Hi Chris and all,

The following is in my opinion one of the major problems associated with both government funding for research and our present global recession.

POLITICIANS DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT SCIENCE

(And they also don't appear to care too much about that)

Our world is controlled by a set of universal scientific laws. Those laws even control human behavior to a large degree. However, as humans we do have free wills. We are not just sophisticated blobs of complex chemicals that have learned how to search for and grow their own food.

Scientists and other trained researchers are usually the people who learn what those laws are. And they explain how they work so that governments, commercial groups, and private parties can understand them and use them to move things forward.

Unfortunately, although scientists and highly technical people are good at adding numbers and understanding how our universe works they not usually very good at serving as the government leaders such as presidents etc. who need to run countries. John Glenn would be of the few notable exceptions. He was able to have successful professional careers in both science (NASA astronaut) and politics (U.S. Senator).

The result is that our elected officials such as U.S. Presidents etc. know relatively little about science and how our universe works. And although they can understand the basic concepts behind something like the critical need for governments to develop new sources of environmentally safe, affordable energy and effective earthquake forecasting programs, they don’t have the type of technical background needed to actually get things moving forward. And unfortunately, the technical people who advise government leaders such as U.S. Presidents often don’t know how to deal with Special Interest Groups that can block the development of new energy sources etc.

So, relatively little gets done. Energy gets more and more expensive. The global recession goes on and on and gradually gets worse. Manufacturing jobs disappear. And funding for important science projects such as earthquake research evaporates.

COMPENSATING FOR WITH THAT “LACK OF KNOWLEDGE” PROBLEM

One of the best ways to get past those types of problems is for people in the scientific community to band together and as a group tell elected government officials etc. that they need to move in certain directions.

One present example of that type of effort would be international efforts to get greenhouse gasses under control so that we can avoid highly destructive global warming (assuming global warning does exist – not one of my areas of expertise).

Another example is the already relatively successful effort to get people around the world to stop using some Freon type refrigeration gasses that can damage the Earth’s ozone layer.

And there was the extraordinarily successful past international effort to eradicate the Smallpox disease. As far as I am aware the agent responsible for it no longer exists anywhere on Earth outside of several high security research facilities. So in theory anyway, Smallpox should never be able to claim another human life.

Unfortunately, for every success along those line there are many failures that result from roadblocks that are created by Special Interest Groups, from ignorance, and from a widespread lack of concern for the value of human life.

There are ways that the scientific community can get around those roadblocks. I myself have in my opinion been extraordinarily successful with those types of efforts in the past in a number of different areas of science. However, most scientists don’t know how to do that type of work that often involves learning how to get around Special Interest Group roadblocks. And they are generally not interested in learning how to do that type of work. So, progress in many areas such as the development of new energy sources and earthquake forecasting are slow.

The original version of this EarthWaves bulletin board was created by another researcher and myself to help get around earthquake forecasting roadblocks. And it has been partly successful in my opinion.

A major breakthrough with this type of effort might now be within reach. “International Society of Earthquake Precursors” personnel (ISEP) have agreed to work with me to get a special extension Web site for their present Web site developed. And if that effort is successful then it could serve as a model for similar work with other important projects including the development of new energy sources.

Along energy lines, the first step in an effort that I myself got underway some time ago to develop a new, environmentally safe source of unlimited amounts of energy has now been completed. The basic resource needed for the effort is operational and ready for energy production research to get started. The only significant question that needs to be answered relates to energy collection and distribution costs. If that type of energy cannot be collected and distributed inexpensively enough that it can compete with the cost of coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear types of energy etc. then it won’t work.

Details regarding this potential source of energy are not being released at the present time because of my concern that oil companies around the world and particularly here in the U.S. would try to block the effort. I know how to get around them. But I am not yet ready to get the next step of this project started. And I don’t want to take a chance on giving the oil companies a head start.

These are personal opinions.