Lot’s of excitement from US scientists at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California because for the first time ever they have successfully produced a nuclear fusion reaction resulting in a net energy gain. On Tuesday (12/13/2022) the US Department of Energy held a press conference to officially announce the breakthrough.
Clearly I’m no scientist, but even I can appreciate how remarkable it is to successfully discover a process that creates more energy than is expended in the process. One of my chores as a kid was chopping firewood. I didn’t grow the tree, fell it, cut it into logs, transport it to our home, or unload it. All I did was split the logs, neatly stack the split wood, haul in the firewood, then light and maintain a fire… that was a lot of energy being expended for relatively little energy harvested, it mostly up up in smoke. Its hard to imagine burning a fire in my fireplace and having more firewood at the end of the night than when the night began.
This idea has holds some amazing possibilities. Our energy imaginations have been shaped by physical limitations and finite supply. This breakthrough expands our imagination.
Nuclear Fission (Latin for, ‘to split’), is the science of splitting atoms that gave the world what we think a nuclear reactors, atomic energy, and of course the atom bomb.
Nuclear Fusion (Latin for, ‘pour, melt’), is the science of joining atoms to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles. According to Wikipedia, “the difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifested as either the release or absorption of energy.”
Power is… well, powerful. There is great cost in harvesting power.
As a practical theologian I think a lot about power; not from a scientific location, from a human location and an evolving theological imagination. One way I think about power is that power is life. Empire seeks to control power, while love seeks to give it away… to see it proliferate. The way of Christ is kenotic. The Holy Spirit empowers. Throughout scripture God seems to side with the powerless. Part of how most Christians understand God’s Good News is the reconciliation of all relationships… reconciliation with God, other (which includes all of creation), and self. Reconciliation is a way of harmony, togetherness, community, family, covenant, the Kin-dom of God, or Shalom… God’s will being done on earth as it is in Heaven.
Fission or splitting seems analogous to systemic evil which seeks to divide, fragment, split, and pit one vs another. And I imagine sin as collision with evil systems that separate, promote division, or block healthy relationship. Fusion at first hearing could sound analogous to reconciliation… but I’m not so sure. Fusion as I understand it forces particles into relationship. In life and relationship consent is vital to health and thriving. One cannot force another to reconcile. Fusion (as I understand it… which is not very much) feels a little like the colonization of the atomic world for economic gain for the most powerful.
I am interested in discovering or re-discovering how better to live in harmony with all creation, creatures, and that includes atoms. I’m not sure what it looks like to be faithfully present with atoms, but we have already experienced some of the horrors of being unfaithfully present with atoms (Hiroshima and beyond).
From what scientists are suggesting we are decades away from commercial applications of this week’s discovery. Which means a lot of experiments, trial and error, and very likely, accidents. In late modernity we are still aroused at the thought of new discovery. We are wise to hold the law of unintended consequences as we proceed. Generally, unintended consequences are grouped into three types:
- Unexpected benefit: A positive unexpected benefit (also referred to as luck, serendipity or a windfall).
- Unexpected drawback: An unexpected detriment occurring in addition to the desired effect of the policy (e.g., while irrigation schemes provide people with water for agriculture, they can increase waterborne diseases that have devastating health effects, such as schistosomiasis).
- Perverse result: A perverse effect contrary to what was originally intended (when an intended solution makes a problem worse).
We’re lured by the idea of the “unexpected benefit” yet rarely attend as robustly to the possible “perverse result.” I am not a luddite. Life on this planet needs safe renewable energy. Here are my current questions as a practical theologian:
- Can we find a way to give power away, rather than treating it like a possession used for greater control?
- How might we practice consent in all relations; including with atoms?
- Might we find a way of living in greater harmony with realty rather than manipulating reality?
Peace, dwight
So, Republicans are an example of fission. And Democrats are an example of fusion.
I think discoveries arrive when we have sent thoughts out there in sufficient strength that the universe reveals its secrets. Liberals have been fighting for inclusion, which is sort of like fusion, striving for all components of society to work together for a long time.
Saw this recently: Voting is like driving. If you want to go forward, you choose D. If you want to go backward, you choose R.
Diana, I’m more inclined to imagine the American political system – itself – as a fission system. As long as both parties, play within this political structure as it is currently being practiced than further fragmentation and division seem likely. I get the feeling that a different imagination for relational practice is longed for by most people in this country.
My personal sense is that a way forward is walking in the way of Jesus… not Christianity, not religion, not religious right or religious left… but people opening to Spirit, people who see the suffering of others, feel compassion, listen with curiosity to discover a way of love, and risk moving toward a more faithful way of being present to themselves, others, creation, and the Divine.