, the first question must be WHY? manmade CO2 is a tiny blip on total CO2, which is a tiny fraction of Greenhouse gasses, which is a tiny fraction of the atmosphere. We are being told that altering the atmosphere by 4 parts per million will prevent a climate catastrophe. I predict that won't matter. Now if we want to find new energy sources that are cheaper and more reliable than coal/oil, have at it, and if produces less CO2 we won't mind one bit.