Guenter Wildgruber wrote:
Decent, humble scientifically oriented minds consider that, and are not distracted by possible billions.
That is an absurd thing to say. People should be "distracted" by the likelihood that cold fusion is worth billions of dollars. I consider it _grossly irresponsible_ to pretend it is not worth huge sums of money. I also dislike this Mandarin attitude toward money as being "filthy lucre" that should now sway a pure-minded academic scientist.
I have heard this attitude from time to time, that there is something unseemly or morally wrong with making money. I strongly disagree, for the following reasons:
1. Money and wealth earned by legitimate means, without causing much harm or pollution, are socially beneficial.
2. Money promotes science, technology and exploration. One of the NASA people at W&M had a slide with a great quote about this: "If God had wanted people to go to space, she would have given them more money" -- Mark Albert.
3. Money is a measure of social benefit, albeit a crude one. An invention that makes millions of dollars and causes no harm is good for humanity. An invention that makes billions of dollars and also causes no harm is even better for humanity. Cold fusion will earn trillions and save countless trillions more that would have been spent on fossil fuel.
4. Money is a measure of freedom. It allows people to live however they please. Someday in the future (and perhaps not in the distant future) robots will do all physical work. If we are smart enough to make an economy worthy of our technological genius, then every person on earth will be fabulously wealthy by present day standards. Every person will be free to do anything he or she pleases, every day of her life, the way a multimillionaire is today, or the way Thomas Jefferson was. This should be the birthright of any person born on the Earth or anywhere else in the solar system. Every baby should be welcomed with all food, water, education, Internet access and transportation he or she wants, for a lifetime, just for showing up. Go anywhere, live anywhere, do whatever you please. In such a society, some people may feel ennui or dissatisfaction, but that is the best and most fulfilling future we can hope for. On balance I am confident that most people will contribute more to human happiness and creativity in those circumstances than they would in today's world where you have to work to make a living. To achieve that we must have much more technology and more money. Fewer material resources perhaps, but lots more computing power. Every person will need something like a hundred Watson-class supercomputers at his disposal. Every person deserves that.
- Jed
