What More Could Hal-9000 Want from His Crew?

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I was talking to a fellow I know the other day and we got around to, of course, artificial intelligence.  And he mentioned a book, which is probably very popular, that stated that because of the capability of AI replacing almost all human work, the government will have to pay us for just sitting around.  And I revolted at that idea.

Sure, maybe it’s cost effective and in line with how automation is replacing humans.  But I saw it as an awful idea.  Paying people to do nothing is truly a frightening fate.  It brings to my mind the fictional Eloi from H.G. Well’s, “The Time Machine.”  Useless people sitting around doing nothing while the real work is done by monsters (of whatever kind) is dystopian to an extent that I cannot believe sane people would accept.

Now, I don’t have all the answers.  Obviously technical progress will occur.  It’s inevitable.  But progress cannot earn that name if it entails the destruction of human happiness.  And living like some kind of lab animal with nothing useful to do all day cannot be called happiness.  And so, I think we’ve reached a place in human technological ability where we have to start justifying what we create not just by how it increases productivity but also how it maximizes human happiness.  And I don’t mean the kind of happiness associated with someone playing a video game.  Human beings need to accomplish tasks.  This goes for both work and personal activities.  We like to work with our hands and our minds and we’re good at it (to greater and lesser extents depending on the individual).  But you might say it would be impossible to both efficiently produce the goods and services that our society requires and also maximize the job satisfaction of people.

Well, no.  After all the very machines that are supposedly smart enough to replace all of us are also smart enough to optimize algorithms based on human job satisfaction to design the processes and work assignments that would allow this type of job customization to exist.  Industry can be forced to accommodate human beings into their processes.  But in the future, it won’t be a voluntary acceptance.  We will have to use government to force corporations to utilize humans instead of automation.  This will involve using the tax code and other manipulations to incentivize this policy.  And it will take time to force this mindset to permeate the workplace.  But it will be possible to do.  Because in a democracy we have the upper hand if we know how to use it.  And there’s nothing antithetical to capitalism about this.  As long as it’s a level playing field all the companies can compete to make a human-friendly environment and still make whatever profits they want.  They just won’t be allowed to do it without human employees.

And what will happen is the companies who provide the most job satisfaction to their employees will preferentially get and retain the highest quality employees.  What more could Hal-9000 want from his crew?

Going My Way (1944) – An OCF Classic Movie Review

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“Going My Way” is a comedy drama that took a bunch of Oscars and was the biggest box office draw in 1944.  And since it starred Bing Crosby it unsurprisingly had several musical numbers spread through the movie.  It’s the story of Father Chuck O’Malley (Crosby) a Catholic priest sent by the bishop to rescue a New York City parish; St Dominic’s, from the overwhelmed exhaustion of its present elderly pastor; Father Fitzgibbon (played by Barry Fitzgerald).  With a supporting cast that includes such veteran character actors as Gene Lockart, Timothy O’Dowd and William Frawley the film drops any pretense at reality and has Father O’Malley manage to reform a local gang of New York City teenagers and converts them into a church choir.  He manages to raise enough money to pay off the mortgage by selling a song to a music producer.  He saves a runaway teenager from trouble with the police and even manages to reunite Father Fitzgibbon with his ninety-year-old mother by finding a way to pay for her trip from Ireland.

Now clearly this movie has nothing to do with reality.  Having grown up in a New York City Roman Catholic parish I can assure you that no priest of Father O’Malley’s caliber has ever been seen.  But treat the movie as a fantasy from a much more innocent time and enjoy it for its virtues.  Crosby comes across as eminently likeable and the whole movie is a feel-good experience that can be watched around the holiday season to try and believe that there are still good people walking this Earth.

Now the interesting thing is this movie has the distinction of being one of only a very few good movies that had an even better sequel.  The next year (1945) Crosby returned as O’Malley, paired with Ingrid Bergman as a nun in the movie, “The Bells of St Mary’s.”

But with or without the sequel, “Going My Way” is a heartwarming and well-made film that I can highly recommend to anyone who still wants to believe in the possibility of human goodness and hope.  There is comedy, human feeling and a sense of optimism in the face of hardship.  A classic.

Drilling for Megawatts

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Human beings depend on energy.  It’s almost what makes us human.  When we discovered fire, we became truly the masters of creation and the apex of the animal kingdom.  You can imagine our cave dwelling ancestors wielding a flaming torch in the face of a cave bear or a saber-tooth tiger and living to tell the story.

