Cloud seeding

Precious metals are good for making jewelry, but can also be used for even more intriguing ends and purposes if so desired. Silver is actually a better conductor of electricity than copper, but it will, of course, cost one a pretty penny to wire their whole house with silver and thus the metal used to make pennies is used instead. Silver nitrate is dropped into the eyes of newborns to prevent gonorrhea contraction. But if one wishes to manipulate more than the ascetics of their significant other, or microscopic bacteria, or global markets for that matter, and aspires to actually manipulate something on the order of the atmosphere, then silver iodide may be just what the doctor ordered. China is at the forefront of the battalion launching rockets laced with silver iodide into the troposphere to act as condensation nuclei for cloud induction and formation. Now, instead of lying on their backs and visualizing robust, albeit slightly amorphous dragons in the clouds, Chinese children can aspire to be rocket or atmospheric scientists and provoke the clouds into existence. The jury is still out on the meta-analysis and scientific rigor on this fringe branch of science, but the concept is fascinating at the very least. If new and better techniques are developed, perhaps Norwegian children will be able to call forth Thor, rather than waiting for his rare, ominous, and thunderous appearances. This is one instance where I am not against the practice but have strong suspicions, or am at least skeptical concerning the principle. This could be, in a large way, simply fulfilling the command to take dominion over the creation and bring order out of chaos. After all, simply farming and agriculture, not even GMO-style or with pesticides, but just simply farming, is taking some dominion over creation and manipulating it in a certain way for increased human flourishing. Plants don’t grow that plenteous that close together unless well attended to. On another level, we must be careful not to be overstepping boundaries without potential drastic consequences, such as negative feedback loops that could lead to droughts or positive feedback loops that could lead to floods. Some things are a diving prerogative: “He loads the clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them. At his discretion they swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commands them.” (Job 37:11-12)