Whoever said "People Are Smart" needs to read the responses to this CNN poll.

[robertpaulsen]

I am reading this CNN poll and as I scroll down the page, my jaw drops lower and lower:

The future of energy: Your views

What is the future for energy? Where will our power come from by 2020? Send us your thoughts and we'll print the best ones here.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/08/23/energy.forum/index.html#cnnSTCText

So, here's some examples of what CNN considers the best ones!

From: John Calvao, Chester, VA
Date: September 27, 2007
Your view: Global warming, where should I start. If it wasn't for all those (and I chuckle when I write this) scientists getting all those millions of dollars in government grants to study this rediculis theory we would never have heard of the term "global warming". Everytime I hear one of these reports all I see is some lab rat praying that people believe his ideas about what might happen, or could happen. Just like the funny reports of more hurricanes now than in the past when anybody with an IQ over 25 knows it's because we didn't have satilites in the old days so we never knew about some stupid tropical storm that never hit land. Now of course we give it a name and track it's progress from nowhere to nowhere and count it in the statistics of the great forcasters? Get a life people and put your degrees to something worthwhile like curing cancer.

From: N.T. Nair, Trivandrum
Date: September 25, 2007
Your view: I dream of a day when a gadget linked to the exercising machine will generate and store enough electricity for use in the home. Today we waste our energy against springs or the like, in these machines

From: D Wilcox, Atlanta, GA
Date: September 21, 2007
Your view: I am so tired of seeing these claims of climate change: "In the last ten years the ground has not frozen, in the last 5 years we have had no snow". We have little to no idea of how climate change works globally, we have no idea how it works locally. To base a scientific claim on records from the last ten years is foolish. The hottest year on record was 1934. The earth is continually moving through warmer and colder climates. We are currently in an interglacial period (coming out of an ice age) so yes the temperatures will rise. Eventually they will drop again. Climate is something that needs to be studied in geological time, not in presidential tenures. And who is to say this is the correct climate for this planet, in trying to fix it, we will do more harm. This is not to say we should not be good stewards of our planet, but it is not a man made catastrophic event. Global Warming/Climate change philanthropists are in it for one thing, the almighty dollar. Let's start listening to reason, not media hype.

From: Christina Wimberly, Rome, NY
Date: September 20, 2007
Your view: Honestly, I believe that in the year 2020, America and many more developed countries will be running on things as simple as salt water and paper! It sounds ludacris at the moment, however, now it is quite possible. I mean, I just read an article about the new nano battery that is as thin as a sheet of paper and can potentially serve for better purpose than the regular old double A....or any other type for that matter. Also, saltwater, some super smart guy actually figured out a way to combust it using radiowaves. True story and our future! It really is as simple as that.

From: frances durand, lincoln, NB
Date: September 20, 2007
Your view: MY REMARCK IS ABOUT TODAYS STORY ABOUT PAPER BATTERYS. IT IS A GOOD IDEA, BUT LIKE ALL OTHER GOOD INTENTIONS OF INVENTIONS THEY END UP BEING USED FOR EVIL. CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW FURURE TERROIST COULD USE A DEVICE LIKE THAT WITH PLASTIC EXPLOSIVES, IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO DETECT. I AM NOT A FOOL I LOVE LIVING IN THIS AGE OF EASE, ALL THE ASVANTAGES WITH LIVE WITH, I WOULD BE LOST WITHOUTH MY TV, CDS.COMPUTER ECT. BUT I WOULD HOPE THE ERRORS OF OUR PAST WOULD NOT BE REPEATED.

From: Kim Rolland, Widener, AR
Date: September 19, 2007
How about this - a battery-like device no bigger then a briefcase capable of storing vast amounts of electricity. Enough perhaps to run an average home for a year or more. It is charged by the magnetic field of the earth itself. Now all we have to do is build it!

From: Jeffrey Bivens, Lake Elsinore
Date: September 19, 2007
What we need is a better understanding of gravity. We need to be able to tweak gravity to our advantage. Science has failed us in this regard up to now. Our physics is able to accurately calculate the force of gravity, but it is built on a mystical belief of how it does, what it does. We need to develop new, testable theories to explain how gravity works. Once we know how something works, American ingenuity takes over and the possibilities are endless.

From: Ron Brown, Midland, TX
Date: September 17, 2007
Your view: If Global Warming is really happening, why do only 7% of the UN scientists really think it is happening??? A little over 50% think it could be happening, but is it man made or can man even do anything about it?? Al Gore only wants your tax dollars, he and his partners want some way you will pay the UN a tax of some sort. Look back a few years ago and the same people were telling us we were going to freeze to death. The corn supply is being used up to make an additive for gasoline that when burned will omit worse fumes than what we use now. The gas with ethanol will get 20% worse gas mileage and will cost about $5.00 per gallon. Wake up people. Plus beef, pork, dairy products, are already costing us 40% more because of this scare that may or may not be existent. I want to drive the car of my choice, not to have the Government tell me what to drive.

From: tony simonelli, lawrence, MA
Date: September 15, 2007
Your view: They have recently showed how water can burn hotter then the sun and can power a car. It would be a true testimit to how horrible human kind is if this fuel source is not made public. This is the stuff of science fiction turning science fact. Big oil will probably fight this discovery and i would not be suprised if the government does as well. They will say well it will cost jobs. THE HELL WITH JOBS! WE ARE TALKING ABOUT FREE RENEWABLE AND POLUTION FREE FUEL. I hope we embrace this new tecnology. It would be dispicable if it was not allowed all in the name of profit. If you want to verify this discovery please search on the web.

