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C00002 00002		Perhaps I should arrange a AAAS symposium for the meeting in
C00003 00003	PROSPECTUS FOR SYMPOSIUM ON THE LONG TERM FUTURE OF THE AUTOMOBILE
C00008 00004	SHORT TERM AND LOCAL CONSIDERATIONS
C00010 00005	The following kinds of point of view might be represented in the
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	Perhaps I should arrange a AAAS symposium for the meeting in
San Francisco February 25 to March 2, 1974.  Proposals should go
to 

Dr. Howard D. Greyber
Director of Meetings
AAAS
1515 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington D.C. 20005

	Some possible proposals

	1. The long term future of automobiles.
		a. Starkman
		b. A Japanese
		c. me on computer control of cars
		d. a scientific eco-freak
		e. someone advocating hydrogen powered cars
		f. someone from the DOT systems center
		g. a racing car freak

	2. Home information services
		a. me
		b. Baran
		c. 
PROSPECTUS FOR SYMPOSIUM ON THE LONG TERM FUTURE OF THE AUTOMOBILE


	Today, many  people believe that  the days of  the automobile
as the main  means of personal transportation are numbered.  They see
the problems of pollution,   fuel shortage, limitation of  resources,
and congestion as  unsolvable.  Some think the  problems shouldn't be
solved  even  if  they  can  be,    because  use  of  automobiles  is
inefficient and socially undesirable,  and all it provides  us can be
provided  by improved public  transportation.   Others hold  the view
that the current problems all can be solved and should be solved.

	The  purpose  of  this  symposium  is  to  elicit  thoughtful
presentations of  the various  points of  view,   to narrow and  make
precise the  areas of disagreement or lack  of knowledge, and to help
the members of the audience determine their positions on the issues.

	Participants  in the  symposium  are  asked  to  address  the
following questions:

	1.     Are  there  problems  which   will  prevent  America's
continued  reliance on the  automobile?   If the answer  is yes, what
problem and why is it unsolvable?

	2. If all the  problems are solvable, tell whatever  you care
to about  the solutions of the problems  of energy supply, pollution,
materials, and congestion.

	3.  Are cars  worth preserving?  If  so,  what advantages  do
you see it as having over public  transportation?  What disadvantages
do you admit, and how might they be overcome or must we suffer them?

	4. Can  cars be made more useful than  they are now? Can they
be replaced by something even more useful?

	5. If you  favor solutions that  require enforced changes  of
habits by large  numbers of people, what reactions do  you expect and
how do you propose to deal with them?


	Some more specific questions are:

	1.    When  will  we have  to  switch  to  another  fuel than
petroleum? At what price  levels will other fuels be  available? When
must  development  be  started?    I  imagine the  candidates  to  be
Fischer-Tropz gasoline from coal and nuclear produced hydrogen.   Are
there other candidates?

	2. When will automobile usage saturate  in the United States?
How many cars per  capita will there be?  How big will the congestion
and energy problems be when saturation has occurred?

	3. Will the piston engine  be replaced?  With what? What  are
the  prospects   for  rotary  engines,  stratified   charge  engines,
turbines,  diesels,  and  last  but  not  least  conventional  piston
engines?

	4. What are the prospects for computer control of cars?
SHORT TERM AND LOCAL CONSIDERATIONS


	1. Should hitchhiking be made respectable?

	2. What are the prospects for car pooling?

	3. Should parking be restricted?

	4. What is the fuel problem during the next ten years?

	5. Are the EPA's proposals for  California reasonable?  What,
if anything should be done along these lines?

	6. What modifictions,  if any,  should be made to the current
emissions and safety standards for cars?

	7. What is the  potential of the various mass  transportation
proposals for  replacing automotive  transportation with  and without
deliberately harassing car users?

	8.  Should sports and  art based on the  automobile be banned
as inappropriate?
The following kinds of point of view might be represented in the
symposium:

	1.  The  automobile  is  basically  a  good  thing,  and  the
problems that have turned up can and should be solved.

	2. The automobile is a bad  thing, and we should go to  other
means of transportation even if  the energy, pollution and congestion
problems can be solved.

	3.  There are one  or more problems with  the automobile that
are unsolvable, and a decisive change is necessary.

	4. Here is how a particular problem should  be solved leaving
the others aside for now.