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C00002 00002	vts.com[w86,jmc]		Comments on student papers
C00003 00003	Kim Tracy
C00005 00004	Vidur Sood
C00007 00005	Todd Gates
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vts.com[w86,jmc]		Comments on student papers

In general they don't come very close to meeting the
criteria (1) technology based on present science
	(2) importance comparable to the telephone
	(3) some hope of cost-effectiveness
Kim Tracy

	1. The ESPish idea isn't based on present science.  As
discussed in class, it depends on some kind of correspondence
between the mental structures of the individuals.  Maybe the
best such correspondence is via language.  Note that when a person
writes notes for his own further use, he has to use language and
can't abbreviate too much if he wishes to be able to understand
his own writing.

	2. A fast personal transportation system is certainly
important enough.  The East Coast people who can afford the Concord
are genuinely closer to Europe than the others.  Extending the
range of commuting to several hundred miles would permit husbands
and wives greater independence in finding jobs.

Vidur Sood

	The telephone system and optic fibers are in different categories.
The one is directly used by people, and the other is an ingredient
of systems.

	I agree with you about the historical importance of the railroad,
but I believe you have the history of Indian railroads mistaken.
The railroad came to India in the late 19th century, and many of
its effects you describe in unifying the country occurred then.  You
can read something about Indian railroads in the Brittannica article
on railroads in general.  Only a small part of India was ruled by
Rajas at the time of partition.  Bombay, for example, was not.
Perhaps I am mistaken about Indian history; I have never concentrated
on it.

	Perhaps you would look to the future and ask what technology,
new or old, would make a big difference to India.
Todd Gates

You used the word "quench" to mean "satisfy".  To quench a desire
would be to suppress it - not to satisfy it.

Remote control of appliances will be important, and several companies
are working on it.  I remember visiting the General Electric Laboratories
about 1979 and being shown a prototype system.  Whether General
Electric would actually get around to making all their appliances
compatible with even their own control system is to me questionable.
An entrepreneur has a good chance therefore.

Spoken control is distinct from remote control.  I agree that it is
feasible today, especially if the user is willing to learn to speak
the way it is programmed to be spoken to.

A quick freezer would be nice, but there is no known physical principle
that can be applied to extracting the heat energy from a large object quickly.

Control of the weather be feasible, but it will surely be expensive.
We have to do something to prevent the next ice age.

I don't know what to comment about meal pills.  I believe they are
mentioned in Bellamy's 1888 book "Looking Backwards".  I suppose
carbohydrates, or other energy supplying food, are intrinsically
the bulkiest.  If humans could get their energy from coal, I once
calculated that a person could live on $1.50 per year, but I forget
what the price of coal was then.