We recently covered Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Robert Bryce’s most recent book launch event, where he gave an upbeat and provocative synopsis of his latest work “Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper,” which praises technology’s virtues and all the positive things technological innovation has done for society.

Bryce also goes head-to-head with climate activist Bill McKibben – 360.org founder – regarding the energy density of mainstream renewables like wind and solar power. The piece we wrote was picked up by the Energy Collective, where it received several mostly-insightful comments. This one comes from Rick Engebretson, who apparently holds significant computer science expertise:

“Some day it would be fun to get past the half wit insults dumped in our lap, and actually find some science somewhere. I’ve probably been more directly involved in “nanotechnology” and computers longer than most. Currently, I’m fascinated by the Arduino microcontroller use of the USB ACM driver and wonder how the linux tty termios driver control characters can be well implemented for automation. In between programming sessions I like watching the 3D molecule screen saver that isn’t as informative as those I drew for possible liquid crystal electrodyamics.

So what if I like forests and flowers? Nothing like a twit with a cell phone to tell the world how smart he is.” – Rick Engebretson