Lugh

joined 2 years ago
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The new law will allow consumers to install solar in their homes without the need to connect to the grid; however, more needs to be done.

"Regulations and standards governing electrical devices haven’t kept pace with the development of the technology, and they lack essential approvals required for adoption, including compliance with the National Electrical Code and a product safety standard from Underwriters Laboratories. Nothing about the bill Ward wrote changes that."

The fossil fuel industry has the current US administration in its pocket. Once they see they have leverage with national requirements like this, expect them to exploit the situation with delays and blocking tactics.

But it will only work for so long. They can't hide what is happening in the rest of the world, and more and more Americans will be wondering why they can't have the cheap energy everyone else is enjoying.

Balcony solar took off in Germany. Why not the US?

 

China operates the world's only commercial maglev train. It connects Shanghai Airport and the city center, and reaches top speeds of 430 km/h. China is also testing a near-vacuum-tube train which claims it may achieve speeds of up to 1,000 km/h in the future.

Interestingly this project aims to demonstrate 800 km/h later in 2025. That speed is almost as fast as the cruising speed of commercial airliners.

Will it need special rail tracks? This is the Japanese test maglev train passing people at 500 km/hr.

400 mph in 7 seconds: China’s maglev breaks speed barriers with new record

[–] Lugh 3 points 5 months ago

I was wondering would they have over-heating problems, but the energy is so small it can probably be dissipated elsewhere.

[–] Lugh 7 points 5 months ago

As places are limited, they need to focus on those with talent and ability.

[–] Lugh 15 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

If you google Hitler's paintings you can see why he was rejected. They're flat, rigid and lacking in creativity - perhaps not surprising for a fascist megalomaniac. I'm curious to see what the AI will learn here. Lots of ai-generated imagery is technically good, but can it really be said to have creativity?

[–] Lugh 4 points 5 months ago (3 children)

As radioactive decay can't be stopped, I'm assuming this emits power continuously. Whatever this is used for won't have any On/Off buttons.

[–] Lugh 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

This exponential rate of progress has been observed many times with different types of AI, here's a recent example of it.

[–] Lugh 1 points 5 months ago (4 children)

My reasoning is based on the fact they are selling similar to these in the $20k price range. Buying them means they cost a fraction of employing a minimum wage worker in western countries.

They are embodied AI, so improving at the rate AI is. That is exponentially. Meaning iterations of these may be 32, 64, 128, etc times more powerful in the 2030s, and even cheaper.

I think it is very reasonable to say they will be common in the 2030s.

[–] Lugh 17 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

With upcoming space telescopes in the 2030s, there should be a few capable of analyzing exoplanet atmospheres. Exciting to think we may be soon able to deduce the presence of carbon-based life in another planetary system.

[–] Lugh 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, I wonder how far they can extend the magnetic fields that power them? Even if it is relatively short range, they look really cheap to make, so you could have thousands of them with sensors to scan localized areas.

[–] Lugh 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

I get that capacitators are only good for seconds at a time, but given their other advantages, I wonder why people don't build batteries with them, where hundreds or thousands of cells are individual capacitators that get used in sequence.

[–] Lugh 4 points 5 months ago

Another team has done the same in Denmark. I wonder how soon we will see these at consumer level for residential buildings?

https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/03/26/solar-panel-windows-that-could-turn-whole-buildings-into-power-plants-smash-electricity-re

[–] Lugh 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

This is better than nothing. Though a lot of the threats that are building, like conflict with Russia, seem like they will need more.

[–] Lugh 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yes, their interpretation of Swiss Re is open to debate. That said, I suspect self-driving cars are already safer per kilometer than human driven cars.

Also, they'll only keep getting better, while human abilities plateau.

https://www.euronews.com/next/2024/06/20/self-driving-cars-are-generally-safer-than-human-driven-ones-research-shows

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