Thread: If people could control the weather, should they?

Agent Orange
A long and heartbreaking article.

Guess some people thought it was a good idea at the time.
Oh, come ON!
I could not find the agent orange where we lived in California. My mother told me about that after surviving lymphoma, not sure where to find it.
Edited to say, maybe I should just step away.

I've got a book which covers a lot of Nicola Tesla's work.. a big part of this is weather manipulation. From the comments in it, he was able to control the weather. The tesla coil was a big part of this; along with a desire to make electricity available to everyone wirelessly (yes, you read that correctly). I couldn't comment on which parts are true compared to the parts that just make a story better.. but I was brought up with an understanding of this sort of 'world'; where strange things are possible. Maybe I just tend to believe things too readily.

Nicola stopped research into his coil because the military turned its use towards warfare; and it turned out to be devastatingly powerful in the tests. Again, these comments are me parroting the book.. not me suggesting they are true.

There's a fairly believable explanation of how he manipulated weather, something about sending ions into the atmosphere. But I don't remember the specifics.

The argument against weather manipulation isn't whether we should do it.. it's about whether we have the moral capacity to use it properly. In the book, Nicola decided that we didn't.. but that's not to say that other people haven't picked up his research, or even tried to develop the concept from scratch. I'm pretty sure it's part of those technologies that the governments wouldn't make publicly available anyhow, so we'd not likely know about it if they were being used.

I have heard there's an old tesla coil in Australia, somewhere near where I live.. not that I've cared enough to run about looking for it.

You're right, Eluxia. If there is some immediate benefit that comes from a technology, we do a lousy job of considering the long-term effects and seem to go out of our way to ignore or discount the possibility of unforeseen consequences. It's all about instant gratification. I see nothing that indicates we won't consume, invent and engineer ourselves out of existence at some point.

Who knows? Just maybe, before it's too late, the kind of "sinking ship" mentality that can bring people together will kick in on a grand scale, and we can save ourselves. But I doubt it. I think we'll run our course and that will be the end of it. I almost think it would be better if we were hit by a giant asteroid and it all ended at once. A lot of suffering would be avoided.

Yeah, I don't stay away from scabs either.
Kris, everything is possible. Tesla interests me, and with your comment that he did not believe we were morally ready, he interests me even more. Having read or heard years ago that he wanted to bring electricity free, and was quashed, he is one of my prime examples of brilliance used, manipulated, and ultimately destroyed by those with an agenda.
I don't reject science, or our drive to create in an of itself. I fear them {those with power and agendas } and in some cases us. Because yes, Joe, we take without understanding what it means to have something.
We've grown and we've built, but I'd say that most of our problems of late, ie, mercury in vaccinations, pesticides, oil in oceans, etc, are things that we've done ourselves in with for lack of open evaluation of said progress.
I know there are those that harm by design, but that is a whole nother can of worms. I do not envy them their karma.
I do hope we wake up soon. I believe we are capable of doing better. Firstly, we need to listen to what our own heart says in any case that comes up. If we allow ourselves to be thoughtlessly fed and lead, we just continue to be a part of the problem. I'd personally love to see a huge panel of scientists supported indirectly by the people, whose bodily harm or threat of such would be the first indication to the people that something was terribly amiss. This panel would be given full power to research and lay the facts and questions down before us. This panel would be big enough that should some corruption leak in, which is almost inevitable, it would be up against scrutiny by all of the others. I see scientists like artists, or anyone doing what they love and in such, I think they fall mostly when they are threatened with harm or loss of a living, or an attempt to strengthen their financial situation for the love of family. Ultimately, given the peace of mind to work, I think they would be a huge benefit to all of us.

Originally Posted by Elric Randall

Exactly what it says on the tin again. Assuming sufficiently advanced technology, should we ever be able to turn the rain on and off?

Here are a couple pros and cons to get this thing started.

Pro: It's the ultimate greenhouse. Imagine sections of the Amazon growing in Maine or Canada, ski resorts in the tropics, a desert turned into one giant oasis, etc. Farmland could be consolidated into a single system, with crops rotated out on a perfectly predictable cycle. No early frosts, and an overall higher yield in crops, possibly lowering the amount of land farms take up as well.

Con: Massive terraforming and loss of natural habitat would be an understatement. Depending on regulation, corporations could eliminate snow completely to make their workers come in on time. Screwing with the seasons could also screw with the body's natural systems.

