The system will tend to resist change. Any breakthrough that makes things better will almost always suffer harassment if not outright violence. Look at the treachery involved in trying to stop Tesla from producing cars.

Actually since production prices drop the retail cost of the product should also drop in an honest sales economy. Think of the savings when a farmer knows that a failed crop is next to impossible. Also consider an organic farm on a house roof top. The insulating effect from either cold or heat can save the home a bundle. But best of all an organic, indoor farm can exist as a long wall that surrounds a community thus defining the community and effectively walling the area off from crime. We know that people do not do well when neighborhoods lack an identity. That single entrance community with multistory indoor farms surrounding it rules out armed robberies and drive by shootings almost perfectly.

If quality equipment is purchased and oil cooling is optimal i doubt that internal maintenance will be much of an issue at all. Oil immersed gear if free of dust and runs cool therefore components tend to be very long lasting. No fans or moving parts may be needed at all. I have experience with cooling towers for industrial chillers and the amount of water used can easily exceed the cost of electricity to cool a large building. I am aware of one school that had worn out baffles in an AC cooling tower and used $80,000 in city water in one month. using water from a lake or stream is usually forbidden by environmental codes as the heat released by exhaust water tends to change the entire ecology of the water source.

Drones are saving large numbers of our soldiers as well as keeping innocents safe in conflicts. No longer need we bomb an entire city to kill one or two bad guys. That drone may have a human operator or be on auto pilot. But my point is that smaller robots may well be of more vital importance than huge robots. We do not need to stomp down cities like Godzilla. But a small drone with a small grenade flying through a bedroom window can kill an enemy without killing thousands of innocents. I do see that very large robots could get the public more aware and more eager to see high function robots and that might lead to better funding and training of engineers which is great. But in the end the tiny robot is what we really need the most. A self driving car may well have the "robotics" built into the dash board and look like any other car. The robot is essentially invisible. And the robot can actually be spread about in various nooks and crannies of a machine. We need not fixate on a robot that we can see as an entity in itself. Imagine a very simple robot such that each leg of a table adjusts so that the table is level and does not rock on its legs. The robotics could be concealed within the table legs and no one would suspect unless the table was moved and the legs needed to adjust themselves to the new place on the floor.

We have had a local problem with companies refusing to hire people over rather old misdemeanor arrests. In a way imposing a permanent penalty for law breaking has its merits but we do see people with very minor violations suffering permanent harm even though only a small fine was the penalty. Yet I do see an issue with a job candidate who has a perfect record being passed over by someone who had a drunk driving conviction thirty years ago. Should we not always promote or hire the best?

Think of the built in resistance that already exists. Condominium and rental apartments are frequently next to impossible to convert so that owners or renter can easily recharge their electric cars. I don't have data on the subject but maybe one half of all housing in the US is rental, condominium, dormitory or military post housing. That means a hard uphill for electrics taking a huge market share. And the sick part is that we all really need to go electric.

No government on this planet wants or accepts private communications. In one sense of the term secrecy is in itself a hostile action and not just by nations but by individuals as well. A simple example is Russia. Because we do not know exactly what the Russians are doing at all times we carry a heavy expense burden of trying to be able to defend against any hostile actions by any new imaginable technologies. So secrecy is sort of an act of war. Taken down to the man and wife level any degree of secrecy puts stress on the party who does not know all about the mate. A parent must take precautions and purchase various forms of insurance as it is so well known that teens will keep secrets from their parents. It all boils down to secrecy being a rather overt, hostile act. And it works in both directions. It means nothing to be able to vote when a government is allowed to keep secrets from the public. Should I vote for a man who wants to shrink our military when i am not allowed to know the true strength of our weapons?

