>From BBC NEWS: >But Glasgow University scientists said they had resolved the problem. > >The project, being developed along with the Institute of Photonics at the >University of Strathclyde . . .
Once again, Scotland plays a leading role in technology. Starting around 1650, Scotland has probably produced more valuable technology per capita than any other country. England was the leader of the industrial revolution, but the ideas and inventions came from the North. That is a typical pattern in history. Good ideas come from the periphery, and from cold, challenging, inconvenient places. I predict that if people colonize the Moon and Mars, the best universities and the best science and technology will someday come from someplace like Meridian Bay University, Mars. People imagine that setting up a city in a place with no air, food or water can only cost endless amounts of money, but they have that backward. There are enough resources to support human life anywhere in the solar system. The places where you have fight nature and use your mind and you skills to survive will eventually grow wealthy. Places where nature's bounty is there for the taking make a lot money for a while, but they make no progress and they end up poverty stricken. Compare Japan or Finland, which have essentially no resources, to the Middle East. The entire Middle East, excluding Israel, produces fewer goods and services than Finland. All they produce is oil, and when the oil runs out or cold fusion obsoletes it, they will have nothing left but ashes and ignorance. The University of Strathclyde's slogan on their website is: "The place of useful learning since 1796." - Jed
