3 ms·

The point is that the computer is the easy part. It's the fun part to think about, but it's not important for achieving the goal. The hard part is powering it,

The point is that the computer is the easy part. It's the fun part to think about, but it's not important for achieving the goal. The hard part is powering it, when the infrastructure to generate clean electricity is gone. What will you plug your transformer into? So solve that, create robust sources for electric power, and the rest can be solved with a few bulk laptop purchases off ebay.

kjellsbells 2y ago
Not just power generation but also the calorific and opportunity cost of working on that (or indeed anything that does not immediately pay off in energy terms). Or else you die before your compiler is done ;) If you have more than one survivor, you quickly need to learn to trade and cooperate to maximize your energy return, or else you all die, one by one.
- 0hijinks 2y ago
  This. Skill sharing among a small tribe is the most effective way to survive a catastrophe, and I am concerned modern societies are poorly conditioned to do it well. Speaking from a North American perspective, kids are educated in how to succeed in a national/global economy, not how to build small communities and develop/share useful skills. TBH, the latter feels "obsolete" nowadays. Maybe that's a problem.
wao0uuno 2y ago
Generating power from trash is easier than you think: https://hackaday.com/2014/09/01/hydropower-from-a-washing-mashine/ https://hackaday.com/2014/09/01/hydropower-from-a-washing-ma...
- generalizations 2y ago
  Right: now you have ~29V and a bunch of amps. With other trash combos, you have other voltages. And that's assuming you have a working voltmeter to even know what you have. Different trash will give you a different output, and what will you do with that? Plug it into the 'universal transformer' I was talking about, and you're in business. Known power output (that won't fry your precious electronics) and you don't have to care much what the input is.

kjellsbells 2y ago

Not just power generation but also the calorific and opportunity cost of working on that (or indeed anything that does not immediately pay off in energy terms). Or else you die before your compiler is done ;) If you have more than one survivor, you quickly need to learn to trade and cooperate to maximize your energy return, or else you all die, one by one.

0hijinks 2y ago
This. Skill sharing among a small tribe is the most effective way to survive a catastrophe, and I am concerned modern societies are poorly conditioned to do it well. Speaking from a North American perspective, kids are educated in how to succeed in a national/global economy, not how to build small communities and develop/share useful skills. TBH, the latter feels "obsolete" nowadays. Maybe that's a problem.

wao0uuno 2y ago

Generating power from trash is easier than you think: https://hackaday.com/2014/09/01/hydropower-from-a-washing-mashine/ https://hackaday.com/2014/09/01/hydropower-from-a-washing-ma...

generalizations 2y ago
Right: now you have ~29V and a bunch of amps. With other trash combos, you have other voltages. And that's assuming you have a working voltmeter to even know what you have. Different trash will give you a different output, and what will you do with that? Plug it into the 'universal transformer' I was talking about, and you're in business. Known power output (that won't fry your precious electronics) and you don't have to care much what the input is.