Dear Ms Collins (and your fellow op-ed editors),

Thanks for your "Letter from the Editor" in today's NYT.

I'm pleased to hear that you are making more space available in the op-ed section of the New York Times for alternative views. Hopefully there will now be some for me, who has been trying to get a word in edgewise for ages, but in vain - probably because you think I'm a crackpot. 

I understand how difficult (perhaps impossible) it is to tell crackpots and visionaries apart, but it is worth remembering that the most profound advances in human understanding occurred when "common sense" was overturned by the crackpot ideas of "uncommon sense ". The Copernican revolution is the most famous example, but others are provided by Newton's laws of motion, Einstein's theory of relativity, and quantum theory.

Am I placing myself alongside Copernicus, Newton and Einstein? Maybe, (at least it's not Napoleon!), only my insights relate to anthropology, socio-economics and sustainability, rather than to physics or astronomy. I suggest that you check them out by taking a look at my website (at www.spaceship-earth.org), where, under "Letters to the Editor", if you scroll down, you will also find a number of unaccepted offerings to yourselves.

Instead of waiting for others to discover the importance of my ideas before publishing them, you could be among the first. I'll even offer you an exclusive interview - if you pay for my flight to New York.

I look forward to hearing from you - as, sooner or later, I'm sure I will.

Yours sincerely

Roger Hicks
www.spaceship-earth.org