>If any of this stuff worked, there would be commercial applications by now
Criticism A: Lots of people claim to have made money off dowsing/clairvoyance for mineral exploration. Debunking them is nontrivial. McMoneagle would be a tough nut to crack.
Criticism B: If an oil company is using an alleged clairvoyant such as McMoneagle, they are not likely to be candid and are not likely to cooperate with debunkers.
Criticism C: The market is frequently unfair and genuine working inventions don't always get to market.
Volcanos work, too, but there are no commercial applications of them, even though the energy contained within could power entire cities for years.
Even with known and proven natural phenomena of smaller dimensions than volcanos, harnessing them is a huge challenge. It was proven that some people can smell Parkinson's [1], and this is probably caused by changes in the sebum (skin oils) of the patient. There are likely other potential diagnoses by smell (lung cancer [2], infections [3]), but despite reading about future electronical noses for about a decade, there are none deployed in clinical settings.
I would argue that home owners insurance is a commercial application of volcanos. No, it doesn’t harness them, but if you live somewhere that could potentially be affected by an eruption, your insurance company is paying attention to the science in figuring out how to cover that risk.
It's my understanding that insurers typically exclude volcano related damages from their policies, particularly lava and mudflows and earthquakes, so they can treat those risks as if they don't really exist.
Every source I can find says that most homeowners insurance will cover direct damage from volcanic eruptions, including fires, with some exclusions like mudflows.
>If any of this stuff worked, there would be commercial applications by now
Criticism A: Lots of people claim to have made money off dowsing/clairvoyance for mineral exploration. Debunking them is nontrivial. McMoneagle would be a tough nut to crack.
Criticism B: If an oil company is using an alleged clairvoyant such as McMoneagle, they are not likely to be candid and are not likely to cooperate with debunkers.
Criticism C: The market is frequently unfair and genuine working inventions don't always get to market.
This is a bit simplified.
Volcanos work, too, but there are no commercial applications of them, even though the energy contained within could power entire cities for years.
Even with known and proven natural phenomena of smaller dimensions than volcanos, harnessing them is a huge challenge. It was proven that some people can smell Parkinson's [1], and this is probably caused by changes in the sebum (skin oils) of the patient. There are likely other potential diagnoses by smell (lung cancer [2], infections [3]), but despite reading about future electronical noses for about a decade, there are none deployed in clinical settings.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/07/woman-who-ca...
[2] respiratory-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12931-021-01835-4
[3] https://news.ki.se/detecting-disease-by-smell
I would argue that home owners insurance is a commercial application of volcanos. No, it doesn’t harness them, but if you live somewhere that could potentially be affected by an eruption, your insurance company is paying attention to the science in figuring out how to cover that risk.
To to put it another way: We can derive value from knowledge about a thing, even if we can't feasibly direct its behavior.
Ex: Tracking Earth's seasons, inventing calendars, and adjusting agricultural practices. Or ancestors didn't control the tilt of the planet, but...
It's my understanding that insurers typically exclude volcano related damages from their policies, particularly lava and mudflows and earthquakes, so they can treat those risks as if they don't really exist.
Every source I can find says that most homeowners insurance will cover direct damage from volcanic eruptions, including fires, with some exclusions like mudflows.
Geothermal energy is close to harvesting volcanoes, at least understanding the magma and heat flow.