wolfram74

11 ms·

91.
by wolfram74 3y ago
I think a useful fact to contextualize how much more intense we're hoping to make fusion, is that the volumetric power density (watts per cubic meter) of sol's core (276 watts/m^3) is on the scale of a well run compost pile (
92.
by wolfram74 3y ago
I mean, with the history[0] of petro companies funding anti nuclear groups, it's not a very out there conspiracy theory. [0] https://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2016/07/13/are-f...
93.
by wolfram74 3y ago
We have satellites that can track CO2 concentrations in the air[0], allegedly at high resolution. If you spread out weathering rock to, I dunno, a square a few kilometers to a side, a gradient in CO2 might be measurable? If you're obje
94.
by wolfram74 3y ago
But those organizations can have fitness pressure applied to them outside the context of hot wars. People love to make a big deal of the "fund N losers to find 1 winner" aspect of VC.
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by wolfram74 3y ago
I hope this means we can improve our study of lightening, it's a very exotic phenomenon. When you're first starting out studying plasma physics, you make some assumptions that make it easier to work the math, things like EM fields
96.
Amount of work that once bought an hour of light now buys 51 years of it (2017)(washingtonpost.com)
211 points by wolfram74 3y ago|330 comments
97.
by wolfram74 3y ago
The conversation about the grid being born and how rapidly early power systems paid themselves off made me think about how substantially easier it is to produce light now than over historical periods. I believe the economics term for this w
98.
by wolfram74 3y ago
Apparently some test plants have been on station since 2022[0], I interpret the report to be they are still working on ways to get it to operate meaningfully with sufficiently little babysitting. [0] https://www.factoriesinspace.c
99.
by wolfram74 3y ago
two comments: they claim to sequester 1000 tons (1e6 kg) vs 22kg, so the sequestration space difference is on the order of 200000 difference. They may include the solar panel area in their stated efficiency calculation. Secondly, the solar
100.
by wolfram74 3y ago
Do you have plans for a larger next gen model? It would have even more clearance if it had a corresponding increase in wingspan, right?
101.
by wolfram74 3y ago
I don't think OP is referring to the ICE that are already making some efforts towards quiet, I think they're referring to the engines that to the casual observer seem like they have a horn instead of a muffler to maximize noise ou
102.
by wolfram74 3y ago
8 hours a year is pretty close to 3-9's, that's fair.
103.
by wolfram74 3y ago
4-9's of uptime doesn't match my lived experience in the US, that's one days worth of power outage every 10000 days, or about once every ~30 years. 2-9's is closer to what civilians in the US are used. The over provisio
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by wolfram74 3y ago
Or, since there's no downward pressure on price, it's equally valid to say we've hit the limit of what we can do with capitalism in the current ecosystem.
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by wolfram74 3y ago
The termination shock was speculated and unknown, the people who wanted to turn it off were the ones who suspected were getting the short end of the stick because the monsoon being weaker or non-existent was one of the possible outcomes of
106.
by wolfram74 3y ago
for that specific waste, the coolant in a water cooled reactor isn't a huge problem either. The things that are "complicated" are the fuel rods that some people refuse to be convinced we can bury in storage until reprocessing
107.
by wolfram74 3y ago
From an energetics perspective it's incredibly hard to beat walking, biking or rails. If your occupancy on the car is reliably greater than 1, that is an improvement over single occupancy cars, but those boxes are just huge compared to
108.
by wolfram74 3y ago
Not wind as we deal with on earth, but that same process that electrically charges the dust also moves it enough that there's a large cloud of sodium atoms in it it's shadow[0]. That and other elements do travel a bit around the s
109.
by wolfram74 3y ago
You've got me thinking, as far as cooperation, nobodies gonna compare to ants, but is there a species of mammal that can work in as large as groups as we can? Some avian flocks and mammal herds get pretty big, but I'm only aware o
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by wolfram74 3y ago
This could be interpreted as saying unless you fix everything at once, any incremental change should be seen as disingenuous and merely a distraction. Would you like to rephrase?
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by wolfram74 3y ago
I think maybe an appropriate term would be anthroform? I feel an argument can be made that whatever form the earth is in, it's terraformed almost by tautology, but the kind of planetary gardening projects we must engage in to keep it i
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by wolfram74 3y ago
I was very pro nuclear a few years ago, at this point solar is so far up the learning curve and experiences so many economy of scale benefits, it's really hard imagining what kind of regulatory framework would be able to make it econom
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by wolfram74 3y ago
better electric motors in general, they can be smaller when they have less waste heat to worry about, and higher torques. The navy was playing around with miniaturization of vessel motors more than a decade ago[0] but I haven't run int
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by wolfram74 3y ago
The differential geometry general relativity uses was developed for funsies by euler in the 1700's, so there is precedent.
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by wolfram74 3y ago
Neal Stephenson's Anathem[0] which revolves around epistemology a lot coined the term Artificial Inanity for AI [0] https://englishwotd.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/artificial-inan...
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by wolfram74 3y ago
Much like mayan, a base 20 system, very nice for addition subtraction, need to be a bit cleverer for multiplication. I made a little javascript module to convert arab to mayan numerals and render an SVG to go with them. Here's a fun de
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by wolfram74 3y ago
How much variation is there in rebar diameter? I thought it was pretty standardized. If so length to length comparison would make sense. Though I am curious about price fraction, is the rebar half the cost of a chunk of reinforced concrete?
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by wolfram74 3y ago
If you're using the socratic method, you're not debating, you're teaching. One interpretation is you have a stance and you're trying to get someone there and not particularly interested in what they have to say.
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by wolfram74 4y ago
In free wheeling evolutionary processes, seeing that a process works is enough, but when some level of intentionality can be applied, I feel the group that explains /why/ a process works can offer more to the community for improve
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by wolfram74 4y ago
also: this model is 9 meters in diameter, and will already be more robust to weather effects than the f9, the 18 meter diameter model would be a beast if ever built.

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