Now that the financial crisis is upon us it seems to be time for government investments to revive the economy. I don't believe government should put it's finger in too many things, but this is one of these times where it is justified. So where should they invest in?
It really doesn't seem to matter all that much in what the government invests as far as the effect to revive the economy goes. So let's put it in research and in particular into new sources of energy. And I don't mean the bio-diesels and the like! Let's be more bold and go for real innovation. The nuclear fusion route is one option to be explored. I would also encourage research in areas like:
- Energy generation in space
- Energy storage
- Space to Earth energy transport
Ultimately EVERYTHING that limits us comes down to energy supply. Any material resource can be regenerated from waste provided energy is not an issue. Water for example, we have oceans full of it, but it has lots of salt and maybe some organic impurities. Given enough energy, there is no problem at all turning this into drinking water or even irrigation water. Sure, you need to do the investments as well, but if energy is not an issue, much becomes possible.
