Heis thinking that is going to hinder SPS

> Besides, who will in the future decide when the human race has
> matured sufficiently to handle the increase in available power?

In the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still" IIRC it is supposed to be a
bunch of nine foot tall gold skinned robots from outer space, created
specifically for that sort of purpose. :-)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005JKFR?v=glance
(I think the original book may detail this issue better.)

But you ask a good question. I don't have a good answer. The spectacle
of a major world military power invading other countries for
questionable reasons while ignoring other issues that IMHO more
critically need attention at home and abroad (with the rest of the world
letting this happpen) indicates (to me) a still low level of societal
maturity. That is one of the reason I didn't go into working on (killer)
robots for the military in the 1980s (despite having the opportunity and
technical inclination to work on such fascinating technology and knowing
it would be a lucrative career). When I read of the Predator
assasination system I shuddered -- that could have been my handywork.
Eventually more people may find better things to do with their time or
may find the ability to decide not to cooperate (as best they can for
their situation), such as using the phrase "FIW: Freedom I won't" from
the sci-fi book _The Great Explosion_" by Erik Frank Russel.
http://www.blancmange.net/tmh/books/tge/tgetoc.html
Having said that, the protest before the latest Iraq war showing "The
Other SuperPower" in action was heartening.
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi 030414&s=schell
Maybe we are getting there.

If you read Ursula K. Le Guin's book _A Wizard of Earthsea_,
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553262505?v=glance
the main thing the protagonist learns in his quest to be a powerful
wizard is that true wizardry is mainly about balance and harmony, not
about raw or showy power. It is a hard lesson to learn and many people
(including himself) get hurt in the process. Likely the same will be
true with unlimited electricity. Perhaps that is why it will be best to
make such mistakes in space habitats remote from Earth.

--Paul Fernhout