Atomic Motor - Cold Fusion of Energy & Culture: Polywell Fusion, EMC2 and Membership in AAAS

Polywell Fusion, EMC2 and Membership in AAAS

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Sparking Curiosity is What it Really Takes

Polywell Photo from EMC2 web site

For those with curiosity in science, there's an interesting follow-up over on MSNBC to a story done back in June on the late Dr. Robert Bussard's Polywell fusion approach, which seems quite promising.

After reading this article, I think that Dr. Bussard would have probably agreed with the following statement. "If you can't say anything nice Dr. Nebel, don't say anything at all." Well-put? Suggestion: Isn't it about time that cold fusion (nuclear condensed matter) scientists who have worked long hard hours and made many sacrifices for family and our nation and who have brought forward many interesting results over the last twenty years, finally deserve some mutual respect from DoE and the open science community that values free thinking and creative ideas?

As the article states:

Nebel is well aware of the naysayers. In fact, that's one reason why he's being so circumspect about the results of the WB-7 experiment. When I mentioned that he'd probably like to avoid the kind of controversy and embarrassment that came in the wake of 1989's notorious cold-fusion claims

, Nebel laughed and added, "That's well-put."

Here's something to think about from James Orwell. "Whoever controls the past controls the future. The stories we tell about the past influence how we go about deciding the future"

The MSNBC article has an interesting link to a 2007 Google Lecture Series video by newly designated DoE Secretary Steven Chu. In this video he gives a lecture on climate change and makes some positive statements on alternative fusion approaches like the Bussard design. Sure, I was interested in hearing all of this science. Great stuff. But these days it's not science that matters in many instances, but how to gain interest and respect from the general public to new ideas that excite their imaginations. Because of this, what I found most interesting in this video of all things was Chu's introductory remarks about being swapped with Larry Page in a speaking appearance at an AAAS meeting and that some people might be "surprised". I found that very enlightening.

Good thinking Mr. Page. That might be one way to get a lot more networking and software engineers (who probably think they rule the world) interested in the physical sciences once again !!! A big issue I see going forward with any fusion approach. Skilled alternative energy engineers will have to come from somewhere...right?

[Disclaimer: Without quoting exact statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to some extent I feel we've now created a top heavy society where software engineers perhaps out number physical scientists 10 to 1 compared to past decades. In the past, there was no career called "software developer" until the PC took off and educational institutions across the US compensated and turned out many more software trained individuals. Now that PCs and software are increasingly made overseas and are becoming commodities, perhaps it's time to rethink educational skills and create incentives that invest in skills and jobs needed to build the energy industries of the future ]