From: george murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Date: Sat Sep 07 2002 - 14:00:57 EDT
I agree with much of what has been said about the desirability for
more intensive work on fusion as an energy source and on the obstacles that
have to be surmounted in order to achieve useful fusion energy. Though what
little work that I've done in plasma physics has been purely theoretical & no
one in their right mind would let me near expensive laboratory equipment,
controlled fusion research is something I've long been interested in from a
distance.
But what I want to comment on here is a different aspect of the
question, one that verges more on theology & ethics. This is the fact that
many people assume that controlled fusion as a useful energy source _must_ be
achievable if we are simply smart enough and work hard enough at the problem.
In part this is due to the fact that - as Glenn & others have pointed out -
the world will _need_ fusion energy in the long term if anything like modern
civilization is to survive. But it's also connected with the almost
irrepressible _technological optimism_ especially of American society. We
built the Panama Canal, got rid of smallpox (at least so far) & landed human
beings on the moon.
Of course we can build a fusion reactor.
But there is no guarantee that this is possible. Of course controlled
fusion is possible - the sun does it all the time. But short of building a
star, it may be that plasma instabilities and all the other problems that
beset controlled fusion research will mean that fusion as a source of power
for everyday use just isn't viable.
To take another problem: The successes of the last 150 years in
containing many infectious diseases led people to assume that the "conquest of
disease" was a real possibility & indeed was very close. But the emergence of
viruses like HIV & the development of antibiotic resistance via natural
selection now make it appear likely that such a large-scale conquest just
isn't in the cards. The world doesn't work that way.
Or consider a stronger example: A lot of people brought up on science
fiction (in which group I include myself) assume that interstellar travel must
be possible in some way other than a slow sub-lightspeed creep between star
systems. It must be possible to develop a warp drive or jump through
hyperspace or something. & maybe there are some fundamental things about
physics that we don't know that will make that possible. (I think
investigations into the nature of cosmological dark energy may be promising in
this regard.) But there's no reason to think that this has to be possible
just because we want to get out of the solar system. Again, the universe may
just not be built that way.
Implications:
1. The parts of the space-time universe accessible to us are
characterized by finitude. There will only be finite energy resources, our
life spans will always be finite, and we are limited to a finite part of
space.
2. Appropriate use of technology is part of the vocation which God
gives to humanity, but if we think we're going to use technology to build the
Kingdom of God, we're going to be disappointed.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Interface"
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