So, what should be our attitude about the prospect of running out of energy?  Well, windmills and solar panels don’t seem to be the future.  Of course, if photovoltaic cells become more efficient and cost effective, maybe they will be a big part of the answer.  But I tend to think there will be more cost-effective options.  And this is long term.  Short term we’ll probably be using uranium fission technology to produce power but sometime in the future we’ll run out of recoverable uranium and need to move on.

As I’ve reiterated endlessly, I think that geothermal energy will be a very important source of power in the future.  The earth has an enormous heat source to be tapped into for our energy needs.

And now, finally, results are moving beyond the research and pilot plant stages:

“Leading Companies in Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) or advanced variants like closed-loop or superhot rock geothermal, involve drilling wells several kilometers deep to access hot rock formations, fracturing them if needed, and circulating fluids to extract heat for electricity generation. These technologies aim to scale beyond traditional hydrothermal resources, enabling baseload, carbon-free power almost anywhere.

As of October 2025, commercialization is accelerating due to oil/gas-derived drilling innovations, major funding, and partnerships with tech giants like Google and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Based on recent developments, the companies closest to large-scale commercialization (defined here as multi-MW projects entering operation or construction by 2026–2028) are those with demonstrated pilots, secured financing, and firm power purchase agreements (PPAs). Below is a summary table of the top contenders, followed by details.

These companies stand out for their progress toward utility-scale electricity production (tens to hundreds of MW), distinguishing them from firms focused on shallow heating/cooling (e.g., Dandelion) or conventional geothermal (e.g., Ormat, Calpine). Progress is driven by DOE’s FORGE initiative and private investments exceeding $1B since 2020.

  • Fervo Energy (USA): The frontrunner in EGS commercialization, Fervo adapts shale-fracking techniques for deep (up to 15,765 ft) horizontal wells in hot granite, achieving flow rates over 80 liters/second—surpassing commercial benchmarks. Its 2023 Nevada pilot (3.5 MW) powers Google’s data centers and demonstrated energy storage capabilities. The Cape Station project in Utah, fully funded at $206M in June 2025, targets 400 MW Phase I by 2026, with multi-GW expansion. This positions Fervo to supply 24/7 power to AI/data centers at costs competitive with coal.
  • Eavor Technologies (Canada): Specializing in closed-loop systems that avoid hydraulic fracturing by using insulated U-shaped boreholes (up to 10 km deep), Eavor enables site-agnostic deployment. Its New Mexico demo reached 250°C at 18,000 ft in 2024, proving scalability. The Geretsried project (Germany) will deliver 65 MW baseload power by 2027, with heat co-production for district heating. Backed by $991M, Eavor has operational pilots in Alberta (2019) and Colorado (2023), making it a leader in Europe and North America.
  • Quaise Energy (USA, MIT spinout): Focused on ultra-deep drilling (20 km) to access superhot rock (>500°C) for 10x higher energy output per well, Quaise uses gyrotron millimeter waves to vaporize rock, bypassing mechanical bits that fail in extreme heat. A 2025 demo drilled 387 ft at 16 ft/hour through basalt, the deepest with this method. Targeting steam extraction in 2026 and commercial ops in 2028, it plans to retrofit fossil plants globally, with $91M raised and DOE support. This could unlock 5,500 GW in the U.S. alone.
  • GreenFire Energy (USA): Its GreenLoop closed-loop tech retrofits existing deep oil/gas/geothermal wells (3–5 km) without stimulation, reducing costs and risks. Partnerships with DoD (e.g., California naval base) and GeoZone aim for 200 MWe by 2027, leveraging idle infrastructure for quick deployment. Selected for DOE’s 2025 next-gen initiatives, it’s ideal for scaling in oil-rich basins like California’s Geysers field.
  • Sage Geosystems (USA): Developing GGS, which stores excess renewable energy by pressurizing deep fractures (kilometers below surface) with water, then releasing for on-demand power—acting as a geothermal battery. A 2025 Meta contract for 150 MW highlights its commercial traction, with DoD pilots in Texas. Using proven fracking tech, Sage could integrate with wind/solar for hybrid grids by 2027.”

Now it goes without saying that geothermal energy is still in its infancy and no one knows what kinds of technical problems will surface (pun intended).  But at the same time the problems will mostly involve well understood parameters like material of constructions to deal with the pressures, temperatures and corrosion problems inherent in circulating water and steam in a bore-hole.  But these are not mysterious or insoluble problems.  They are the bread and butter of material scientists and engineers.  I am also interested to see that tech companies are financing some of these ventures in order to control their electric power supply in the face of power shortages and interruptions associated with the “green energy revolution” that many of us currently suffer under.  Imagine that!