Too Long; Didn't Read
<span>In</span> 1977, the NASA report <a href="https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19770014162&hterms=NASA+SP-413+Space+Settlements&qs=N%3D0%26Ntk%3DAll%26Ntx%3Dmode%2Bmatchallany%26Ntt%3DNASA%2BSP-413%2B%2BSpace%2BSettlements" target="_blank">Space Settlements — A Design Study</a> published a grand vision of the future where among many accomplishments there would be space stations orbiting earth devoted to beaming down plentiful concentrated solar energy. The report stated: “power stations are placed in orbit around the Earth to which they deliver copious and valuable electrical energy. The economic value of these power stations will go far to justify the existence of the colony and the construction of more colonies.” Thirty Five years ago, the famous writer and futurist Isaac Asimov wrote <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018/12/27/35-years-ago-isaac-asimov-was-asked-by-the-star-to-predict-the-world-of-2019-here-is-what-he-wrote.html" target="_blank">predictions for 2019 in the Toronto Star</a>. One of them echoed the 1977 NASA report, saying a “major part of Earth’s energy will come from the sun…energy will be so necessary to all and so clearly deliverable only if the nations remain at peace and work together, that war would become simply unthinkable.” These authors were joined by many others over the years in predicting a bright future. While there have been many advances since the seventies and eighties, and solar power has become a practical and important source of energy for the world, we are nowhere near having achieved these goals. Instead, today we are still using the fossil fuels that so many predicted should have become obsolete by now. In fact, we’re <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X16304867" target="_blank">still subsidizing fossil fuels</a>, and by <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-017-0009-8.epdf?referrer_access_token=yjdB1RpkL3iZMimhMwb8RNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OyLLEcIVrbwv-XjMBX8LWWSQfaRxfzG3nveNLI28CX7bixsajBWLgBU4piW7b05HnngO_Q_EQauVtBRfFny3W0ieuH8mpL_4dLzAz1fmQAllxxcutbdjuON2SkgPoqP86hFN3KZ5JAr2ucTL8VrmR5TxIqvyAilCyVxLCQpMGUy_VRXJm-N_aluaB5RqxO6CVP-qbEpGQpB-h2lFY_QYUu-mC5ULlmG6ttC8Hrsv5DrsSTuVw13weqe83YlEw_3TXJQ-oNPOfiwz1bRGjCofDU&tracking_referrer=www.theatlantic.com" target="_blank">2050, the United States will have underwritten the drilling of an extra 17 billion barrels of oil, enough to emit over 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide</a>. So, were these authors three and four decades ago delusional? What went wrong?