I've written about this in another thread but felt that it deserves a thread of its own. Across the country we see homelessness, welfare and poverty on the rise. The impact on all former income brackets and educational levels has been deeply felt from coast to coast. The economy has foundered not since 2008, but since the 1970's. We had a period of growth during the 1990's that was unrelieved and it was lead by Technology. The problem was that the technology which gave us such strong growth during the 90's was developed for an economic infrastructure whose manufacturing output was simultaneously being depleted. Thus, the enterprise software industry's injection into the broader economic model, while producing the strongest period of growth since World War II, never had a chance to become a sustaining driver of continued economic growth. Software needs something to automate. What I propose here, is the development of a new kind of Economic Engine. An engine that has the capacity to reach thousands of years into the future while transforming the way we live our lives right now. There are two (2) essential truths about our existence on planet Earth: 1) Humanity must get off planet earth. 2) We do not have adequate knowledge to produce sufficient levels of energy to accomplish number 1. When I was growing up, scientists believed that our star could become a Red Giant in 7 billion years. As scientist learned more about our local star, that number came down to 4-5 billion. After the 1990 delivery of the Hubble Space Telescope, scientist have learned even more about our star. However, well before the 4-5 billion mark arrives, as our sun burns more hydrogen, it will undergo increases in its diameter and its total energy output and that combination will alter the earth's atmosphere and push it outside the temperature range necessary to support human life, turning the temperature of our atmosphere into something closer to the atmosphere of Venus. Every year, NASA's Kepler Mission continues to find new planets close to or within the so-called "Habitable Zone." Literally thousands of planets (not all in the habitable zone) orbiting single star or binary star systems have been located by the Kepler Probe. So, it probably won't be long before an ideal planet/star combination is located that closely matches earth's mass, radius, solar orbit, temperature, geological stability, atmosphere and liquid water content. But, so what. If we can't reach the star system containing that special planet/star combination. This is what makes #2 above so incredibly important. Important not only for the future continuation of humanity, but to our economic future as well. The nearest planet with an earth-like mass orbiting its sun-like star has been discovered in the Alpha Centauri system, which is just 4.3ly away from earth. However, that planet is no earth twin. The planet is called Alpha Centuari Bb and it has a solar orbit of about 3.2 days at a range of approximately 3.6 million miles from its sun. Too hot to be another earth. Another is called Kepler 62e in the Lyra star system. 62e has an ESI (Earth Similarity Index) of 0.83 and a planetary radius of 1.61 times that of earth. She's therefore classified as a SuperEarth. But, so what. If we can't reach her. At some point we will find a planet/star combination that is a good match to earth, but even if we do find it, the distance between earth and that possible future home for humanity is too great to bridge with any technology we have at present. Most of these worlds are many light years away from earth, so getting there will take a new kind of energy that we have yet to harness. This is what makes turning our economy into a New Energy Technology model so appealing. It will single handily solve all of our Jobs and GDP problems. It will all but eliminate poverty in our country, except for those who simply prefer to opt out of the new economy. It will widen and raise the Middle Class to a level never before seen in all American history and it will spawn a multitude of new sub-industries and business models across the full spectrum of small and medium size enterprises. There will be job categories and types that we have not even yet envisioned, as a direct result of our push towards developing the new energy technologies that will enable humanity to pursue a new exoplanet. Travel between entire Star Systems will require a level of new energy technology that cannot come into existence unless begin rearing generations of human beings to work on solving the inherent problems. This would transform not only our economy but the thought process of every human being on planet earth. It would be purposeful in a way that humanity has never had purpose before. It would be the cause to end all wars and to seek out agreement and conciliation. Why? Because everyone would be working to solve the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced - finding a new home. Extending humanity's reach into another star system will demand that all of humanity work together for the common good and that is holistically transformative in and of itself. How ironic is that. That one day, if we don't pull together - we all die together. The New Energy Technology Economy is not just about "money." It is about the continuation of humanity into not just the next thousand years, but literally into the next Star System. We have absolutely no