I have found a pretty near foolproof way to separate the decent politicians from the crooked ones.
Normally, we are trained to judge politicians by whether they agree with our values. We support the ones who agree with us on the classic left-vs-right divisive issues, and bitterly oppose those on the other side. But the thing is, that doesn’t really help you tell whether that politician will stand by you or sell you out.
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Battery technology is going to be extremely important to our future. If someone just came up with a rechargeable battery that improved the energy density of lithium-ion cells by a factor of, say, about six, the effects would be tremendous. It wouldn’t just suddenly make the electric car really competitive with fossil-fuel powered cars, it could pretty near wipe out small internal combustion engines altogether. Motor scooters, lawnmowers, and chainsaws would go electric, as would heavy trucks and buses. Diesel would be for ships and locomotives, not for anything on the roads. The reduction of air pollution would be dramatic. Vacuum cleaners would go cordless.
We could build robots that could walk around for longer than fifteen minutes before needing to plug themselves in. We could make strength-enhancing exoskeletons. All kinds of high powered portable doodads.
Also, the economics of shifting from fossil fuels to renewables would become a lot more attractive than they already are.
I’ve always been fascinated by the hymn (if such it is) “Jerusalem”, or “And Did Those Feet In Ancient Time”, by William Blake and Hubert Parry. In the British Isles, particularly in England (where it’s almost become an unofficial national anthem), it’s inescapable, but here in the States we’re not often exposed to it. In my younger days I would catch glimpses of it, you might say — a fragment of a verse stuck into an episode of Monty Python, for instance. And it always seemed to have a magic about it — some quality that other such songs did not possess. That effect starts with William Blake’s words, which are an odd mix of religion, patriotism, and activism which sound like an inspiring call to arms, but which still mystify us as to exactly what we’re being called to do:
Supersonic Man 