I'm sure I missed plenty, so join in!

Interesting question. I think you are right to envision pros and cons.

Originally Posted by KrisMunro

I've got a book which covers a lot of Nicola Tesla's work..

My first - and really only - introduction to this guy was in a movie about two magicians. I can't remember the name of the movie but as I recall one of the magicians in the story sought out the help of this Tesla cat.

He seems like a fascinating figure.

Originally Posted by Writ-with-Hand

He seems like a fascinating figure.

He did some amazing things. Like pass electricity through animals and people without harming them. He found a way to light a room without having a light source, which provided full illumination (no shadows). He did research into (anti)gravity, magnetism, high energy devices, weather control, and much more. Most of his research involved the use of huge amounts of electricity, and at times his activities disrupted power to the city. From memory, he worked out a way to generate masses of it, and fed it back to the power company. The concept was explained as the earth generating heaps of it in the atmosphere. He just collected this and utilised it.

Originally Posted by KrisMunro

He did some amazing things. Like pass electricity through animals and people without harming them. He found a way to light a room without having a light source, which provided full illumination (no shadows). He did research into (anti)gravity, magnetism, high energy devices, weather control, and much more. Most of his research involved the use of huge amounts of electricity, and at times his activities disrupted power to the city. From memory, he worked out a way to generate masses of it, and fed it back to the power company. The concept was explained as the earth generating heaps of it in the atmosphere. He just collected this and utilised it.

I think I've found a new hero.

Originally Posted by JosephB

You're right, Eluxia. If there is some immediate benefit that comes from a technology, we do a lousy job of considering the long-term effects and seem to go out of our way to ignore or discount the possibility of unforeseen consequences. It's all about instant gratification. I see nothing that indicates we won't consume, invent and engineer ourselves out of existence at some point.

Who knows? Just maybe, before it's too late, the kind of "sinking ship" mentality that can bring people together will kick in on a grand scale, and we can save ourselves. But I doubt it. I think we'll run our course and that will be the end of it. I almost think it would be better if we were hit by a giant asteroid and it all ended at once. A lot of suffering would be avoided.

We humans do like to procrastinate, don't we?
Technology run amuck has been around since... technology, I guess. The first time our ancestors figured out that a stick can be a useful tool probably whacked somebody with it shortly after. T’is a brilliant part of the human condition.
I think it’s a question of can humans overcome our basic instincts? We have this distrust of our neighbors, a desire to find the enemy among us (tribalism). How can we think altruistically and wholeheartedly on the behalf of humanity when we can’t even trust each other? When we have those among us with power that still rule with paranoia and self interest? I think we often forget that we aren't far from the savage world as we think we are. Women weren’t considered to be equal not too long ago, and even without atomic weapons, hundreds of thousands could still annihilate each other with sharp, pointy objects.

I guess we can’t expect humanity to be on its toes all the time. Ever generation comes with its own difficulties and it comes down to those living during those times to rise up and try to bring things back into balance.

Originally Posted by Eluixa

I know there are those that harm by design, but that is a whole nother can of worms. I do not envy them their karma.
I do hope we wake up soon. I believe we are capable of doing better. Firstly, we need to listen to what our own heart says in any case that comes up. If we allow ourselves to be thoughtlessly fed and lead, we just continue to be a part of the problem. I'd personally love to see a huge panel of scientists supported indirectly by the people, whose bodily harm or threat of such would be the first indication to the people that something was terribly amiss. This panel would be given full power to research and lay the facts and questions down before us. This panel would be big enough that should some corruption leak in, which is almost inevitable, it would be up against scrutiny by all of the others. I see scientists like artists, or anyone doing what they love and in such, I think they fall mostly when they are threatened with harm or loss of a living, or an attempt to strengthen their financial situation for the love of family.

On that last point, I think that's just a general human desire/weakness. We all want stability for ourselves and our loved ones.
Corruption lies wherever there is power. There are those that contort the facts, and many of the same information in different lights.
Lastly, that can of worms? Ever so tempting to discuss, lol.
And it’s good to remember how technology, although abused, is still used to benefit humanity. How many of us are blinded from scarlet fever nowadays?
Side note: Writ-with-Hand, I think you need to take that quote with a grain of salt hehe. Has the US' black ink on Telsa's military work been lifted yet?

Originally Posted by DELFIA

No, for so many reasons.

The mere thought of this frightens me.

YES - for so many reasons !!!