REM%MIT-MC@sri-unix.UUCP (10/27/83)
From: Robert Elton Maas <REM @ MIT-MC> I don't think that receiving electricity from space (or oil from the mideast) is analagous to somebody telling you what temperature you are allowed in your home. It's more analagous to somebody building a thermostat and offering it for installation (rather than you having to build your own) or somebody providing a power grid that you may buy electricity from (rather than you having to run your own generator). Consider the supermarket vs backyard garden. You have the choice what to eat, the supermarket offers a choice that in most cases is better than what you can grow in your locality, still you can grow your own food if you really want. Most of us will prefer the cheap SPS power and the national power grid rather than insisting on our own private windmill or wood-burning stove. Television can perhaps control you, with the program content an commercials brainwashing you to suit the advertiser's desires, with virtually no use for the aired material other than what the advertiser wants. The only choice you have is to watch or not to watch. But electricity is a flexible commodity that you can use for just about whatevr energy-intensive use you want. I don't see how the people who provide you with electricity can control your use other than limiting the gross amount you use.