Elliot Hallmark

hello:

I found your advertisement at http://attrainternships.ncat.org/internDetail2.asp?id=1559

Having recently graduated from a university with a degree in physics, I've been looking into different programs through which to further various interests of mine.

The big picture in my mind is quite grand, but i think parallels what many others are wanting for themselves in this modern world. I want communities of people small enough that accountability cannot be avoided, where direct social interaction disables the power of anonymity. At the same time, these communities must be large enough to own the machines used to perpetuate the lives of those who live there. Without ownership of this technical apparatus, we fall into the problems caused by globalized capitalism and the institutionalized oppression required to extract resources from far away places.

New technologies are enabling this sort of communal organization. I would like very much to be a part of projects like this. As a physicist, I see my place in this project as helping to develop and employ these technologies. Specifically, solar concentrators are very appealing to me in carrying out industrial processes directly, like glass/metal working or chemical reformations/purifications, without the need for burning fuels (sunlight->biomass->fuel) or producing electricity (sunlight->lots of steps-> turning a turbine) as intermediate steps.

Necessary in this project also are appropriate methods of agriculture. I dream of fukuokan green belts bordering communities, with nearly wild fields of grain, and vegetables growing as weeds.