Re: Internet Vandal
I did not accept membership due to philosophical differences.
I am curious what the philosophical differences are since there is only one requirement for membership. Members include all walks of life from janitors to judges to convicts. The only activity I am involved with is the Bridge SIG (
Special Interest Group). I used to be involved in the EIEIO (
Electricians, Inspectors, Engineers, and Interested Others) SIG. David Shapiro heads up that SIG.
. . . the industry is going to make some radical changes in the next few years.
In my opinion, the electric utilities will disappear but it will take longer than a few years. I believe hydrogen will take the place of gasoline and will be derived from water and gasoline. Much more efficient solar cells will convert water into hydrogen to run fuel cells for home power and gasoline will power automobile fuel cells or hydrogen will be made available at refueling stations. I believe some solar power may be used along with wind, water, and a host of other alternate methods to produce electricity. In the far future (100 years or so) long distance transmission of power will not be done, power plants will become relics, and small groups of homes will become islands. The only power plants that will remain will be those that produce power for large urban areas such as New York, Los Angeles, etc.
I also see the super large cities giving way to the Internet and the suburbs. Central large metropolitan areas will not be necessary as people work at homes and businesses will build away from the urban centers. Those power plants will house fast breeder or fusion reactors. A fast breeder reactor uses spent uranium as damper rods in order to enrich the uranium to actually make more fuel that the plant uses. A fusion reactor (
which hasn't been developed yet) will convert hydrogen to helium and lots of electricity.
For those who wonder at the efficiency of nuclear fuel, consider the conversion of matter into energy. The formula E=MC squared is for the
actual mass converted. Notice I said the hydrogen would be converted to helium. In the process,
some mass will be lost to energy but not much and massive amounts of energy will be produced. The only way to completely convert mass to energy is to introduce matter and antimatter for complete (
almost) annihilation.
Life spans will be extended to 200 to 400 years. Most people will die because of some sort of accident, not old age (
I sometimes wonder how I made it this far when I consider some of the stupid things I have done).
I also believe world peace will happen with the next 300 to 800 years. I am taking bets on that one.
