8 ms·

And to think, some people would rather spend $700 million on a boat[1]. If you wanted a legacy, you could hardly do better than being the Zefram Cochrane of en

And to think, some people would rather spend $700 million on a boat[1]. If you wanted a legacy, you could hardly do better than being the Zefram Cochrane of energy. You don't even have to stop being an asshole! [1] The Scheherazade for a current example of interest, but there are thousands more examples.

acchow 5y ago
> And to think, some people would rather spend $700 million on a boat[1]. This is the weirdest thing to me. How do billionaires think a big boat is cooler than building nuclear fusion? If I was a billionaire, I'd build space ships and underground tunnels and nuclear micro reactors
- cplusplusfellow 5y ago
  A lot of billionaires have organized businesses but never tinkered with anything constructive in their lives. They don’t even own a black and decker power tool.
  - contradictioned 5y ago
    It is enough to own black and decker... Scnr
- api 5y ago
  The big boat is about status, which means attracting mates and increasing the odds of breeding before a lion eats you. Our brain stems don’t know what geological epoch we are in.
  - adhesive_wombat 5y ago
    That a big useless boat is a vastly bigger panty-dropper then a working fusion reactor says everything about our species, doesn't it?
    - tiahura 5y ago
      And just about every species on the planet. Chicks dig the long ball.
  - VectorLock 5y ago
    Girls in bikinis don't want to sun themselves on a fusion reactor.
    - adhesive_wombat 5y ago
      To be fair, you do get a better tan with a fission reactor.
    - jatone 5y ago
      you just don't know the right girls.
    - akomtu 5y ago
      Sun is a fusion reactor, and they choose, quite rationally, that getting tanned on a big boat under a big reactor is way better than getting tanned on on a cheap bench with that microscopic reactor.
      - fragmede 5y ago
        I sense a future for the combination fusion reactor-tanning salon market.
        willis936 5y ago
        I can see the tagline. "Gamma ray tanning beds: illegal in 220 countries!"
        LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
        Could be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_lightbulb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_lightbulb
- adhesive_wombat 5y ago
  Right? Big boats aren't even that big a brag, someone will always have a bigger one, and if yours is longest for now, then theirs has three helipads, and next year some tryhard will build a longer one anyway. Being first to fusion would mean your name would be above even Einstein in history.
  - Ekaros 5y ago
    It is all fun and games until someone orders a cruise ship as yacht... Which might happen, as it is only like 1,5-2 billion...
    - adhesive_wombat 5y ago
      The natural one-up then must be an aircraft carrier.
      - chx 5y ago
        I am reasonably sure trying to commission building one would bring the attention of the United States and ah, the situation would develop not necessarily to your advantage...
  - dwighttk 5y ago
    Einstein didn’t fund theorists and researchers, he came up with the ideas.
    - objektif 5y ago
      Such a practical application that solves world energy needs forever?
- fennecfoxen 5y ago
  The fusion reactor just uses a very inefficient process to turn energy into less energy. At least the big boat goes places.
  - adhesive_wombat 5y ago
    IMO, spending 15TJ running a research reactor like JET at full whack for 6 hours (which is actually a lot of test fires) is of greater benefit than burning the better part of half a million litres of diesel moving a single billionaire and his lampreys around a bit.
    - CSSer 5y ago
      You taught me a new word today. Props for creative use in context too, I might add.
    - tiahura 5y ago
      Is it? We’ve been doing this for what, 30 years and all we really have to show for it is 30 years of hoping that the big breakthrough is 5-10 years away.
      - hypertele-Xii 5y ago
        30 years is less than a fraction of an eyeblink in human history.
      - TaylorAlexander 5y ago
        We have a lot more than blind hope, if you care to learn about the state of fusion research today.
      - adhesive_wombat 5y ago
        Fusion reactor can be thought of in terms of "billions of dollars" away and progress is much clearer. https://imgur.com/3vYLQmm.png https://imgur.com/3vYLQmm.png Integrating the curves is maybe $100 billion. And below a certain level of funding nothing can really be done (you can't build any reactor on $10 and a box of surplus paperclips the IRS donated from pity). The fact we actual got anywhere using the handful of "it's a start" research reactors like JET, which dates to 1984, that could get built is a testament to the scientists and engineers, not a indictment of the field. Basically, if as much was spent on it as we spent on blowing up poor countries for no real reason (at least $2,000 billion, just for Afghanistan), we'd likely be onto the second or third generation. Or we'd have concluded decades ago that it really can't be done to a five-sigma certainty. The cynic in me says there's a renewed push for it recently because China has 3 research reactors, the next one (CFETR) is designed to outperform ITER (which China is contributing to) and support research for DEMO (which is to say, it is or is very close to being designed for experimental power generation), and the US feels in danger of being beaten to it.
