[Peace-discuss] Mirrors (and smoke)

Bob Illyes illyes at uiuc.edu
Mon Oct 23 14:07:58 CDT 2006


Some 30 years ago, I reviewed a paper proposing the use of huge space
mirrors to focus the sun on compact earth-based solar power plants.
I pointed out that such mirrors would also make "excellent"
weapons. You could focus them on a city, cook the inhabitants,
and take the city for yourself with almost no structural damage.
Such mirrors would be truly dangerous technology if the military
were to have control of them. And sooner or later, it would. I'm
uneasy about any sort of world weather authority.

I don't think we're going to escape serous global warming, Chuck.
With an immediate halt to heavy carbon dioxide pollution, the
temperature of the Earth would still continue to go up for many
decades due to thermal lag. If we aren't able to strengthen
international institutions adequately to handle the reduced food
production due to flooding, the result will be world war.

That said, there is much we can do to prevent even more damage and
to eventually start bringing the temperature down- passive solar
houses, improved public transport, 100 mpg cars (this is not fiction,
we know how to do this), elimination of fossil fuels in favor of
bio-diesel, replanting forests, etc. But the most important thing
we can do is figure out a way to work around the permanent members
of the UN Security Council, so that when those members violate
international law there is an effective method to sanction them.
Otherwise, world war is a given.

Bob



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