From: Samantha Atkins (samantha@objectent.com)
Date: Sat Sep 29 2001 - 02:11:09 MDT
Greg Burch wrote:
>
> Assume that you are George W. Bush's senior science policy adivosor. (This
> means that you are NOT an anarcho-capitalist or even a libertarian -- try it
> as an exercise for fun.) Now assume that you have become convinced (which
> wouldn't be hard to do) that one of the most rigid constraints on US foreign
> policy is the industrialized world's dependence on Middle Eastern oil. In
> recent briefings you have become despondent over the intractable nature of
> the conflict between the Enlightenment cultural values you hold as a
> scientist and the Islamic revivalist movement that is the most dynamic
> political and social force throughout that region. You want to propose some
> means of decreasing the West's dependence on fossil fuels.
>
> Question: What would you propose?
>
Increase the number of operational nukes by approximately 40%.
No more dependence on Mid-East oil. Much cheaper, safer and
long-term
viable. Convert all road vehicles to hybrid/fuel-cell designs.
You would still come out ahead. Relatively little R&D remains
to
be done. We mostly know exactly how to do this now. So the
chance of success is a good 99%.
- samantha
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