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago
  Large yachts are functional. They’re mobile own territory for people operating on the level of nation states. Booking out a hotel for hundreds of aides, attachés and visitors is very difficult outside the largest cities. Securing it can be impossible. Particularly on short notice. A yacht solves those problems. (I’d still pick the reactor.)
  - izzygonzalez 5y ago
    I never thought of it from this perspective. A yacht could serve as a research vessel with slight added protection against political turmoil. One of the problems with setting up organizations inside of a nation-state are the economic and political risks. Without the necessary dive into the ethics of the proposition, it might serve as the Noah's ark for vital research and the associated minds.
    - adhesive_wombat 5y ago
      Now there's a spec-fic book I'd read: > Physicists trapped in indentured servitude aboard Elon Musk's converted droneship research station "Just Fucking Get It Done" as it sails the post-apocalytic seas. > Just when they thought it couldn't get any worse, they dock at Peter Thiel's island bio-research facility and they have to take matters into their own nitrile-gloved hands before it's too late...
      - pastacacioepepe 5y ago
        Or pretty much the whole snowpiercer plot
    - Thorrez 5y ago
      Sergey Brin uses his yacht for disaster relief. He has a charity that sends teams around the world to help with disasters.[1] He also has a startup, LTA (Lighter Than Air), aiming to build blimps for humanitarian purposes.[2] According to this article he also wants to the blimp to be "luxuriously appointed" so it can be used as an air yacht.[3] LTA is based at Moffett Airfield in Mountain View, and I know I've seen blimps take off and land there every once in a while. When I see one I always wonder if it's Sergey's blimp. [1] https://www.thedailybeast.com/google-co-founder-sergey-brin-has-a-secret-disaster-relief-squad https://www.thedailybeast.com/google-co-founder-sergey-brin-... [2] https://www.ltaresearch.com/ https://www.ltaresearch.com/ [3] https://www.businessinsider.com/google-sergey-brin-airship-company-lta-explained-2021-4 https://www.businessinsider.com/google-sergey-brin-airship-c...
- credit_guy 5y ago
  Many megayachts are chartered when not in use by their owner. So in the end they are investments that produce a return [1] “ It's worth acknowledging that while owners will ultimately spend a huge amount for the privilege of having their very own superyacht, they're able to recoup some of these costs by chartering them out. Connor estimates that around 12 weeks of charter represents the annual operating cost of most yachts, which means owners can break even if they hire their boats out for the same length of time they use them during the year.” [1] https://www.cnn.com/travel/amp/hidden-costs-of-owning-a-superyacht/index.html https://www.cnn.com/travel/amp/hidden-costs-of-owning-a-supe...
  - adhesive_wombat 5y ago
    You might break even on running costs, but when do you break even on the outlay? I guess you get some back if you sell it, and you probably never actually laid out for it as such rather than though some mad financial chicanery because simply paying for stuff is decidedly plebian.
    - CSSer 5y ago
      I’m not sure that’s the point. I think it’s more about minimizing costs. The rest is just part of the opportunity cost.
    - Schroedingersat 5y ago
      Well the yacht is now an 'investment' so you get to claim it on taxes and get an instant 30% refund. Your buddy sets up a special company just to build it and stiffs all his employees and suppliers. Then the quid pro quo gets you another 30% or so back. Renting it out for another 12mo/year earns the remainder back in a decade or two. You can also 'donate' the use of your yacht to have a big party (also known as a charity ball) from time to time if you feel you are paying too much tax. Make sure the 'charity' is one owned by one of your buddies and is primarily used for lobbying or undermining competitors.
      - missedthecue 5y ago
- hwillis 5y ago
  Well, Putin in particular has a pretty serious interest in not funding fusion, but that's just one example.
- phtrivier 5y ago
  How exactly does "funding a cool research project" gets you laid and / or allows for money laundering [1] ? [1] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/24/superyachts-and-private-jets-spending-of-corrupt-super-rich-revealed https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/24/superyachts-...
ars 5y ago
They do, for example: "Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, founded by Gates, Bezos and other philanthropists" In particular they backed "Commonwealth Fusion Systems".

