The Register Herald 08/19/2014

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August 19, 2014
Tuesday
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Daily Bible Verse
But many who are first will
be last, and the last first.
Matthew 19:30
Opinion
THE REGISTER-HERALD
Editor: Rick Kelley
Phone: 304-255-4459 or
toll-free at 800-950-0250
Fax: 304-255-4427
E-mail: readersspeak@register-herald.com
S
ome ideas are so good
that their appeal is im-
mediately compelling.
For example, when my
classmates and I encountered
the intellectual demands of
elementary and junior high
school how can we ever
learn all this? we fanta-
sized about a knowledge
pill, an ingestible capsule
that could immediately pro-
vide mastery of long division
and ready identification of
the capital of every state.
Surely, the driverless car
is such an idea. As much as
Americans love driving, who
wouldnt prefer to be relieved
sometimes of its drudgery, to
be able to key a destination
into a computer and relax
and enjoy the ride?
Both of these ideas sound
too good to be true, but, or-
dinarily, one will go broke by
betting against human inge-
nuity.
In fact, innovator and tech-
nology prophet Nicholas Ne-
groponte, the founder of the
MIT MediaLab, announced
in a recent TED talk that
within 30 years well be able
to reduce in-
formation to
a capsule that
can deliver
knowledge
and skills
Im not so
sure about
wisdom di-
rectly to the
brain via the
bloodstream.
No more te-
dious reading,
writing and thinking.
And what about driverless
cars? For at least four years,
Google has been working on
a car that can drive itself, as
long as a human is ready to
intervene in case of trouble.
Recently, Google has turned
its attention to the develop-
ment of a car that requires no
human supervision.
Traditional car companies
have developed self-driving
prototypes, as well. Writing
last year for MIT Technology
Review, Will Knight reports
on driving a BMW 5 Series,
a vehicle with built-in sensors
that permit a computer to in-
terpret the cars surroundings
and make driving decisions
that could, theoretically, be
as good as a humans. Or bet-
ter. And the computer never
drinks alcohol before hitting
the road and never texts or
dozes off behind the wheel.
Knight reports, however,
that despite this technologys
allure, the Wonderland of Au-
tonomous Vehicles lies very
far away, beyond a number of
practical obstacles. The com-
plexities of a truly driverless
car are staggering, to say
nothing of the expense. The
semi-driverless car, which
performs many driving tasks
automatically, but still re-
quires human supervision, is
a much more feasible project,
but it has obstacles of its own.
Knights conclusion is that we
shouldnt expect to see driver-
less cars at a reasonable scale
anytime soon.
Is the completely driverless
car possible? Certainly.
But in some respects our
global commitment to the
pleasures of personal vehicle
ownership has reached a cri-
sis. For example, hybrids and
electric cars are intriguing
possibilities, but the personal
vehicle will depend on the
internal combustion engine
well into the foreseeable fu-
ture. Unfortunately, every
gallon of gasoline burned
emits nearly 20 pounds of
carbon dioxide, amounting to
more than 1.5 billion metric
tons per year in the United
States alone. Even global
warming deniers have to
question whether injecting
this much carbon dioxide in-
to the atmosphere annually
could be a completely benign
practice.
At the same time, the in-
frastructure that supports
our infatuation with automo-
biles is breaking down, and
traffic gridlock is a fact of
life in many modern cities.
And what about the hundred
people who die in traffic acci-
dents every day in the United
States, largely because of
human error and bad driving
practices like speeding, drink-
ing, and texting?
One wonders if the prospect
of driverless cars provides an
opportunity to re-think our
original commitment par-
ticularly in America to the
personal vehicle. If we can en-
vision and develop driverless
cars, perhaps we can envision
a do-over of our commitment
to the notion that everyone
must have his own automo-
bile.
In our country, the alter-
natives buses and trains
have been neglected into
impracticality. Few Ameri-
cans are willing to give up
the freedom and flexibility of
the automobile for the choices
they currently have available.
But the times call for inge-
nuity. Lets imagine the trans-
portation system thats effi-
cient and near-pollution-free,
thats much safer and that
frees us from the unproduc-
tive drudgery of driving.
Impossible? Lets not un-
derestimate ourselves. But
the chief obstacle is our psy-
chology rather than our tech-
nology.
John M. Crisp, an op-ed
columnist for McClatchy-Tri-
bune, teaches in the English
Department at Del Mar Col-
lege in Corpus Christi, Texas.
E-mail: jcrisp@delmar.edu.
OurReadersSpeak
THE REGISTER-HERALD
Frank Wood
PUBLISHER
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or
of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The First Amendment
The third install-
ment of our series in
The Register-Herald
about stormwater and
its management was in
some ways the most im-
portant segment.
