Yeah I can easily imagine a situation where something else becomes the “next petrol” and we are charged an arm and a leg for it by industry scum.

Heaven or Hell? Nah, mate: oblivion. Lights out.

They’re possibly simply terrified some bookkeeper somewhere might figure out if NASA started sharing their workload with other space agencies their running costs could be lowered and ultimately their budget slashed.

Having said that, I reckon you’ve touched on the next great societal ‘atomic bomb’ with this story, especially when you factor in parallel stories like the latest revivification of ‘Cold Fusion’ one.

It definitely seems like somewhere not too far down the line there’s a prospect of energy becoming so cheap and universally abundant it’ll be practically free.

The trouble with that scenario of course is if it’s allowed to happen, the present form of what passes for Capitalism’ll probably collapse quicker than the Berlin Wall.

In which case it’ll be ‘hilarious’ to watch all the industry type spokespeople currently denouncing the ‘hysteria’ over the ‘myth’ of global warming suddenly declaring not only is global warming a deadly and pressing reality but justification for creating a carefully controlled and highly regulated energy market to ensure the general public’s access to and usage of it is strictly limited.

I imagine something modelled on the lines of the present restrictions imposed on the diamond market’d probably just about cover it, but envisage coalitions of strange new bedfellows as pro-Evolutionary scientist types’d suddenly start manning the barricades, uniting with the likes of fundamentalist Christians and Muslims in protest at it, while yet other scientist and fundamentalist types denounced them for their blindness to sheer necessity.

Eek! Maybe it’s just me but it almost seems like only two options lay ahead of humanity at the moment - Heaven or Hell, and nothing in between.