5 ms·

Charlatan comes to mind as maybe what you're looking for, but I don't know enough about Sam Altman to make that judgement on him.

apwell23 2y ago
> I don't know enough about Sam Altman Looks like no one really does. All we see are incredibly vague and hand-wavy statements about his genius.
PaulHoule 2y ago
ChatGPT is for real even though its greatest talent is bullshitting and it oddly stole the thunder that cryptocurrencies had at a certain time as an imagined path to wealth for the ignorant and indolent. Although I only trained in condensed matter physics, I find Helion very hard to believe https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-18/sam-altman-s-helion-energy-promises-fusion-power-by-2028 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-18/sam-altma... That is, Helion has to build two fusion reactors that run under conditions much more intense than ITER, one to breed D + D -> He3 + n, another to burn D + He3 -> He4 + p. That first reaction can also go D + D -> T + p, the tritium is a really good fusion fuel but produces intense neutron radiation when you burn it. If you could suppress that branch you might have a very clean system. Given how long it has taken the rest of the world to develop fusion I can't picture Helion developing anything practical in the next few years. Something like this could be the ideal energy source for interstellar travelers because you can find D in outer solar system bodies, comets and other interstellar objects, but we're getting ahead of ourselves to expect anything in the next few years. (e.g. I want to see a billionaire fund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_ion_fusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_ion_fusion which, despite the need for a prototype system to be full scale, is the most realistic prospect for fusion energy, particularly if you want to burn something more difficult than D+T)

apwell23 2y ago

> I don't know enough about Sam Altman Looks like no one really does. All we see are incredibly vague and hand-wavy statements about his genius.

PaulHoule 2y ago

ChatGPT is for real even though its greatest talent is bullshitting and it oddly stole the thunder that cryptocurrencies had at a certain time as an imagined path to wealth for the ignorant and indolent. Although I only trained in condensed matter physics, I find Helion very hard to believe https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-18/sam-altman-s-helion-energy-promises-fusion-power-by-2028 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-18/sam-altma... That is, Helion has to build two fusion reactors that run under conditions much more intense than ITER, one to breed D + D -> He3 + n, another to burn D + He3 -> He4 + p. That first reaction can also go D + D -> T + p, the tritium is a really good fusion fuel but produces intense neutron radiation when you burn it. If you could suppress that branch you might have a very clean system. Given how long it has taken the rest of the world to develop fusion I can't picture Helion developing anything practical in the next few years. Something like this could be the ideal energy source for interstellar travelers because you can find D in outer solar system bodies, comets and other interstellar objects, but we're getting ahead of ourselves to expect anything in the next few years. (e.g. I want to see a billionaire fund https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_ion_fusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_ion_fusion which, despite the need for a prototype system to be full scale, is the most realistic prospect for fusion energy, particularly if you want to burn something more difficult than D+T)