In an interview with
Jeremiah Johnson,
general manager of
the Beckley Sanitary
Board, we were struck
by just how intercon-
nected what happens in
the city is to waterways
and municipalities and
towns downstream.
Beckley, he noted, sits
just 10 miles upstream
from the New River Na-
tional River, a growing
and critical component
for tourism and the di-
versity of our regional
economy.
That raindrop that
falls in Beckley doesnt
stay in the city limits.
And its the Sanitary
Board that must make
sure that drop of rain is
as clean as it can be as
it flows toward the New.
A polluted river is
not good for Beckley or
the New River region,
Johnson said. We have
a tremendous resource
here.
Indeed we do.
Pollution from mul-
tiple sources does, of
course, make it down-
stream into the New
River. But Beckley has
done a good job in lim-
iting the damage those
pollutants can cause.
Beckley, Johnson not-
ed, has done a good job
in treating its wastewa-
ter and, in 2004, began
to do the same with its
stormwater runoff as
well.
Last year, the West
Virginia Department of
Environmental Protec-
tion awarded Beckleys
sewer system with an
environmental excel-
lence award for its
performance in mini-
mizing pollutants from
reaching the waterways
downstream.
Within the eyes of
the state of West Virgin-
ia, Beckley is up there,
Johnson said.
Beckley ranks high
nationally as well in its
treatment of stormwa-
ter runoff. The states
ravaged by Hurricane
Sandy New York,
New Jersey, Connecticut
did not have storm-
water treatment pro-
grams.
And neither do Louisi-
ana or Mississippi, even
eight years after the
catastrophic stormwater
damage done by Hurri-
cane Katrina.
It seems to us that not
only is the City of Beck-
ley a model for the rest
of the state and region
when it comes to limit-
ing stormwater pollu-
tion, its ahead of a lot
of states as well.
Beckleys record for
dealing with pollution
from runoff into our
waterways is more than
just being responsible
and a good neighbor
to communities down-
stream.
It reveals a strong
sense of vision and com-
mitment to our clean
water, and thus our
blossoming tourism in-
dustry.
Protecting our water
is protecting our future.
Nationally
ranked
Driverless cars attempt to solve the wrong problem
OPINION
John
Crisp
Rick Kelley
EDITOR
Dawn A. Dayton
MANAGING EDITOR
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letters on topics of public inter-
est.
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WRITE US
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Beckley stormwater plan a model
for rest of the state and region
Well, the Koch brothers are
at it again.
I just saw the television ad
insulting Natalie Tennant.
This negative ad campaign
is not unexpected, I sup-
pose. The Koch brothers are
throwing their support and
their money behind Shelley
Moore Capito because they
know she will support their
big business interests.
Before you believe what is
said in these advertisements,
think a moment about who
benefits if Shelley Moore
Capito is elected to the Sen-
ate. Not the everyday work-
ing person in West Virginia,
thats for sure. Capito voted
for a huge tax cut for million-
aires while voting against a
minimum wage increase.
She supported these mil-
lionaires while voting for
Paul Ryans budget, which
will cut Medicare and So-
cial Security benefits. The
millionaires want Capito be-
cause she continually votes
munity. Taxes pay for schools
and libraries and police and
firefighters and roads. If we
all pay our fair share of tax-
es, then our communities and
our nation grow stronger.
These untrue advertise-
ments also claim that Na-
talie Tennant supports the
new carbon levels that the
EPA has set forth. Natalie
Tennant will fight for the
rights of working coal min-
ers in West Virginia. Unlike
Capito who supported Paul
Ryans budget that will sig-
nificantly reduce safety for
coal miners throughout the
nation.
So, before you start believ-
ing the pack of lies in these
television advertisements,
think about who is paying
for them and who will ben-
efit if Shelley Moore Capito
is elected. Send a message to
the Koch brothers that West
Virginia is not for sale. Vote
for the senator who will fight
for West Virginians. Vote for
Natalie Tennant.
Karen Vuranch
Fayetteville
Who benefits if Capito
is elected to Senate?
to support tax cuts for the
wealthy. Personally, I dont
like paying taxes myself. But
taxes are what create com-
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
The complexities of
a truly driverless car
are staggering, to say
nothing of the expense.
U.S. Rep.
Nick Joe Rahall
2307 Rayburn Building
Washington, D.C.
20515
202-225-3452
U.S. Sen.
Joe Manchin
311 Hart Building
Washington, D.C.
20510
202-224-3954
U.S. Sen. John D.
Rockefeller IV
531 Hart Building
Washington, D.C.
20510
202-224-6472
CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS
Visit these official websites for more information: www.senate.gov or www.house.gov
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