Fusion's promise

Reflections on fusion history, current events, and predictions for the 'fusion powered future.
ab0032
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Real name: Alexander Biersack

Re: Fusion's promise

Post by ab0032 »

Chris Bradley wrote:
> Alex deeply bemoans why we don't see that things could simply be done better, then the problems we have could be avoided. Why indeed? "Politics, dear boy." It is simply politics. Humans are political creatures. Humans are no more adapted by evolution to be able to fly as they are to be able to agree to collectively do the best/right thing. ... if humans were collectively capable of doing anything near to what you ask,

Who knows what is right or wrong? You or me? Or the central planing committee called the federal government, which is getting fatter and fatter? No, the knowledge is distributed among all the people, not the collective knows what is right, but the people.

> Alex, then why do people still war with each other? If folks can't figure out there's no benefit killing each other for no darned reason,

Who is making war? You or me? No, it's the governments. Instead of going to war, now in Mali, we should just drop guns from helicopters so that every woman and every child has one to defend themselves. Where would the drug dealing warlords be, if the ordinary people had the means to protect themselves? Where would the muslime brotherhoods paid with oil dollars be?

> then what hope is there to get them to collectively agree to support advanced technology projects to the benefit of all mankind?!?!?

They will do the right thing sooner or later. They will one day realize that free health care is not that free. We had that in Russia and it did not work out. You will have to pay for it one way or the other, and if you think the government can do a better job at handling your money, you are dead wrong.

What we now have is crony capitalism moving more and more towards socialism, the once proud and free people will not be free and they will pay dearly for letting politicians bribe them for their votes to get more handouts. The US economy is in free fall, due to the fat government and the creeping socialism. It was at 30% of global GDP 10 years ago and is approaching 20% of global GDP now. If that does not scare people yet, maybe it has to get worse and they will have to go to 10% or maybe even to 5%, but eventually they will get up and request their country back, they will ask for their personal and economic freedom again, they will ask for free markets or they will go down and give the stage to China and India who are now getting out from under the thumb of socialism.

The people are still free to chose in America, and even if they have chosen a retarded liberal government that is spending trillions like the was no tomorrow, one day, they will come to their senses with a big hangover.

There is no need to worry, China and India and Brasil are working on making the molten salt thorium reactor a reality, China is building 25 nuclear power plants by 2015 and will build another 70 or so by 2020. There is no stopping them. There is no stopping genetics to benefit mankind, the question is only do you want to be a part of it or not, will America still be a part of advanced technological projects for the benefit of mankind or not. The answer to this question will determine the standard of living and the live expectancy in the USA. And government health care, taking guns from the people, ignoring the constitution and spending yet another trillion and more food stamps are not the right answer.

The right answer is freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
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Chris Bradley
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Re: Fusion's promise

Post by Chris Bradley »

Alexander Biersack wrote:
> Who knows what is right or wrong? You or me?
Alex, I don't think anyone is disagreeing with you on the desired end-point. Certainly not me.

The issue is how to get there. Just hoping that eventually folks will collectively do the right thing the world-over looks like a fantasy, if you contemplate the last 100 years of history.

The 28th July next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the start of WW1. That was the war to end all wars, with a staggering 20-odd million people being killed, and the same again injured. The there was another war to end all wars 20 years later when +60 million people were killed. Since then there have been another +50 wars.... the world cannot even yet organise clean drinking water for children in between these conflicts - it is estimated that 5,000 die each day from drinking contaminated water. So, yet higher expectations for more sophisticated organisation across nations to improve everyone's lot in life look to be unrealistic. Maybe individual, more authoritarian countries stand a chance to make the quantum leaps in the future, but I can't see much coming from the 'collective knowledge' of people.

I don't want to put too much of a downer on this, and I'm not saying give up trying to change things, but best to stick with recognising reality? I fight battles [of the non-violent variety!!] I can't win every day, but I don't expect to change much. I do it simply because to me it would seem wrong not to try. This experiment I have been pounding away at for many years now is a case in point.
Doug Browning
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Real name: Doug Browning

Re: Fusion's promise

Post by Doug Browning »

I fail to see any point in all this whining and doom stuff.