From: yefim k, queens, NY
Date: September 15, 2007
Build more gyms and tread mills, and connect them to some kind of energy harvesting technology. That will solve not just energy problems, but also some other problems that we as people are experiencing.... How many people would get off their couches to save some money?

Here is another solution... im preaty sure some other people must have thought of this, but may not have said anything due to a fear of being judged in a bad way... We are a source of energy (people and all living things). We use a lot of it, but we store a lot of it too. So when someone comes up with some kind of a machine or a method to extract energy from a dead body (as gross as it sounds).... it would change the world.


:wow::wow::wow::wow::wow::wow::wow::wow::wow::wow::wow::wow::wow::wow::wow::wow::wow::wow::wow::wow:

I'm not even 1/3 of the way down the page, I'm sure there are many more nuggets of wisdom about where our power will come from by 2020. I would laugh, but since I believe world oil production will be way past its peak by then, if these are examples of the best solutions we can come up with, the human race is doomed.

[phantom power]

1. Reminds me of my new favorite quote...

"Thinking outside the box is for smart people."
--Bill Maher

[gateley]

2. Doesn't CNN have spell-check? nt

[kestrel91316]

8. People wouldn't need for CNN to do their spell-checking if they

would use the spell-checker God gave them (aka their own brain) and THINK before they click on "submit".

Most the misspelled words I see here are words I learned to spell by second or third grade. Last I heard we had free education through 12th grade in the US.

Shameful.

[gateley]

14. I've always been an exceptional speller and I'm chagrined to observe that as

the majority of my communication is done on line, that I've gotten lazy, relying on spell-check AND that I've actually forgotten how to spell some words. And I mean every day words.

[kestrel91316]

16. I really have to watch myself. I get sloppy online and type too fast.

Then I proofread too fast, miss stuff, and have to go back and edit after posting.

[villager]

3. A far more accurate quote is "People crazy."

Spoken by boxer Sonny Liston...

[sinkingfeeling]

4. I don't think we stand a chance in hell of solving problems, based solely on the spelling abilities

of the writers!

[Mythsaje]

5. Some of those answers are

ludacris (sic).

:eyes:

That says all I need to know.

I have to admit, however, that the idea of people on treadmills and exercise bikes generating electricity is pretty amusing.

"The future will be people powered!"

:rofl:

[kestrel91316]

9. Actually, that's the only part that makes any sense. As opposed to

burning paper and water....

http://www.scienceshareware.com/bike_gen.htm

Of course you couldn't generate much, but it's usable power nonetheless.

[robertpaulsen]

11. Soylent Green is people!

Remember Edward G. Robinson peddling his bike to generate electricity? That was set in 2022. Maybe life will imitate art.

[depakid]

6. While I don't question that most Americans lack basic science knowledge

and critical thinking skills- I think the effect is far more pronounced among those who watch CNN- those who respond to CNN- and those who CNN chooses to print.

That said, as a whole, few peoples in the world more richly deserve their fates than Americans do.

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. I agree

This is hardly a scientifically valid survey.

I trust that the "individual on the street" grasps the issues better than these people apparently do.

[depakid]

12. Have you ever seen Leno or the Canadian segment "Talking To Americans"

or God forbid the Chasers- go out and interview people on the streets!

Then again, they're selected and edited too, for the most ridiculous responses.

[OKIsItJustMe]

13. Consider for a moment

I don't watch "Leno" but I assume the reason he runs those segments is because his audience thinks them funny. His audience will only think them funny, if they know the right answers.

Unless he's aiming for an audience that knows a good deal more than the average citizen...

[depakid]

15. Understood

and the ready availability of such individuals is partially explained by the fact that approximately 150 million Americans have IQ's below the mean of 100- which is basically true of any Western nation.

Though having spent some time abroad, it's also been my experience that on average, Americans are astonishingly ill informed compared with ordinary people I've spoken with in other countries.

Of course, that doesn't necessarily reflect on their potential. For instance, my bet is that one or more of the CNN commentators understands- and possibly can calculate sports statistics.

[depakid]

19. Addendum

Usually I take it as a given that people on E&E recognize that the US has only around 4 1/2 percent of the world's population, but uses (and largely enjoys wasting) about a quarter of the world's energy resources and natural capital.

There are very few Americans- and certainly not me, who can say that that we don't waste and deplete and pollute more that our fair or responsible share.

And that's especially true when we look intergenerationally.

[daninthemoon]

7. Behold our fellow citizens and despair. This one post is solid

enough proof that DEVOlution is entering a whole new stage. Gabba gabba hey.
:banghead:

[XemaSab]

17. rediculis!

:P

[Systematic Chaos]

18. Just ask ludacris!

:eyes:

[Nihil]

20. Maybe he was trying to dispel a boggart?

A common wizards' defence against a boggart is to use a spell to make it appear amusing, since boggarts are weakened by laughter. This is achieved by pointing a wand at the boggart and saying "Riddikulus".

(/HarryPotter)

[XemaSab]

22. If climate change is what he fears most...

:P

[Javaman]

21. Nature is an amazing thing. The stupid usually die. nt