Ready for free energy?

Page first edition 3/03/2009, last updated 14/11/2013.

You are invited to join me on a revealing thought experiment. We have all heard the rumours about UFOs or flying saucers zipping around our skies at incredible speeds making no noise and creating no known sign of pollution. Let us imagine what would happen if one of those saucers landed at a large aircraft or car factory and the alien occupants got out and showed the people there how to build their own saucers.

At first everyone would be very excited about using such speedy craft and the rich would be only too happy to pay multiple millions for them. The factory would make lots of money and be able to ramp up production and costs would start to come down. The world's millionaires would be all smiles as they nip all over the world in a matter of minutes attending to their businesses and leisure. Some of them would even use their saucers to help the less wealthy in the world. Even the poor would live in hope because the price of saucers would drop rapidly and the increased global wealth created by the ability to transport people and things so much more quickly would soon start increasing their own well being.

People with an ecological concern would also be pleased because finally they would see pollution dissipate. Use of polluting cars, trucks, ships and aircraft would plummet as people moved to the new transport system. Charities that struggle to get their aid to remote areas would see an opportunity to increase the effectiveness of their efforts. Casualty departments would acquire saucer ambulances to ferry the sick to their wards in a fraction of time achieved by their old helicopters. The sea and mountain rescue services would be able to deliver a far more effective service.

All in all we can see there would be huge benefits and I am sure you could add to the list above. However, there is a sting in the tail of this thought experiment. A very big sting. There are people who would not be happy. There are others who would use the technology for their own selfish ends and the disadvantage of others. Imagine what the aircraft, car, ship and other related manufacturers would do if they lost their jobs. Some would transfer to saucer making but the way society is run these days many would be left out. The oil industry would suffer even more and they are not noted for sitting back and taking threats to their livelihood lightly. Imagine how the hotel industry would cope as more and more people acquired the means to get anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes without incurring extra expense, or causing pollution. Who would spend nights away from their family on a business trip if they could just pop into a meeting anywhere in the world without having a guilty conscience about the carbon footprint they leave behind? Not many!

The housing industry would also be turned upside down. The middle of the desert would soon become a viable residential area. People could have a house in one continent and work in another half way around the world. House prices in more Northern latitudes could collapse.

All this cross border travel would upset the immigration officials in numerous countries. They would not be able to track people with the big brother efficiency they aspire to. People with strange cultures and habits from far distance countries would be able to get into their countries and contaminate their native culture. The purity of their religions would face extra challenges and a belligerent minority would not accept this without a fight. International tension would escalate.

There are many unique places in the world containing endangered animals and plants that are protected by their remoteness. The Galapagos islands are one topical example. Large increases in travellers visiting these areas would push a number of species over the edge into extinction. Extinction of a species is a serious tragedy that wipes many millions of years of evolutionary progress off our planet. There are people living in the modern world who would knowingly shoot the last panda bear or gorilla, but are presently prevented from doing so by the difficulty of finding these rare and precious creatures. How could we stop such people getting a saucer?

An even more difficult problem to address is the introduction of invasive species. It would take just one pair of rats introduced to a remote island to devastate the bird life there. Even a tiny insect could cause havoc if introduced to the wrong place. Those who have travelled by air to islands like Hawaii, New Zealand or Australia know how strict the authorities are about the import and export of live animals and plants. Even a single seed from the wrong plant could cause massive damage to these unique and delicate environments. Maintaining, or enhancing, that level of control with millions of saucers in the air would require a whole new level of responsibility from every human.

The final danger is war. A vehicle that can travel faster than a fighter jet, or even a rocket, is a very valuable military resource. Armed forces all over the world would kill to get hold of saucers and in modern society the knowledge of how to build saucers would cause a dangerous arms race. Anything could happen. Imagine too what types of weapon could be created with the technology that powers such craft. The hydrogen bomb would probably look pathetic compared to what this technology might be able to deliver. What responsible alien would let modern man discover such secrets? It is obvious to me that this is the reason that UFOs are shrouded in mystery. Whether they exist or not is not the debate. The fact is that humanity is just not yet responsible enough to know their secrets.

It is crystal clear to me that while we have even the smallest prospect of a war within any global society there is no safe way for us to handle the secrets of free energy, zero point energy, cold fusion or anything like that. There may or may not be such things but it is certain that mastery of these subjects will continue to elude us until all humanity has made the decision to become super-ethical.

While we have politicians who can stay in power after lying to justify the invasion of another country and while we have terrorist leaders who believe revenge is better than forgiveness our technical ability has to be limited. The way forward is the responsibility of every single one of us. If we ourselves have limited integrity we cannot require our leaders to have much more. To be part of the solution we all have to work on increasing our own integrity. The truth has an incredible power. I encourage everyone to make a resolution to work on their own level of honesty. I do, and I am hugely grateful to those who encouraged me onto that path.

The world financial system will also need overhauling before technological development is given a free reign. The upheaval in property prices and industrial production mentioned above would push our present financial system into chaos. The credit crunch leading to the financial crisis of 2008 is both a wake-up call and an opportunity to make some drastic changes. We need to stop money being secured on debt the way it is now, and introduce a system that does not hold selected countries in poverty. This is an important and complex subject that I will address again in the future. My next essay looks at the lessons to be learnt from the search for extra-terrestial intelligence