Have they figured out how to shut down metastasis? Let’s hope.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
The Director’s Cut
When I wrote The Path Not Taken, over four years ago, for The New Atlantis, the original draft had to be cut to meet page-count requirements on the dead-tree edition (and it was also edited somewhat for style and content). I’ve decided to put the original, unedited draft on line for those interested, because it made some points that ended up on the cutting-room floor in the published piece, particularly regarding vehicle reliability.
It’s an even longer read now than the published one, but enjoy. Or not.
Remembering Arthur Kantrowitz
Some thoughts from Eric Drexler. I only met him a couple times, but he was an impressive man.
Life In The Twenty-First Century
Goodie. On Star has been working with law enforcement agencies to develop a system to slow cars down to five MPH in the event they’re stolen.
Gee, there’s no possible way for that kind of capability to be abused by law enforcement authorities.
A Misdiagnosis
I’m not sure what to say about this, except that I think that lack of time doesn’t adequately explain his inability to find a real woman.
Hornet Down?
I’m hearing that an FA-18 crashed into a neighborhood in San Diego, near Miramar (the former location of the Navy’s “Top Gun” school), with an ejected pilot. If so, that’s very unusual. Pilots usually do what they can to make sure that the plane doesn’t hurt anyone on the ground before ejecting (if they eject).
[Update a few minutes later]
For those without access to radio/television, here’s a live thread tracking it over at Free Republic. It doesn’t sound good–several houses are reported to be burning. Let’s hope that no one was home.
D’oh!
Here’s one for the nutty judges file. Depicted s3x with Simpsons characters is deemed child pr0n. I’m pretty sure that this wouldn’t stand up to a SCOTUS challenge, but it happened Down Under.
More Super Sizing Thoughts
From John Tierney. I’ve discussed this extensively in the past, and tied it to Shuttle costs. As I noted then, if you want to eat healthy, and not overeat (particularly the wrong kinds of foods), don’t eat out.
Space Solar Power And Launch Costs
There’s a long piece in this week’s Economist on the current prospects for solar power satellites. It’s a pretty good overview, but has a few problems. First of all, it doesn’t mention lasers at all. This is particularly a large oversight when it comes to the discussion of military applications. If space-based power is used for military logistics, it’s unlikely that it will be of the microwave variety — the power density is far too low to be practical for many of the envisioned needs. Lasers are more likely (though they will still not be a cost-effective weapon, despite the paranoia of some who will oppose the concept).
Also, in the discussion on launch costs, they didn’t spend enough time discussing the suborbital route, though they mentioned it. And while there was never much prospect of Gene Myers launching ETs into orbit, the chance that it will happen now is essentially nil, so the discussion of Space Islands is (at best) anachronistic. A description of Bob Bigelow’s activities with his orbital facilities, which weren’t mentioned at all, would have been much more useful and relevant to the reader.
[Update a few minutes later]
There seems to be a push on to get the Obama administration to adopt SBSP as a new energy initiative. Given all the other energy alternatives they want to chase (wind, terrestrial solar, etc.) why not? Even if it doesn’t pan out, it could result in lower launch costs for other things, which (as the report points out) are a prerequisite.
Metamodern
Eric Drexler has started a blog. It should be pretty interesting.