Extraterrestrial Science (Part 15)

"Any luck on locating one of the EMF craft?"

"Not yet. I'm beginning to wonder if any of them are left on Earth at all. Maybe you can talk to Yal-hune about sketching some schematics to build another."

"I don't think she wants to share that type of stuff. You know exactly what would happen. It will quickly be..."

"I know. I know...exploited and turned into a weapon that will bite us in the butt. You've explained that to me 100 times now. Can't you get some scientific stuff out of her? Even the smallest secret might put us hundreds of years ahead of where we might otherwise be. I tell you every time I go out into the parking lot and get into my car, I keep seeing the Fred Flintstone-mobile. When I turn the keys, I feel I might as well be flipping my feet back and forth. We're in the god damned dark ages and she holds the secrets to a new renaissance."

"Give it time. We have to earn it and better yet, figure it out ourselves. We're learning more about the universe and how it works every day with her around. She's put standard accepted cosmology on its head. Yal-hune showed me what I really want and it's not just advanced technology."

"Yeah, I bet she showed you what you really want. Heck, I bet we both want the same thing. I bet 99/100 men in this facility want the same thing!"

"C'mon..I expect a LOT better from you."

"I know. I'm sorry. That was a cheap shot. It's just I've spent the past few days pouring over the computer looking through miles of lists of contents in government storage facilities all over the world and getting more frustrated with each one searched for clues. My eyes are bloodshot from strain and I have an eye-strain headache. I feel I've wasted my time - and let you down at the same time."

"Don't sweat it. We'll make do without for now."

I watch Tech2 head towards his office. I know exactly how he feels. It is tempting to try and coax some technological secrets from Yal-hune. I also know it would backfire and be one of the worst things I could do. She explained it to me and made it perfectly clear why Earth needs to advance on its own."

"Yes. I'm glad you were paying attention."

"Yal-hune!"

"Yes. I was listening to your conversation. I understand his frustration, but know it is unnecessary."

"Well we are living in a Flintstone's type manner here. This whole political thing with Brazil back in the late 90s, led to Iraq and with global financiers exploiting the world, the entire economy has been dealt a serious blow. An extraterrestrial solution to the energy problem would be in the fantasies of a billion people."

"And the nightmares of another billion in the future. You don't need extraterrestrial technology. Your world doesn't even exploit its existing technology."

"What do you mean?"

"Water, electricity, power - all barely begun to be tapped. You know how to desalinate water, but how many desalinization plants have been built on US coasts hungry for fresh water? Your children are taught to conserve water. And this on a planet where no water can be lost - where all water used by man returns to the atmosphere and the oceans. This is logical? This is intelligent? Hardly. Your world creates artificial shortages of things it has in abundance - or could have if exploiters didn't profit from controlling and limiting such commodities. You could have more water than ever needed - water to turn your deserts into fertile plains. Enough to provide for all humanity, wherever they may be. Same is true with power. Artificial shortages increase costs for humanity and this leads to stagnation in certain venues. You could have more electricity and power than any city needs. You could have lightning collectors/magnets all over the nation, but particularly in areas with heavy thunderstorms. You could store this electricity and put it into a huge grid, much as electricity is stored now, and make it available to all those in need."

"You're right. We don't use what we have at our disposal. We deliberately shortchange ourselves."

"Yes, the sun, lightning and much more. Your world could be drowning in power and fresh water if it really wanted to be. But instead the powers that be push 'conservation' which translates into 'we want you to pay more for less' and is not a very intelligent approach for a society that wants to technologically progress. 'Conservation' is a tool used to exploit those whose intentions are good, but whose minds are still lacking in broad perspectives."

"I know. It changed somewhere along the way. The people got greedier and didn't care about the consequences of their actions. The companies themselves were corrupted by these new immoral employees and their own selfishness and greed."

"Yes. That is largely due to the overshadowers influences. They have tried to turn humanity into mindless materialists looking for the quick perks and profits. Once you fired your atomic bombs, that really frightened these worlds and so they pushed television on everyone, knowing they would incapacitate a large number of people who would otherwise be thinking and keeping progress growing. If your world had no television - by now you would likely already have your own emf craft and 'free energy' power plants."

"I know. I know."

"No, you really don't. You haven't seen other worlds and their technological renaissance. Once they hit atomic power, they perfect the process and do away with fission for more intelligent and efficient nuclear energy that taps the atom instead of destroying it. All that motion in the atom is pure energy and awaiting to be intelligently tapped. Most worlds figure this out only a few short decades after their first nuclear power plant is built. Your world has been effectively stagnated in regards to progress by television, VHS tapes, DVDs and now the internet. Your schools teach children to seek 'green' lifestyles which are all about denial and conservation instead of teaching them to be scientists and living a lifestyle that seeks enjoyment and abundance. Since 1960, despite the advances in entertainment electronics, your overall technological progress and direction has reversed."

"So you're saying..."

"...your world could have clean and ample nuclear power, abundant fresh water and craft that would take you from place to place in the blink of an eye. You would never have stopped with a jet, nor would you be content relying on rain and mountain ice for fresh water. Your power plants would have kept evolving and your nation would be overflowing with scientists making the world a better place - instead of children who want to play 'Guitar Hero' and worship 'celebrities' while trying to imitate and become one."

I make it back to my office, sit down at my McGuire desk and jot down a few notes about what Yal-hune mentioned as I listen to her speak in my mind. I realize she's so right, and that our nation should be overflowing with scientists. It's amazing that all these people own televisions and yet almost no one even knows who invented it - Philo Farnsworth. They use computers and all these other technologies, but have never consciously acknowledged those minds that brought them into existence or desired to be the ones to take something to the next level - to keep that progress rolling along.

I wonder just what sort of world we would be in had Philo Farnsworth been a radio listening addict. And, again, I am reminded how all scientific progress, no matter how seeming amazing and desirable, has an equally amazing and undesirable down side.

(End Part 15)