Maxwell's Silver Hammer 329
amperages required. Ultimately, most EMR hazards could be eliminated
by the development of efficient photoelectric converters to be used as the
primary power source at each point of consumption. The changeover
would even pay for itself, as the loss factors of long-distance power trans-
mission—not to mention the astronomical costs of building and decom-
missioning short-lived nuclear power
plants—were eliminated. Safety
need not imply giving up our beneficial machines.
Obviously, given the present technomilitary control of society in most
parts of the world, such sane efficiency will be immensely difficult to
achieve. Nevertheless, we must try. Electromagnetic energy presents us
with the same imperative as nuclear energy: Our survival depends on the
ability of upright scientists and other people of goodwill to break the
military-industrial death grip on our policy-making institutions.