acchow 5y ago

> And to think, some people would rather spend $700 million on a boat[1]. This is the weirdest thing to me. How do billionaires think a big boat is cooler than building nuclear fusion? If I was a billionaire, I'd build space ships and underground tunnels and nuclear micro reactors

cplusplusfellow 5y ago
A lot of billionaires have organized businesses but never tinkered with anything constructive in their lives. They don’t even own a black and decker power tool.
- contradictioned 5y ago
  It is enough to own black and decker... Scnr
api 5y ago
The big boat is about status, which means attracting mates and increasing the odds of breeding before a lion eats you. Our brain stems don’t know what geological epoch we are in.
- adhesive_wombat 5y ago
  That a big useless boat is a vastly bigger panty-dropper then a working fusion reactor says everything about our species, doesn't it?
  - tiahura 5y ago
    And just about every species on the planet. Chicks dig the long ball.
- VectorLock 5y ago
  Girls in bikinis don't want to sun themselves on a fusion reactor.
  - adhesive_wombat 5y ago
    To be fair, you do get a better tan with a fission reactor.
  - jatone 5y ago
    you just don't know the right girls.
  - akomtu 5y ago
    Sun is a fusion reactor, and they choose, quite rationally, that getting tanned on a big boat under a big reactor is way better than getting tanned on on a cheap bench with that microscopic reactor.
    - fragmede 5y ago
      I sense a future for the combination fusion reactor-tanning salon market.
      - willis936 5y ago
        I can see the tagline. "Gamma ray tanning beds: illegal in 220 countries!"
      - LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
        Could be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_lightbulb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_lightbulb
adhesive_wombat 5y ago
Right? Big boats aren't even that big a brag, someone will always have a bigger one, and if yours is longest for now, then theirs has three helipads, and next year some tryhard will build a longer one anyway. Being first to fusion would mean your name would be above even Einstein in history.
- Ekaros 5y ago
  It is all fun and games until someone orders a cruise ship as yacht... Which might happen, as it is only like 1,5-2 billion...
  - adhesive_wombat 5y ago
    The natural one-up then must be an aircraft carrier.
    - chx 5y ago
      I am reasonably sure trying to commission building one would bring the attention of the United States and ah, the situation would develop not necessarily to your advantage...
- dwighttk 5y ago
  Einstein didn’t fund theorists and researchers, he came up with the ideas.
  - objektif 5y ago
    Such a practical application that solves world energy needs forever?
fennecfoxen 5y ago
The fusion reactor just uses a very inefficient process to turn energy into less energy. At least the big boat goes places.
- adhesive_wombat 5y ago
  IMO, spending 15TJ running a research reactor like JET at full whack for 6 hours (which is actually a lot of test fires) is of greater benefit than burning the better part of half a million litres of diesel moving a single billionaire and his lampreys around a bit.
  - CSSer 5y ago
    You taught me a new word today. Props for creative use in context too, I might add.
  - tiahura 5y ago
    Is it? We’ve been doing this for what, 30 years and all we really have to show for it is 30 years of hoping that the big breakthrough is 5-10 years away.
    - hypertele-Xii 5y ago
      30 years is less than a fraction of an eyeblink in human history.
    - TaylorAlexander 5y ago
      We have a lot more than blind hope, if you care to learn about the state of fusion research today.
    - adhesive_wombat 5y ago
      Fusion reactor can be thought of in terms of "billions of dollars" away and progress is much clearer. https://imgur.com/3vYLQmm.png https://imgur.com/3vYLQmm.png Integrating the curves is maybe $100 billion. And below a certain level of funding nothing can really be done (you can't build any reactor on $10 and a box of surplus paperclips the IRS donated from pity). The fact we actual got anywhere using the handful of "it's a start" research reactors like JET, which dates to 1984, that could get built is a testament to the scientists and engineers, not a indictment of the field. Basically, if as much was spent on it as we spent on blowing up poor countries for no real reason (at least $2,000 billion, just for Afghanistan), we'd likely be onto the second or third generation. Or we'd have concluded decades ago that it really can't be done to a five-sigma certainty. The cynic in me says there's a renewed push for it recently because China has 3 research reactors, the next one (CFETR) is designed to outperform ITER (which China is contributing to) and support research for DEMO (which is to say, it is or is very close to being designed for experimental power generation), and the US feels in danger of being beaten to it.
