4 ms·

Exactly, the 99 stands for 1999, so potentially this material has existed for over 20 years and we could have started testing and replication on a much wider sc

Exactly, the 99 stands for 1999, so potentially this material has existed for over 20 years and we could have started testing and replication on a much wider scale a decade ago. What benefit have we gained by disseminating this research so slowly?

ssl232 3y ago
I don't know if this is true or not, but I read something suggesting they produced it in 1999 as a side product of something else but didn't start to examine its properties properly until a handful of years ago.
marmakoide 3y ago
It might be that the process to make LK99, produces a fraction of the Good Stuff, which went under the radar until recently. It would not have been the first time. If it is confirmed with the proper methodology ... right now it's too early to build castles on LK99.
Iulioh 3y ago
This reminds me of an Asimov novel (don't remember the name) In this universe there are long life humans that don't really collaborate with other humans (like a single person, not a group of quasi immortal humans) in the scientific field to have all the credit because who cares if you take 200 years for a discovery if the glory is all yours
- mousetree 3y ago
  Maybe The Naked Sun or one of the books in that series? It’s been years since I read it but I remember there being some motif about people not interacting physically and living a long time.
  - oblio 3y ago
    https://asimov.fandom.com/wiki/Solaria https://asimov.fandom.com/wiki/Solaria
- imdsm 3y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Daneel_Olivaw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Daneel_Olivaw
- stanac 3y ago
  It's second or more likely third book in Robot series.
- 3yanlis1bos 3y ago
  That sounds like the people of Aurora. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Caves_of_Steel https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Caves_of_Steel
- darkwater 3y ago
  It's from "The Robots of Dawn"
- marcosdumay 3y ago
  I didn't read a lot of Asimov, but one thing that I noticed is that he likes repeating themes like that on several books. It could be the main theme in one, and then just a short thing in many others; or the main theme in a few.
n2d4 3y ago
> What benefit have we gained by disseminating this research so slowly? It's less visible, but at this scale there's a high cost in everyone pausing their research to replicate LK-99. If it turns out to be real that's worth, but if not it could've gone to better use. Think of what we could've done with the time we spent reproducing cold fusion. It's survivorship bias; yes, you would love to see the significant discoveries happen sooner, but if they were rushed you'd also see a lot of trash that currently never leaves the draft stage. Just look at how many people complained that the LK-99 papers were incomplete and unprofessional! Also, LK-99 was discovered in 1999 but wasn't known as a room-temperature superconductor then. There are too many things to research and not enough researchers, so it was put on hold for two decades.
- lucideer 3y ago
  > It's less visible, but at this scale there's a high cost in everyone pausing their research to replicate LK-99. If it turns out to be real that's worth, but if not it could've gone to better use. Think of what we could've done with the time we spent reproducing cold fusion. This is a (I feel rudimentarily obvious) fallacy of finite time implying there is N researchers working on one thing that must be useful at any given time. The individuals reproducing cold fusion / LK-99 / whichever might not have been spending their energy / time / funding on anything more "guaranteed productive" (nor even on anything at all) otherwise. Knowledge motivates research. That motivating is not a classsically scarce resource, its multiplicative.
  - ClumsyPilot 3y ago
    Most PhF students a desperately looking for a usefull thing to work on. Most professors desperstely search for a usefull topic that they can use to justify grant funding. etc.
  - Aardwolf 3y ago
    > Also, LK-99 was discovered in 1999 but wasn't known as a room-temperature superconductor then. Was there anything in 1999 about the material that made it notable as a discovery then?
- 3y ago
beowulfey 3y ago
Neither of them were doing research for the bulk of the time. We can only guess what brought them back to the project, but it may have restarted sometime around 2016.
agumonkey 3y ago
One tiny thing, the compute power to research it in different ways maybe. In 99 the supercomputing/datascience landscape was very different. Maybe not worth losing 20 years ... i don't know
StackOverlord 3y ago
What happened, for those who want to catch up: https://twitter.com/8teAPi/status/1685294623449874432 https://twitter.com/8teAPi/status/1685294623449874432 With the anti-hype hype that surrounds this discovery this was to be expected. Why would I disclose this kind of research to the public so that the whole world can benefit from it when I'm called a fraudster or a liar. Why would I risk my reputation – no matter how I spin my research – in a sacrificial circle jerk when I can work on it stealthily and hope to make some bucks ?
- dustingetz 3y ago
  that account is fan fiction
  - Seanambers 3y ago
    Yes a real grifter at that as well.
fanick 3y ago
maybe they were waiting for some patents to expire?

ssl232 3y ago

I don't know if this is true or not, but I read something suggesting they produced it in 1999 as a side product of something else but didn't start to examine its properties properly until a handful of years ago.

marmakoide 3y ago

It might be that the process to make LK99, produces a fraction of the Good Stuff, which went under the radar until recently. It would not have been the first time. If it is confirmed with the proper methodology ... right now it's too early to build castles on LK99.

