Let no new thing arise!

Emerging transformational technologies, as economist Joseph Schumpeter pointed out, do not advance the economy by consistent predictable increments. Rather, they disrupt and destroy, bankrupting entire industries by offering clearly superior alternatives.

Historically, however, these technological advances have rarely been recognized and welcomed when they first appeared. For the most part, they have been doubted by the general public. Most people didn’t understand the specific technology and believed, despite all historical evidence, that scientific progress had finally leveled off. Often, powerful institutional forces resisted and attacked these emerging disruptive technologies.

Progress, however, cannot be contained. This was true even when the technologically advanced world comprised only the United States and few other developed nations. Today, with an international economy growing more rapidly than America and looking for ways to catch up, it is even more true.

Take, for example, nuclear power. While reactionary anti-nuclear Luddites have managed to slow deployment in America, they failed in France and Russia. Now these states are moving rapidly to the next level, exploiting the vastly superior thorium nuclear potential to serve a rapidly increasing worldwide demand for electrical power.

Think about that. People who have more oil than they could ever use are developing nuclear energy. America, which imports vast quantities of petroleum, is squelching domestic oil production and nuclear power deployment.

Recently, we’ve learned that China, which is already building 25 new reactors, has launched a thorium program as well. By 2020, China plans to have 40 mega-reactors that will produce more electricity than all of America’s 104 plants combined.

In America, you can already sense a growing anger directed at the new age fantasists who promised us an economy powered by windmills, solar panels and corn ethanol. When gas prices hit $5 a gallon, you’ll see, up close and personal, how market forces trump ideology.

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