Humans have come through many great advances in our history. We have divided our technological history through a series of Ages. We started in the Ice Age then Stone, Copper, Bronze, Iron, Classical, Dark, Middle, Industrial, Information, Biotechnical and finally into the Energy Age. It was a time of great change for humankind. Finally, we were able to solve the greatest problem of human history: energy.
Back in ancient times, energy was mostly created by burning hydrocarbons to release pent up chemical energy. Industrial equipment, based on mechanical systems, converted a fraction of the hydrocarbon's potential energy into useable energy in the form of either motion or electricity[1]. Because these systems were woefully inefficient, only the smallest fraction of available energy was harnessed. As strange as it may sound, these same processes powered the earth for centuries.
Most historians agree that the Age of Energy official began in the year 2058 with the creation of the first Daedalus Screen by Dr. Fwad Malik of ARAMCO. Dr Malik based his invention on the previously discredited Theory of Potential Dynamics by Professor Ian E. Morris[2]. The Daedalus Screen was originally developed to be a super efficiency solar panel. However, when preliminary tests showed that the total output of the Screens exceeded the total visible light input, it was clear that a major discovery had occurred; the new cells were converting all radiated energy.
As everyone is aware, Dr Malik had invented the superconverter,[3] a device capable of converting 99% of all radiation into electricity. Within months, new versions of the cell were developed that could produce any kind of energy. But Dr Malik feared that the fundamentalist King of Saudi Arabia would destroy the new invention, so he published the processes involved in the creation of his Daedalus screens to the world through the Grid. Within two weeks, Dr. Fwad Malik died under mysterious circumstances.
By 2061, the first Daedalus cell was born when scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories encased a gram of uranium in a cylinder of the Daedalus material. By tooling the cells to convert all released radiation, these new batteries provided power for the 10,000 year lifetime of the radioactive isotope. The first Daedalus cell batteries were small and were mostly used in small electronics devices. Daedalus cells output constant energy levels regardless of use. All power generated in excess of demand is converted into neutrinos and released to decay in order to comply with the Laws of Conservation of Energy. Electronic devices had to be redesigned to include power regulators to control the flow of electrical power.
In 2062, the first private conveyance called "automobile" was produced using Daedalus technology. By 2066 most homes had disconnected from public power utilities[4] in favor of large scale Daedalus cells. The previous energy producing nation-states[5] either faced economic collapse or were forced to adapt to the Age of Energy. Therefore, while Saudi Arabia became the largest regional exporter of fresh water, Venezuela collapsed and fractured into multiple self-governing ethnic indigenous territories. It was a time of great upheaval and change.
The old political struggles and armed battles of old Earth changed overnight. For the first time in human history cheap, clean energy was available for all. Once energy stopped being an expensive commodity, massive leaps in agriculture, manufacturing, travel and space exploitation were realized by our ancestors. Finally, humankind could stop fighting each other for energy resources and they could turn their eyes to the challenges of the new millennium. Our current civilization would be impossible without The Age of Energy.
Footnotes:
[1] Electricity is an early power distribution system based on electron flows thru copper conduits. Apparently Copper Age technology was still in use in the Information Age!
[2] Morris, Ian E. "The Theory of Potential Dynamics"; Beijing University Press; 14 March 2024. Morris died penniless and insane living under a bridge shouting out his theories at anyone walking by.
[3] A superconverter is a phenomenon occurring in certain materials with internal matrices maintained at absolute zero, characterized by almost no energy form-wave conversion loss.
[4] Historical Note: Because power generation required enormous facilities, everyone purchased power from corporations that manufactured and sold power. Strange but true.
[5] Archaic governing body based on regional territorial control.
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