Sir: On aircraft technology, Mr B. J. Hurren (Letters, 17
May) is a distinguished authority whose technical knowledge most certainly sur- passes my own. With the basic facts as he presents them, I agree; but with the judgments he derives from them, I am in total disagree- ment. In reply to his letter I would like to make the following points: 1. In suggesting that the sonic boom will invade us, by `us' I was clearly referring to. humanity in general rather than to a par- ncular geographical concentration of it. It may indeed be fortunate that Britain is enough to escape the full effects of the but other, larger, countries are in a less en position. A single Concorde sold to example, represents the means of ing millions of Americans during Mr Hurren's flight stage BC (cruise altitude). Are we to be absolved from all moral responsibility merely because we are able to shift the consequences of our actions on to others?
2. A single transatlantic supersonic flight will boom an area of over 125,000 square miles. If current transatlantic subsonic schedules are replaced by supersonic flights, the weekly boom coverage will extend to several tens of millions of square miles, at least. Would Mr Hurren really have us believe that `the -firing of big naval guns' poses a corn- ,' parable problem?
3. Yes, I do imagine that all those people mentioned by Mr Hurren are 'blindly rushing towards a sonic boom future.' Not with malicious intent, of course; but surely we can all think of examples in which even whole populations, lacking foresight, have failed to discern the consequences of actions taken `innocently' Nit with lack of critical judgment?
4. No, I don't think that hospital faculties would 'lead public clamour to stop the big bang.' I don't notice hospital faculties leading even a whimper to reduce the air pollution which causes many of their beds to be filled. Nor do I notice their pressing very hard for early development of the electric automobile, the means whereby the intolerable din of the internal-combustion engine in the vicinity of city hospitals might be reduced. Need I say more?
5.,But it is Mr Hurren's final paragraph which really gives his game away. He reveals himself as, the starry-eyed enthusiast to whom the achievement of technology is its power to stir the imagination; to whom the intellec- tual feat is all; and to whom the spiritual ends (of the few) justify the material consequences (for the many). My word, how fascinating it would be to watch the human race expire in the stench and cacophony of the technology of its own creation! I only hope that that is merely imagination too.
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