The only real game in town is Sandia's MagLIF:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 161505.htm

and the 1st year's testing has shown the original simulation to be spot on:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 124210.htm

The fusion quest will be history by the end of 2013 or 2014, unless the Sequestration shuts them down........

Then we will be left listening to endless whining about there's nothing left to think about. You have one year to come up with something better than Sandia's approach, or it gets run over and forgotten.
ab0032
Posts: 86
Joined: Sun Oct 23, 2011 2:50 am
Real name: Alexander Biersack

Re: Fusion's promise

Post by ab0032 »

Chris Bradley wrote:
> The issue is how to get there. Just hoping that eventually folks will collectively do the right thing the world-over looks like a fantasy, if you contemplate the last 100 years of history.

The last century looks pretty dim from a political perspective, it was the century of suffering inflicted by class warfare and marxist thinking, that is true, but on the other hand what remained of the free markets did amazing things. The question is just how much better things would have been in a freer world. Dont you think that after tinkering with a system that just wont work, people will not one day realize that and get over this outdated and wrong Marxist thinking?

> The 28th July next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the start of WW1. That was the war to end all wars, with a staggering 20-odd million people being killed, and the same again injured. The there was another war to end all wars 20 years later when +60 million people were killed. Since then there have been another +50 wars.... the world cannot even yet organise clean drinking water for children in between these conflicts - it is estimated that 5,000 die each day from drinking contaminated water. So, yet higher expectations for more sophisticated organisation across nations to improve everyone's lot in life look to be unrealistic. Maybe individual, more authoritarian countries stand a chance to make the quantum leaps in the future, but I can't see much coming from the 'collective knowledge' of people.

The wars where not about ending all wars. And I am not talking about collective knowledge, I am talking about individual knowledge and free markets where people can express their knowledge. I expect nothing from the UN, the Worldbank and all the rest, they just cause suffering.

> I don't want to put too much of a downer on this, and I'm not saying give up trying to change things, but best to stick with recognising reality? I fight battles [of the non-violent variety!!] I can't win every day, but I don't expect to change much. I do it simply because to me it would seem wrong not to try. This experiment I have been pounding away at for many years now is a case in point.

The change starts with the thinking, just look at what happened in East Germany, people where just fed up and got up one morning and said, we've had it, and that was that for their supressive government. Thought is just too strong a force. And so you and I can only spread the message and tell people to look and see what is happening and think for themselves instead of repeating mainstream media propaganda like a parrot. I know it takes some courage for many people to stand up and disagree publicly when you think the majority thinks different. Most people dont want to be social outcasts, so they fear to say: "I dont believe it's a good idea to use food to drive cars." when the leftgreen media are hammering away at this so called alternative energy nonsense. The more important it is to disagree, and tell people that there isnt even an energy shortage in sight, for example, or explain that trillions of government spending just destroys our chance at a reasponable future and does no good now either.
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Richard Hull
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Re: Fusion's promise

Post by Richard Hull »

Regading Sandia MAG LIF.......... I quote

"Potential problems involve controlling instabilities in the liner and in the magnetic field that might prevent the fuel from constricting evenly, an essential condition for a useful implosion. Even isolating the factors contributing to this hundred-nanosecond-long compression event, in order to adjust them, will be challenging."

Wow! Just the stuff holding up tokamaks for years!

Simulations are proving the process spot on? Computers say its gotta' work? Give it an expensive swing and then take another whack at it when that simulation falls on its face.

Give me a large personal break........More spin, more promise, more fluff.

Fusion is the energy of the future and it always will be......

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
ibex44
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Fusion's promise

Post by ibex44 »

Doug Browning
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Joined: Sat Mar 10, 2012 9:19 pm
Real name: Doug Browning

Re: Fusion's promise

Post by Doug Browning »

Impressive! Looks like plasma physicists should plan on retirement soon.
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