06.14.10

Fresh Out of Ideas

Posted in Phlogiston, Stumble and Fail at 3:08 pm by George Smith

One of the ways to tell we’re fresh out of ideas is to look at how Americans love catch phrases and their linkage to delusional thinking.

Take the use of the term “Manhattan Project.”

You can tell a nincompoop is in the room whenever you see or hear it.

Use of it is much like the usage of “If we can put a man on the Moon, we can [insert another most wished for miracle].”

“Manhattan Project” signals belief in a pretend world, one which ignores the unpleasant reality of a country presented with problems of its own devise, made insoluble by leaders and doers of its own devise.

From the Google News tab, a list of current “Manhattan Project” usages, calls for magic wand accomplishments well beyond present or imaginable future capacity.

“[A report everyone appropriately ignored, issued by a biodefense industry group masquerading as a government agency] warned that the American people needed a combination of big business and big government to protect them against the looming threat. It said the kind of close cooperation between industry and government to develop bio-war defenses had to be on a scale comparable to building aircraft carriers, putting men on the Moon or funding the Manhattan Project that created the atomic bomb.” — FOX News editorial

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“A group of industry leaders, including Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and General Electric boss Jeff Immelt, stepped up calls for a Manhattan project [on energy].” — a business publication

If the guy who made Windows thinks a ‘Manhattan Project’ is needed, who can doubt such wisdom? Better not take too much time to think before you answer that.

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It’s our responsibility to take alternative energy seriously. Developing wind, solar, biomass, nuclear and other solutions must become our focus — as concentrated in time and effort as for any major crisis we have faced. Such a series of projects will require a partnership between government and private enterprise — and serious federal outlays. The challenge is enormous and too important to leave to the whims of the market.

It would be a mistake to regard this new ‘Manhattan Project’ as nothing more than a cost. On the contrary, developing such remarkable new technologies will create new industries and millions of new jobs.” — an editorial by some local Democratic Party leader

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“That means whatever dreams we had of dealing with global warming through an economically efficient carbon-pricing scheme are pretty much out the window.

“What’s left is the hope that somebody invents something really impressive, really quick. Environmentalists talk about this in terms of a “Manhattan project” for energy, which is probably the right way to talk about it. But I’ve been reading a bit about the Manhattan project …” — Ezra Klein, who tried to put his finger on why the usage is idiotic but fell somewhat short, anyway. But he’s one of the current news celebrities given the license to know everything.

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“We need something like a 1940 Manhattan project where American scientists worked to produce a nuclear weapon. Gather the best brains in the country …” — an editorial on what to do about the BP oil spill

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“The Smerconish Show from 6/9/10 talked about a Manhattan Project to get us off oil. Something along the lines of small businesses locating in Silicon Valley … “ — the Huffington Post, by someone proudly calling himself “Joe the Nerd”

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“The U.S. government should take charge of this major national emergency as if it were a 9/11 event. It should assemble the best global advisors, mostly U.S., and treat this like a Manhattan Project in terms of necessity.” — another vox populi/social networking search for solutions, at the WSJ

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“Today, a mini–Manhattan Project could find ways to recycle used nuclear fuel in a way that reduces its mass 97 percent and radioactive lifetime 98 percent…” — Newsweek

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In fact, the Huffington Post is larded with wishers for Manhattan Projects. None of whom appear to read a bit of what their closest peers write in the blog over.

“After so much rhetoric from politicians of both parties, we must finally embark on the Manhattan Project of energy independence…” — the Huffington Post, by someone named Fernando.

“Create a big, inclusive Brain Trust Project that will leave the Manhattan Project in the dust.” — the Huffington Post, by someone named Sarah, an editor of something called Yes! Magazine.

“After a vicious fight across the Pacific, we needed to defeat Japan without an invasion of the home islands, and by then the Manhattan Project had produced a couple of deliverable atomic bombs.” — the Huffington Post, by someone arguing using the twisted metaphor that, like the bombing of Japan through the fruits of the Manhattan Project, green house gases will not have to be dealt with through curbs — but will be handled in due course through geoengineering and ‘hacking the planet.’

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” ‘Getting it right’ instead means implementing a program of Manhattan Project proportions to reduce our use of oil and other fossil fuels …” a newspaper editorial by some professor near Myrtle Beach, SC.

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“Many renowned and intelligent scientists expound seriously that large amounts of bovine gasses have a measurable influence upon the temperature rising worldwide. If truthful, I propose the immediate creation of a Manhattan Project for creation of large Beano capsules to be given to the cows in their feed to eliminate this dilemma.” — a tongue-in-cheek letter to the editor in southern Indiana.

The University of Gas, now more appropriate than ever. How to handle raffinose, for not much money and trouble at all.

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