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I have an internal debate with myself over which will come first: nuclear fusion as society’s primary energy source, solving P vs NP, or repairing damaged carti

I have an internal debate with myself over which will come first: nuclear fusion as society’s primary energy source, solving P vs NP, or repairing damaged cartilage. My bets are on the former two. (Also, I had the OATS procedure 9 years ago; it didn’t really fix anything unfortunately.)

thfuran 7y ago
I'd guess they'll occur in reverse order. Or at least fusion last. There are some serious engineering concerns to work out. And even if it were to become economical and reliable overnight, there'd still probably be a few decades before it replaced enough existing infrastructure to be the primary energy source.
- itcrowd 7y ago
  > if it were to become economical and reliable overnight, there'd still probably be a few decades before it replaced enough existing infrastructure to be the primary energy source Well, hypothetically if nuclear fusion is solved, wouldn't that be the one of these three with the largest incentive to fix overnight? Solving climate change for the whole world, not just a problem only some niche groups are interested in would seem more pressing than the other two issues (as serious as they are!).
  - thfuran 7y ago
    >hypothetically if nuclear fusion is solved, wouldn't that be the one of these three with the largest incentive to fix overnight? Maybe but it's the only one that'd take probably several trillion dollars in infrastructure spending on top of just knowing how to do it. There's a huge difference between "net positive energy fusion reactor" and "economically viable fusion energy generation" and another huge gap between that and "fusion reactors are the primary means of energy generation". The other items are achieved either by a proof or by proof of concept / trial.
  - sanxiyn 7y ago
    Energy use is more than electricity. Fusion does not solve climate change.
BurningFrog 7y ago
I learned just this morning that cartilage is one of the first human "organs" that should be practical to 3d print. A quick google gave this optimistic link: https://aabme.asme.org/posts/3d-bioprinting-grows-bone-cartilage https://aabme.asme.org/posts/3d-bioprinting-grows-bone-carti...

thfuran 7y ago

I'd guess they'll occur in reverse order. Or at least fusion last. There are some serious engineering concerns to work out. And even if it were to become economical and reliable overnight, there'd still probably be a few decades before it replaced enough existing infrastructure to be the primary energy source.

itcrowd 7y ago
> if it were to become economical and reliable overnight, there'd still probably be a few decades before it replaced enough existing infrastructure to be the primary energy source Well, hypothetically if nuclear fusion is solved, wouldn't that be the one of these three with the largest incentive to fix overnight? Solving climate change for the whole world, not just a problem only some niche groups are interested in would seem more pressing than the other two issues (as serious as they are!).
- thfuran 7y ago
  >hypothetically if nuclear fusion is solved, wouldn't that be the one of these three with the largest incentive to fix overnight? Maybe but it's the only one that'd take probably several trillion dollars in infrastructure spending on top of just knowing how to do it. There's a huge difference between "net positive energy fusion reactor" and "economically viable fusion energy generation" and another huge gap between that and "fusion reactors are the primary means of energy generation". The other items are achieved either by a proof or by proof of concept / trial.
- sanxiyn 7y ago
  Energy use is more than electricity. Fusion does not solve climate change.

BurningFrog 7y ago

I learned just this morning that cartilage is one of the first human "organs" that should be practical to 3d print. A quick google gave this optimistic link: https://aabme.asme.org/posts/3d-bioprinting-grows-bone-cartilage https://aabme.asme.org/posts/3d-bioprinting-grows-bone-carti...