Here’s a short video that a reader sent me in which Neil deGrasse Tyson explains the importance of pure research, i.e., theoretical scientific research, normally in physics, performed without an eye towards the development of anything of purpose.
He pointed out that one of Einstein’s equations laid the groundwork for the laser, which eventually became the technology by which we scan our UPC codes when we buy our consumer products, although Einstein (obviously) wasn’t contemplating that at the time.
It’s an interesting topic, to be sure. In 2011, I interviewed Dr. Martin Perl, an aging genius who, at the time, was running the Stanford Linear Accelerator, after having won the Nobel Prize in physics for discovering an elementary particle, the tau lepton.
I happened to ask him about the practical application of his life’s work, and he told me flatly, “There is none.”
I was stunned, and I immediately began to stammer to correct my mistake, ” Oh, let me ask this a different way. Isn’t there a chance that something you and your graduate students are doing could eventually have some sort of practical implication?” He replied, again to my astonishment, “Not one in a million.”
Hey, I’m not a particle physicist, so I’m not in a position to argue, but it does seem a bit weird that what we’re learning about the core components of the universe couldn’t possibly have some future application in our lives.
A couple of months ago, I happened to ask a friend who had emigrated from Sweden if she was religious. “No!” she exclaimed. “Almost no one in Sweden is religious.”
As we see at left, there seems to be a huge correlation between atheism and the national level of happiness. But what causes that?
Are believers unhappy people for some reason? That doesn’t make sense.
Here’s my two-fold theory. Atheists believe:
a) That we only live once, so we try to enjoy it while we can.
And, more importantly,
b) That we need to take care of one another (since there is no God). We’re willing to make sacrifices if that means things like great education, universal healthcare, environmental responsibility, tolerable working conditions, and near-zero poverty.
Renewable Energy
From the Independent: “Trump Administration to Pay Two More Companies to Walk Away from U.S. Offshore Wind Leases”
From this article in The Independent:
The Trump administration announced two more payouts Monday for energy companies to walk away from U.S. offshore wind projects under development.
Bluepoint Wind and Golden State Wind have agreed to end their offshore wind leases in exchange for reimbursements totaling nearly $900 million. Both companies have decided not to pursue any new offshore wind projects in the United States, the Interior Department announced Monday.
Bluepoint Wind is an offshore wind project in the early stages of development off the coasts of New Jersey and New York, while Golden State Wind is a floating offshore wind project proposed off California’s central coast.
Trump is hellbent on destroying the renewable energy industry so as to benefit his billionaire friends in fossil fuels.
He’s on course to be remembered as the most destructive person in world history, with the possible exception of Adolph Hitler.
What is said here about Pete Hegseth is clearly true.
But keep in mind that he’s fiercely loyal to Donald Trump, and Trump couldn’t possibly care what happens to the United States, as long as he can stay out of prison and enrich himself and his family.
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