Early on I built industrial scale robots for universities to train engineers and other professionals. This was about 1985. Deaths and severe injuries did occur in universities and we found that making robotic systems idiot proof is next to impossible as idiots are so very creative. In essence the robotic arms were moving at about the same speed as the tip of a golf club when the user is trying to hit a hole in one. Combine that with the portion of the arm in motion weighing over 300 lbs and you can picture brains covering the walls of a robot lab. Naturally we used the floor mats that shut down the arms if someone got near as well as the usual blinking lights and honking horns as did other shops supplying universities. Yet people did die from time to time. They moved the floor mats or disconnected the leads. Obviously the same can happen in industry although some safety systems now do things that we could not back them. I think the public would be stunned if they knew what robots could already do in 1985. The limiting factor in deployment was not the ability of the robots but the vision of corporate officials combined with the cost of the required technicians back in those days.

From a moral standpoint can we allow even one death from oil or coal to take place without murder charges being applied to the culprits? Jobs or perpetuating current lifestyles are not an excuse for allowing even one death or disability from coal or oil pollution. Greed has twisted minds. We can measure and know that shutting down seven large cruise ships would equal getting rid of every gasoline engine in the US. But who has cried out to stop large ships from burning the worst possible fuels? Who has cried out about stopping international air traffic that is proven to spread germs quickly around the globe causing all kinds of health problems for the masses. Your immune system is being beaten into the dust by over exposure to germs caused by tourism. We are an insane society hell bent on doing the things we have always done as gutless masses cry out in fear of change. Like the insane we keep doing exactly the wrong things over and over again.

Three Mile Island was an eye opener as well.

The problem with nuclear power is the degree of harm it can cause. The world has already seen incidents of nuclear contamination that are far from trivial. The recent Japanese disaster will be harming human and animal life for centuries. Take a look at ocean front nuclear reactors in the US alone. Imagine rising seas and a need to disassemble these nukes and move them elsewhere. Could it even be done? I'm in Florida near a nuclear plant that sits about three feet above sea level right on the beach. When 9/11 occurred we had the German air force protecting our nuclear plant in Florida the next day. As I was born during WW2 seeing the German air force flying over my home was creepy to say the least. Yet we are sitting on tidal energy here that exists 24 hours every day all year long. And the amount of tidal and water current energy locally could probably power most of the US.

They listened to the bean counters. They put more and more junk advertising per hour on TV. Then they got the notion that having less episodes of a series would save a buck. Viewers fled over the air TV in droves. Ads should be restricted to 1 one minute ad per hour. Series should be designed to run 52 weeks a year with a new episode every week. That holds viewers. You could chart the encroachment of advertising and the shrinkage of new episodes of series and offer a strong proof of why business types simply can not run successful TV networks. Right now i would give up all over the air channels for Net Flicks.

Programming a chess computer or just using a chess computer can teach one quite a lot. The computer is essentially given a lot of rules and values are programmed in. For example a script aimed at capturing a queen in six moves without suffering a major negative can be installed. Other scripts might seek a certain advantage in 5 move or in 15 moves. The end result may be a very, very strong chess game that no human has ever played before. These programs have already reached a point at which humans offer only a tiny challenge to them and if one looks at the game as art then the art produced is likely to be totally original. The type of goal oriented programming exemplified in chess programs does not always extend well to other challenges but by any fair definition of creativity common chess programs meet the tests. Now imagine what can be done with a game of checkers. No human should ever win a game of checkers against a decent computer program. In other areas such as music programs can adjust every note slightly so that perfect pitch for every note is the norm. Human players simply can not play that perfectly so the music produced is singular in quality. I suppose that is musical intelligence beyond human abilities.

GM had a much sought after electric car and declined to allow customers to keep the car or get access to new ones. In other words GM has shown a dedication to stopping electric cars. This is likely an attempt to ruin Tesla rather than any real commitment to advancing electric vehicles. So go buy a Chevy electric and learn that if you lay down with dogs you get up with fleas.

Although I think a confederate flag other than the battle flag should be flown I suspect that taking down the stars and bars will cause quite a severe reaction in the south. That flag honors our southern war dead from all wars and not just the civil war. Southern soldiers are well known for ferocious dedication and bravery during really heavy combat. Many people will be severely hurt by states not flying the flag and it may well spark violence. The confederate flag has nothing to do with race at all. Black soldiers fought for the south as well as white soldiers.