JumpCrisscross 5y ago
Large yachts are functional. They’re mobile own territory for people operating on the level of nation states. Booking out a hotel for hundreds of aides, attachés and visitors is very difficult outside the largest cities. Securing it can be impossible. Particularly on short notice. A yacht solves those problems. (I’d still pick the reactor.)
- izzygonzalez 5y ago
  I never thought of it from this perspective. A yacht could serve as a research vessel with slight added protection against political turmoil. One of the problems with setting up organizations inside of a nation-state are the economic and political risks. Without the necessary dive into the ethics of the proposition, it might serve as the Noah's ark for vital research and the associated minds.
  - adhesive_wombat 5y ago
    Now there's a spec-fic book I'd read: > Physicists trapped in indentured servitude aboard Elon Musk's converted droneship research station "Just Fucking Get It Done" as it sails the post-apocalytic seas. > Just when they thought it couldn't get any worse, they dock at Peter Thiel's island bio-research facility and they have to take matters into their own nitrile-gloved hands before it's too late...
    - pastacacioepepe 5y ago
      Or pretty much the whole snowpiercer plot
  - Thorrez 5y ago
    Sergey Brin uses his yacht for disaster relief. He has a charity that sends teams around the world to help with disasters.[1] He also has a startup, LTA (Lighter Than Air), aiming to build blimps for humanitarian purposes.[2] According to this article he also wants to the blimp to be "luxuriously appointed" so it can be used as an air yacht.[3] LTA is based at Moffett Airfield in Mountain View, and I know I've seen blimps take off and land there every once in a while. When I see one I always wonder if it's Sergey's blimp. [1] https://www.thedailybeast.com/google-co-founder-sergey-brin-has-a-secret-disaster-relief-squad https://www.thedailybeast.com/google-co-founder-sergey-brin-... [2] https://www.ltaresearch.com/ https://www.ltaresearch.com/ [3] https://www.businessinsider.com/google-sergey-brin-airship-company-lta-explained-2021-4 https://www.businessinsider.com/google-sergey-brin-airship-c...
credit_guy 5y ago
Many megayachts are chartered when not in use by their owner. So in the end they are investments that produce a return [1] “ It's worth acknowledging that while owners will ultimately spend a huge amount for the privilege of having their very own superyacht, they're able to recoup some of these costs by chartering them out. Connor estimates that around 12 weeks of charter represents the annual operating cost of most yachts, which means owners can break even if they hire their boats out for the same length of time they use them during the year.” [1] https://www.cnn.com/travel/amp/hidden-costs-of-owning-a-superyacht/index.html https://www.cnn.com/travel/amp/hidden-costs-of-owning-a-supe...
- adhesive_wombat 5y ago
  You might break even on running costs, but when do you break even on the outlay? I guess you get some back if you sell it, and you probably never actually laid out for it as such rather than though some mad financial chicanery because simply paying for stuff is decidedly plebian.
  - CSSer 5y ago
    I’m not sure that’s the point. I think it’s more about minimizing costs. The rest is just part of the opportunity cost.
  - Schroedingersat 5y ago
    Well the yacht is now an 'investment' so you get to claim it on taxes and get an instant 30% refund. Your buddy sets up a special company just to build it and stiffs all his employees and suppliers. Then the quid pro quo gets you another 30% or so back. Renting it out for another 12mo/year earns the remainder back in a decade or two. You can also 'donate' the use of your yacht to have a big party (also known as a charity ball) from time to time if you feel you are paying too much tax. Make sure the 'charity' is one owned by one of your buddies and is primarily used for lobbying or undermining competitors.
    - missedthecue 5y ago
hwillis 5y ago
Well, Putin in particular has a pretty serious interest in not funding fusion, but that's just one example.
phtrivier 5y ago
How exactly does "funding a cool research project" gets you laid and / or allows for money laundering [1] ? [1] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/24/superyachts-and-private-jets-spending-of-corrupt-super-rich-revealed https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/24/superyachts-...

ars 5y ago

They do, for example: "Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, founded by Gates, Bezos and other philanthropists" In particular they backed "Commonwealth Fusion Systems".