Science
is cool. Technology too. There are some incredible new developments
going on in the world, and a lot of them are really awesome. I love being amazed and surprised and just
giggly happy to see the innovative new things that are going on in the world. The things that get me the most excited are
projects about clean energy and clean water, transportation systems, urban and
parks planning, new building technologies, space travel, and oh so much
more. Human innovation is awesome.
Human
intervention blocking innovation is just obnoxious. I know change is hard, and we’re all set in
our ways. But certain things need to
change in order to stay healthy. You can’t
sit in the same position for an entire day, you’ll end up with blood clots in
your legs, just like all the truck drivers with deep vein thrombosis. Change is necessary, just like occasional movement
is also necessary.
Some
things seem to be harder to change than others.
Some things have even tried to change, only to be blocked and turned
back, and then eventually completely forgotten about. Like high speed rail. In some cases all rail has been stopped. What’s so scary about trains? Five or ten years ago everyone was talking
about setting up high speed rail lines.
California was going to create a zero-emissions line from San Fran to
LA, an electric powered rail that was connected to its own wind farm. Zero impact on the grid, entirely clean and
green. And it dried up like the rest of
the projects around the country when the money ran out. No one has mentioned high speed rail in
years.
Sometimes
things are hard to change because it’s just not possible for science to do what
we want it to. Damn science. Sometimes science is awesome – like here:
A Dream of Trees Aglow at Night - in the world where scientists are bored, and they decided to try to make trees
glow to combat boredom. And street lights.
And
whats the problem here? That people are
scared of genetic engineering. I’m
sorry, but I think a tree with jellyfish genes is pretty freakin’ amazing. I’ve always been fascinated by
bio-luminescence, but it mostly occurs underwater and in random bacteria. If it’s possible to put it in our trees? As long as this doesn’t have some other nasty
side-effect we aren’t even thinking of, just imagine how beautiful it could
be. I know I’ve driven down the dark
roads of Vermont, entirely unlit by street lights, scared out of my mind
because I can’t see anything outside the glow of my own headlights. Glowing trees would have changed everything
on that night-time drive. I would
actually like driving at night.
Science should be used to make the world a better, prettier, more efficient place. If we can save the energy and the materials from street lights, and use trees instead? I say go for it, genetic engineering isn't that scary. Its a useful tool, and we shouldn't let our ignorance preclude the use and creation of something useful. And awesome.
