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> the biggest scientific discovery of the last hundred years I would say that electronic computers would take take the first spot for me, but I don't deny that
by eterevsky 3y ago
> the biggest scientific discovery of the last hundred years
I would say that electronic computers would take take the first spot for me, but I don't deny that room-temperature superconductors would be pretty close to the top.
- rewmie 3y agoI'd say that not keeping electronic computers in mind is a testament to how big of a discovery they were, in the sense that we need to think hard about transformative discoveries to realize that not so long ago humanity didn't had electronic computers,and yet they are everywhere.
- slashdev 3y agoI’d say electronic computers were the biggest invention of the last 100 years. But it wasn’t one discovery, that built upon many, many discoveries and breakthroughs. As a singular discovery goes, it’s hard to think of something that tops this. Of course, even if this is true, bringing it to market in a practical way will probably look a lot more like the invention of electronic computers.
- LinAGKar 3y agoThe transistor could probably qualify
- slashdev 3y agoYeah, probably.
- MayeulC 3y agoHmm, maybe the atomic bomb? The wright brothers's first flight took place about 120 years ago, so it doesn't qualify. However, in both cases, people knew it was a matter of time before someone figured the proper recipe. Room temperature/pressure semiconductors? That was still science fiction yesterday. In short, you are probably right, with the sibling commenting on (BJT) transistors.
- ralfn 3y agoComputers were invented long before they became invented. So that wouldn't be in the last 100 years. However unlike computers, if this idea works, it will get productized quickly.
- eterevsky 3y agoI wrote electronic computers: a bunch of technologies like transistor and integrated circuits.
- rwmj 3y agoThis (or something derived from it) would be used for power delivery literally everywhere in the world. It might well be bigger in scale and volume than all the computers.
- Maxion 3y agoSuperconducting power transmission cables solves the power storage problem of renewable energy sources. We'd just make a global energy grid, and the sunny side powers the dark side.
- Paul-Craft 3y agoThat won't save us. Not unless you know how to build it in the next 5 years. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36836722 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36836722
- pcdoodle 3y ago^Soyjacks pointing^ Joking aside, besides power transmission, what other obvious things can this tech be used for?
- MayeulC 3y agoI'm just going to link the comment I wrote above :) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36867709 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36867709 Needless to say, this would be game-changing. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence etc, let's be cautiously optimistic here.
- pcdoodle 3y agoThank bro! are we talking like no heat loss in the traces on the motherboard type a deal or also on a wafer level internal to the CPU?
- 3y ago
- barnabee 3y agoDiscovery vs invention