City of the future

[Lark]

I thought about this one when I saw your thread about first person shooters.

Yeah, its a great exception, it and bishi, bashi special, I think the Japanese market is awesome and the sorts of weird games they create are a vital break with the western world's FPS singularity, you should read about some of the completely mad games from the atari and early nintendo era that the Japanese wanted to create but didnt get to.

There's also some disgusting examples, the was one in which you emulated with a big plastic hand shoving a finger up someone's butt! I mean WTF.

 

[BlueScreen]

Possibly. But how did you end up with this time frame? What would make fusion possible? Research? I wouldn't think so. Today, most of the research lacks solid theoretical ground. It's almost like shooting in the dark room, hoping to 'hit' something. May be it was the same in the previous times, I wouldn't know, but today we certainly need a genius to put it all together and geniuses are not easy to find. If we can get deep learning to come up with some practical answers for us, that could be the only other possible option.

There have been a few advances in recent years that have brought it closer. Funnily some of the more important ones have had little to do with the core science, but rather enabling advances in related fields like supercomputing for simulations and improved components that allow tighter confinement. I believe theoretically they could go close to building a working reactor now. Just fusion hasn't had much funding for a long time, so there's a few big international projects and lots of small research. Few can afford to quickly whip up advanced prototypes and test them. The state of funding is also not surprising given there is huge money in other energy industries that it would damage, and given fusion's past failures. Maybe the recent interest of private companies will help it along, or the interest from China.

I've always found this image amusing, and it tells part of the story.

 

[Lib]

There have been a few advances in recent years that have brought it closer. Funnily some of the more important ones have had little to do with the core science, but rather enabling advances in related fields like supercomputing for simulations and improved components that allow tighter confinement. I believe theoretically they could go close to building a working reactor now. Just fusion hasn't had much funding for a long time, so there's a few big international projects and lots of small research. Few can afford to quickly whip up advanced prototypes and test them. The state of funding is also not surprising given there is huge money in other energy industries that it would damage, and given fusion's past failures. Maybe the recent interest of private companies will help it along, or the interest from China.

I've always found this image amusing, and it tells part of the story.

Well, the peak period marks the hysteria preceding and around the Fleischmann–Pons experiment in 1989, and the intensified research discovered that fusion is generally a far fetched idea, especially in a low oil price environment.

Don't get me wrong, I am obsessed with the idea of cold fusion (that is, fusion at standard conditions) to an extend that I read books about it, but to this point, fusion is not working. Even the 'hot' fusion, which is the subject of the projects you mention, is going to consume more energy than it's going to produce. This is a lot of resources to make experiments to control a process which you don't understand. If they employ deep learning, this might help but it won't be easy. My point is that you need more than just the tools...

Besides, why do people turn their back on fission but resort to the uncertain fusion is the real question. Fission, together with wind, solar and biomass, could already substitute oil in a long run.

 

[BlueScreen]

Even the 'hot' fusion, which is the subject of the projects you mention, is going to consume more energy than it's going to produce.

This is a matter of confinement rather than a fundamental problem with the fusion process. More energy out than in is likely to be achieved quite soon, if it hasn't already been achieved. The practical issues relate more to sustained confinement once all that energy is released so the reaction will keep going and creating a reactor that can function reliably long term.

 

[Lib]

This is a matter of confinement rather than a fundamental problem with the fusion process. More energy out than in is likely to be achieved quite soon, if it hasn't already been achieved. The practical issues relate more to sustained confinement once all that energy is released so the reaction will keep going and creating a reactor that can function reliably long term.

Well, confinement is a fundamental problem, don't you think. That's the main question with fusion - how to bring the two isotopes so close as to fuse, how to break the Coulomb barrier, using less than the energy released. The lack of understanding (because I don't believe there is no practical way to do it) is obvious but these installations will give a lot of information so it's OK, generally that's their purpose. But it's like expulsing thousands of cannonballs simultaneously to kill a fly and then dropping an atomic bomb on it to be sure there is nothing left from it. Without some kind of specific catalysis it won't work.

 

[Gunboat Diplomat]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/homeandproperty/could-this-be-the-solution-to-britains-housing-crisis-the-%C2%A321000-living-pods-that-can-be-installed-in-back-gardens/ar-BBLgmJc?li=BBoPWjQ

This one is maybe not so quirky, but more functional for the similar price:

Products - NOMAD Micro Homes


There is a whole industry around micro homes, some quite interesting:

Lynne Knowlton Tiny House - Toronto Tiny House Cabin

68 Best Tiny Houses - Design Ideas for Small Homes

 

[SurrealisticSlumbers]

We need universal legislation passed to get tiny homes, yurts, et cetera 100% LEGAL in all jurisdictions, in every nation and on every continent!!

 

[Mole]

The cities of the future will be powered by clean, safe thorium reactors, made in Oz and exported to the world.