3 ms·
I think the opposite is true. We do know how to inefficiently create and store antimatter, we don’t have any idea how to cause human hibernation. To me gettin
by Retric 2y ago
I think the opposite is true.
We do know how to inefficiently create and store antimatter, we don’t have any idea how to cause human hibernation.
To me getting two dozen of orders of magnitude better at something is clearly hard, but that still beats trying to do something we don’t have a clue how to start. For human hibernation step 1 is probably serious genetic engineering and there’s going to be other steps.
- llm_trw 2y agoInefficiently in the context of antimatter storage makes every industrial accident since the dawn of time combined seem like a kid spilling their juice.
- Retric 2y agoThe inefficiencies around storage are a practical not a safety concern. Once cooled we can contain the particles just fine the issue is only 0.1% get trapped and the apparatus is vastly larger than the mass of antimatter stored.
- llm_trw 2y agoTo put that into number that people can understand, to accelerate 1kg of matter to 94% the speed of light you need 1kg of antimatter. That is the equivalent of the tsar bomb. So the storage facility would need to withstand that type of explosion 1000 times over for every kg of antimatter it produces. World ending doesn't begin to describe what that looks like.
- Retric 2y agoThat assumes the energy is released in a fraction of a second which would preclude cooling the antimatter. Do the same thing over a year in many different devices and you’re basically dealing with a normal nuclear power plant’s output.
- scheme271 2y agoIf you look at particle accelerators, the anti-matter storage is still very much experimental with anti-hydrogen storage holding it for less than 20s at most. We can trap individual particles (e.g. protons) for a long time but things get exponentially more complicated as you increase the size of the system. Hell, we can't even store hydrogen without leakage issues and with anti-hydrogen any leakage is very bad.
- Earw0rm 2y agoWe can freeze and reanimate living things only five or so orders of magnitude removed from humans; if we're just talking hibernation, it's as little as two.
- alanbernstein 2y agoHow many orders of magnitude more complicated is a human mind than a cell? Infinity, I'd guess.
- Earw0rm 2y agoMaybe, but there are mammals that can survive deep hibernation and near-total suspension. In pure biological/biochemical terms I don't see any reason to think we're much more than 100 times more complex than a rodent, or 1000 times more complex than the various fish and amphibian species who can survive their bodies reaching near-zero temperatures. They've put pigs into suspended animation for an hour or two, I'm not sure what the upper bound is on that or how much further it's possible to go with it. Ditto organ deep-cooling. So while it's not feasible now, it feels like we need "only" 100x or so improvement to make it viable.
- JoeAltmaier 2y agoUnfortunately, it only takes one thing to make it not work.
- ehvatum 2y agoEverybody forgets about tardigrades, but they will be here when we are long passed from all memory.