[ExI] pentagon wants orbiting solar power stations

[BillK]

On 10/17/07, Eugen Leitl wrote:
> We *are* already harvesting solar energy. There's four orders
> of magnitude more energy at the bottom of the gravity well
> we currently need. Advanced cultures probably don't need more
> than 10-100 W for a single human equivalent individual.
>


Yes, Solar power seems to be the tech to bet your money on.

Another blog entry makes the point that when contemplating the future,
we should remember the basic principle that 'What we will get is what
the Pentagon wants'.

<http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/columns/executive_tech/article.php/3705786>
Quote:
Computers, cell phones, the Internet and GPS -- these
world-transforming technologies exist, and work they way they do, only
because the military needed them. And they proliferate in the consumer
marketplace because they're compatible with human desire.
-------------------

The Pentagon currently has a huge logistical problem supplying
gasoline and batteries to the troops in Iraq. And I mean 'HUGE'.
They desperately need solar power (or some equivalent universal power
source) and they will keep funding R&D until they get it.
Then the consumers will get it also.

BillK