Posted on 04/26/2009 4:24:42 PM PDT by GoodDay
INTRODUCING OURSELVES
We are disturbed by the current widespread anti- technology sentiment. We are disturbed by the energy crisis that need not have been. We are disturbed by many signs of the times, such as:
• Enrollment in engineering and the exact sciences is steadily decreasing at most American universities. Science and technology have become dirty words in some part of the young generation. So has the word business.
• The welfare budget for New York State alone is now bigger than the entire budget of NASA.
• Vast riches of oil in the US lie unexplored and untapped, while ever increasing amounts (already 25% of the total consumption) are being imported from unstable sheikdoms in the Middle East, making the U.S. ever more vulnerable to political blackmail.
• Construction of modern, clean and safe electric power plants is being held up by environmentalist litigations while fossilburning plants work at top capacity and pollute the air. this newsletter knows where it stands. On matters of energy, this is our credo:
The energy potentially available to us is for all practical purposes unlimited; but access to it is blocked. It is blocked, above all, by anti-technology sentiment, environmental paranoia, and interference in natural markets. Beyond these obstacles, there is little that science and technology cannot eventually overcome.
We further believe that pollution and destruction of the environment is not an essential by product of technology; on the contrary, more science and better technology are needed to keep the environment clean. We will not engage in polemics. We will bring you facts; facts on the energy crisis, facts on new sources of energy, facts on the abundance of energy, facts on the lack of access to it.
We are fiercely independent; we are beholden to nobody. We accept no advertising, no contributions, no subsidies, no charity. We accept only your subscription. If we do not provide the facts, you will not subscribe, and we will fold. It's that simple.
This initial issue comes to you free of charge: Our product is our advertisement. If you feel it contains 50¢ worth of information, please enter your subscription (see box overleaf).
For the rest, please read on and judge for yourself.
The above essay -- Volume 1, #1 -- is from 1973. I believe all of the cover essays can be found online at the above link; complete back issues of "Access to Energy" are available for purchase at the same link.
Here is some biographical information on Petr Beckmann:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petr_Beckmann
We are not amused.
Isn’t Petr Beckmann the character Bill Murray played in Ghostbusters?
Dr. Peter Venkman, who was accused by the dean of the university of being a poor scientist...
I really don't remember.
Wasn't Richard Kimball the democrat accused by the press of "terminal weirdness", and who ran unsuccessfully against John McCain for senator of Arizona?
It's just coincidence. There's no reason why two people with the same name cannot both suffer from terminal weirdness.
I thought that was ‘Vinkman’.
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