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My enjoyment of the 60-degree day we had here yesterday was dampened considerably when I heard the warm front caused devastating tornadoes across 4 states. It got me to thinking how great it would be if we could find a way to prevent tornadoes, hurricanes, and other such storms. Or...would it? In the long run, would we be causing more problems by messing with things? I'm thinking controlling temperature and rainfall wouldn't be good, but what about wind?
I think any messing with the weather would end up causing untold and unforeseen headaches. Something as simple as controlling thunderstorms that often naturally cause forest fires, and high winds that spread them, would cause overgrowth and buildup of fallen leaves, branches, etc., that would make any fire that eventually did come far, far worse.
And I wonder how much wind affects things like pollination, animal migration, etc. I'm no ecologist, but any meddling here would feel like pulling a loose thread on a sweater.
Weather is one of the most complex systems known to humanity. It takes Cray supercomputers to come anywhere close to accurately forecasting the weather, and even they don't do all that well. I really doubt that we could anticipate what even one little change here would have on the rest of the weather elsewhere in the world. And, humanity being humanity, it wouldn't be long before it was used as a weapon.
In fact if it were developed it would be developed as a weapon first.
It would cause some kind of disastrous climate collapse. I wonder if some SF story has been written with that premise, though.
It would always be sunny where rich people live and always shitty weather where the poor have their abodes.
"All for the Best," from Godspell:Quote:
Originally posted by The Original An Gadaí
"...Some men are born to live at ease, doing what they please,
Richer than the bees are in honey
Never growing old, never feeling cold
Pulling pots of gold from thin air
The best in every town, best at shaking down
Best at making mountains of money
They can't take it with them, but what do they care?
They get the center of the meat, cushions on the seat
Houses on the street where it's sunny..
Summers at the sea, winters warm and free
All of this and we get the rest...
But who is the land for? the sun and the sand for?
You guessed! It's all for the best...."