The Art Bell Archive

Art Bell welcomes Dr. Mark Eberhart, professor of chemistry and materials science at the Colorado School of Mines and author of Feeding the Fire, for an in-depth discussion on America's growing energy crisis. Eberhart explains why corn-based ethanol is a flawed solution, noting that farm subsidies rather than real energy gains drive the push for biofuels, and that converting cellulose to ethanol holds far more promise.

The conversation explores Eberhart's central thesis that energy and human imagination are inseparable. He argues that everything civilization has created, from automobiles to books, exists because humans harnessed energy to give substance to their ideas. Art and Eberhart discuss how exponentially rising energy consumption, combined with dependence on foreign oil funding hostile nations, creates both economic and security vulnerabilities.

Eberhart addresses hydrogen as a potential fuel source, explaining the scientific challenges of storage and production that make it less viable than many assume. He also weighs in on climate change, stating that the evidence for human-caused global warming is overwhelming, and warns that China has already surpassed the U.S. as the world's largest carbon emitter. The hour opens with unscreened listener calls on topics ranging from the Iraq War to personal stories.

Art Bell welcomes climate scientist Richard Somerville, a distinguished professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, for a thorough discussion of global warming and its accelerating impacts. Somerville explains the basic science behind the greenhouse effect and presents evidence that human carbon dioxide emissions are the primary driver of rising temperatures, while acknowledging the complexity of climate modeling.

The conversation addresses specific projections, including a NASA study suggesting eastern U.S. summer temperatures could rise nearly ten degrees Fahrenheit by the 2080s, with cities like Chicago, Washington, and Atlanta potentially averaging between 100 and 110 degrees during dry spells. Somerville discusses the international dimension of the crisis, noting that China is poised to surpass the United States in carbon emissions and opens a new coal-fired power plant every few days.

Art presses Somerville on practical solutions and political obstacles, including the influence of industry-funded skepticism that mirrors tactics once used by the tobacco lobby. They discuss the so-called BRIC nations, the challenge of balancing economic development with environmental responsibility, and why Somerville believes the scientific consensus on human-caused warming is as strong as the link between smoking and lung cancer.

Art Bell opens with psychic Evelyn Paglini, who delivers a series of alarming predictions including civil unrest in major cities during the summer, a deliberately released virus with flu-like symptoms, and a major stock market correction in September or October. Paglini warns of intensifying earth changes through 2012, urging listeners to prepare with food, water, and community shelters rather than relying on government response.

Richard C. Hoagland joins in the second half to present his hyperdimensional physics theory as an explanation for Colony Collapse Disorder, the mass disappearance of honeybees. Hoagland notes that the bees are not dying but vanishing without a trace, leaving behind untouched hives that even predators avoid, a pattern he compares to cattle mutilation cases. He calculates roughly one billion bees have disappeared across the northern hemisphere.

Hoagland highlights that only commercially farmed bees are affected while organic hives remain healthy, suggesting the corporate practice of trucking bees across the country and feeding them sugar water may play a role. He and Art discuss the debunked Einstein bee quote, the potential collapse of one-third of the American food supply, and how torsion field physics might explain the disruption of bee navigation systems.

Art Bell speaks with Daniel H. Wilson, a robotics engineer and author, about the current state of robots and the trajectory of artificial intelligence. Wilson describes the wide spectrum of robotic technology already embedded in daily life, from anti-lock braking systems that use neural networks to autonomous vacuum cleaners and military reconnaissance drones operating in combat zones.

The discussion moves into the concept of general-purpose human-level intelligence and when machines might pass the threshold where a person cannot distinguish between human and artificial conversation. Wilson explains how Moore's Law continues to drive exponential growth in processing power, while parallel computing and massive data storage bring the possibility of truly intelligent machines closer each year. He also addresses the ethical dimensions of weaponized robots and autonomous killing machines already in development.

Art and Wilson explore the longer-term implications, including whether robots could eventually store and replicate the entirety of a human's sensory experience. They discuss the cultural fear surrounding intelligent machines, the practical benefits robots already provide in surgery and search-and-rescue operations, and the question of whether humanity will ultimately merge with its own technological creations.

Art Bell presents a two-topic broadcast beginning with the global warming debate, taking calls from listeners who weigh in on climate change, the disappearing bee crisis, and the politics surrounding environmental policy. Callers raise points about Martian polar ice caps melting, agricultural shifts needed to adapt to warming, and the urgent need for action regardless of the cause.

The second half features Brother Michael Dimond, a traditional Catholic Benedictine monk who argues that the post-Vatican II Church represents a counterfeit version of Catholicism. Brother Dimond explains how changes to the Mass introduced by Pope Paul VI, particularly the alteration of consecration words from "many" to "all," mirror Protestant reforms made by the Church of England centuries earlier. He contends these changes invalidated the sacraments for millions of Catholics worldwide.

Brother Dimond connects these institutional changes to biblical prophecy, citing Daniel and Thessalonians as predictions of apostasy within the Church. He discusses the invalidation of priestly ordinations under the new rites, the Third Secret of Fatima, and Pope Leo XIII's reported vision in which the devil was granted a period of roughly 75 to 100 years to attempt the destruction of the Catholic Church from within.