Iulioh 3y ago

This reminds me of an Asimov novel (don't remember the name) In this universe there are long life humans that don't really collaborate with other humans (like a single person, not a group of quasi immortal humans) in the scientific field to have all the credit because who cares if you take 200 years for a discovery if the glory is all yours

mousetree 3y ago
Maybe The Naked Sun or one of the books in that series? It’s been years since I read it but I remember there being some motif about people not interacting physically and living a long time.
- oblio 3y ago
  https://asimov.fandom.com/wiki/Solaria https://asimov.fandom.com/wiki/Solaria
imdsm 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Daneel_Olivaw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Daneel_Olivaw
stanac 3y ago
It's second or more likely third book in Robot series.
3yanlis1bos 3y ago
That sounds like the people of Aurora. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Caves_of_Steel https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Caves_of_Steel
darkwater 3y ago
It's from "The Robots of Dawn"
marcosdumay 3y ago
I didn't read a lot of Asimov, but one thing that I noticed is that he likes repeating themes like that on several books. It could be the main theme in one, and then just a short thing in many others; or the main theme in a few.

n2d4 3y ago

> What benefit have we gained by disseminating this research so slowly? It's less visible, but at this scale there's a high cost in everyone pausing their research to replicate LK-99. If it turns out to be real that's worth, but if not it could've gone to better use. Think of what we could've done with the time we spent reproducing cold fusion. It's survivorship bias; yes, you would love to see the significant discoveries happen sooner, but if they were rushed you'd also see a lot of trash that currently never leaves the draft stage. Just look at how many people complained that the LK-99 papers were incomplete and unprofessional! Also, LK-99 was discovered in 1999 but wasn't known as a room-temperature superconductor then. There are too many things to research and not enough researchers, so it was put on hold for two decades.

lucideer 3y ago
> It's less visible, but at this scale there's a high cost in everyone pausing their research to replicate LK-99. If it turns out to be real that's worth, but if not it could've gone to better use. Think of what we could've done with the time we spent reproducing cold fusion. This is a (I feel rudimentarily obvious) fallacy of finite time implying there is N researchers working on one thing that must be useful at any given time. The individuals reproducing cold fusion / LK-99 / whichever might not have been spending their energy / time / funding on anything more "guaranteed productive" (nor even on anything at all) otherwise. Knowledge motivates research. That motivating is not a classsically scarce resource, its multiplicative.
- ClumsyPilot 3y ago
  Most PhF students a desperately looking for a usefull thing to work on. Most professors desperstely search for a usefull topic that they can use to justify grant funding. etc.
- Aardwolf 3y ago
  > Also, LK-99 was discovered in 1999 but wasn't known as a room-temperature superconductor then. Was there anything in 1999 about the material that made it notable as a discovery then?
3y ago

beowulfey 3y ago

Neither of them were doing research for the bulk of the time. We can only guess what brought them back to the project, but it may have restarted sometime around 2016.

agumonkey 3y ago

One tiny thing, the compute power to research it in different ways maybe. In 99 the supercomputing/datascience landscape was very different. Maybe not worth losing 20 years ... i don't know

StackOverlord 3y ago

What happened, for those who want to catch up: https://twitter.com/8teAPi/status/1685294623449874432 https://twitter.com/8teAPi/status/1685294623449874432 With the anti-hype hype that surrounds this discovery this was to be expected. Why would I disclose this kind of research to the public so that the whole world can benefit from it when I'm called a fraudster or a liar. Why would I risk my reputation – no matter how I spin my research – in a sacrificial circle jerk when I can work on it stealthily and hope to make some bucks ?

dustingetz 3y ago
that account is fan fiction
- Seanambers 3y ago
  Yes a real grifter at that as well.

fanick 3y ago

maybe they were waiting for some patents to expire?