choice in the matter, whatsoever. We MUST start the process (right now) of forming a New Energy Technology Consortium consisting of Public, Private and Academic interests committed to the goal of developing new and heretofore unimagined energy technologies capable of literally lifting humanity off the planet an carrying it to its new home. Therefore, by definition new energy must be our future. We won't have a future without New forms of Energy development. Let's begin the process right now. Using STEM To Leverage the Future I'm not saying we don't need the Arts. I'm saying that STEM is our only hope to achieve the full potential of a new energy economy and to get off this planet. We have to rear our children to think in STEM terms. We have to teach our children to desire STEM realities. We must train our children to desire a STEM existence. We have to make STEM a way of life for everyone. STEM must become ubiquitous in our lifestyle. Everything we do must have some kind of STEM baseline. Without STEM we fry in the ever increasing diameter of our Star. Let's put this into better context. Some of the nearest earth-like planets in the habitable zone are light years away. Some of them are thousands of light years away - no doubt there will be others that are millions of light years away. We cannot traverse those distances through space alone. We must develop technology that enables us to travel and navigate through Time itself. Moving solid objects through Time, must require an enormous amount of Energy and only New Energy Technologies will enable us to seriously consider such methods of travel. This is where a new energy economy will spawn countless numbers of new industry types and business models. The materials requires to engineer and build such transports. The life support technology on-board such transports. The new technologies that will be necessary to deal with the negative effects of time travel. Who knows what we will encounter as roadblocks to traversing such distances through the arrow of Time. How much energy would it take to fold space, or bend it for navigational purposes. How much Materials Science will it take to develop the materials capable of maintaining stability within a Folded Space environment. The problem of Distance alone brings about enormous challenges that only a new kind of STEM based economy and way of life can solve. This is too big a problem for NASA to solve on its own. It will take an entire society - indeed an entire planet working on solving the same problems, together. In the meantime, the United States can take the lead as we always do. The U.S. can and should forge ahead and start building the first true National New Energy Technology Development Consortium and begin the process of spooling-up our science, technology, engineering and mathematics infrastructure coast-to-coast. We need to bring a form of STEM down to the Kindergarten level and start making STEM a lot less scary and difficult for our children to understand. We need to find ways to make STEM interesting, popular, exciting and fun for our kids. This will require revolutionizing our current educational systems to produce the kind of intellect and human drive that the new energy technology based economy will need to grow and flourish. Education, investment (Public and Private) and a new thought process about our purpose as individuals and as a people, are all necessary changes that need to be made in order to launch the new energy technology based economy on its maiden voyage. To locate and explore strange new habitable worlds. To extend human life and human civilization. To boldy go where no human has gone before. That should be our motto. That should be our purpose. That should be our destiny. Kepler 22b - Super Earth: A world we will never reach without a new energy based economy and a love for STEM.
Nice essay. I wish you would have defined STEM in your essay for those of us who are unfamiliar with that acronym. Would have made the read a lot more meaningful. We're not all Science geeks. Regarding making the decision to begin this kind of effort now, we can't even agree to settle issues that plague us next month, let alone hundreds of millions of years from now.
I appreciate the thought and effort you put into this. I really do. However, since we can't get these stupid fucks to plan beyond next week, I doubt they'll care much about what might happen a couple billlion years out. I would love to see our space program ramp up. So much good comes out of it both technologically and socially. Big thinkers accomplish great things. Small thinkers worry about how large a soda pop should be. The epitaph of our world will read, What might have been, had they used their brains instead of their brawn. Government uses brawn to oppress the people. Thinking of a real solution just isn't their game. Too much effort. It's so much easier to put a foot on a guys throat.
Concurrent with LBJ's "Great Society". Not a coincidence. The ONLY approach to "fix" America is Darwinistic... and that ain't gonna fly with the tit-sucking parasites or at the polls.
Default Shut the gov't down Starve the beast Let it dangle in the wind Send em all home I don't care if it's reasonable or not. If that's what it takes to stop the tyranny, do it.
Unfair. It would make the rich pay more in taxes, unless they consumed at non-rich levels, which would be another unfair scenario.