Comments on the 14 Targets from the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Make Solar Energy Affordable
This will help expand the already growing usage and give cities the Star Trek look, but for the right reasons. Some conservation’s might not like it, but it is a big green flag.
Get Energy from Fusion
Would it not be better to develop the Stirling Engine, since it’s a Thermal Engine with high efficiency and a known design theory.
Develop Carbon Sequestration Methods
This is blue sky target and will take lots of experiments to get it working and making it cost effective, will be the hard part.
Manage the Nitrogen Cycle
If it’s a closed cycle plant, then yes, but no if it’s open or if its with respect to cycling farm based crops then its possible to get the right mix.
Expand Access to Clean Water
As the cost of computer hardware falls the process control will become cost effective and make building plants a timeline of when for all developing countries, maybe a Lego approach to building is the easy answer and therefore deskill the tasks.
Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure
Through Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) there are large funds in the UK and Australia doing this globally, so more of these funds are needed. Funnel Chinese Government funds into them would help the developing countries. That’s one side of it and the other is new materials and new designs aimed at sustainable urban infrastructure, a different application channel for genetics.
Advance Health Informatics
This needs the Government to be handsoff and that’s going to be the biggest delay, technology advances will hopefully leapfrog in its cost-base and therefore make its rollout practical.
Make Better Medicines
Biotechnology has the right road map, but its acceptance and required changes are still blue sky to the national governments.
Reverse-Engineer the Brain
This is done by Tony Robbins at the top level, but permanent change to stop criminals and murders and those with mental disease would again take the national governments along time to accept and pass the required laws. But hopefully public opinion will drive it forward.
Prevent Nuclear Terror
A good application for AWACS Early Warning planes and spy satellites, but needs a lot of technology development and robot technology.
Secure Cyberspace
Since we don’t know how large it is and where its boundaries are, this will need Starship Enterprise and better technology to go where no man has already been.
Enhance Virtual Reality
Having played War Games and tried to use Second Life, this would open up a whole new way of thinking and help solving day-to-day problems and reach out to blue sky research.
Advance Personal Learning
Inputs from all of the above in different ways enhance the technology channels.
Engineer Tools for Scientific Discovery
This is applying the outputs from Enhanced Virtual Reality and Advanced Personal Learning, since all forms of science can be tested in Virtual Reality.
