[ExI] Bosch exits Solar business in Germany

Eugen Leitl eugen at leitl.org
Wed Apr 3 14:21:26 UTC 2013


On Wed, Apr 03, 2013 at 05:54:49AM -0800, Keith Henson wrote:

> > I was looking at Phalanx systems
> > and noted that there is now a laser version (which must be easier to
> > manage than 4500 rps of tungsten or depleted uranium shells)
> 
> You might know that the next generation of ships is going to double or
> more the power plant.

I understand next-gen ships are hybrid, since they're 
chronically juice-starved.
 
> > Will 50kw lasers work or will you need to scale
> > vertically/horizontally to get to orbit?
> 
> The biggest military laser is 105 kW, and there is no reason they
> could not scale to GW.

Well, these are big expensive boxes, and if you cover a football
field of these with optics, it's going to cost you a penny.
 
> > Why the net energy decay is a problem -- you need energy input
> > for heavy infrastructure work. In absence of cheap energy,
> > rapid EROEI is more important than high EROEI.
> 
> That's why power satellites are interesting.  They have an energy
> payback time of under two months.

Do you have the calculations for this? The best I know
is InP on capton, 2 kW/kg. It won't age gracefully,
will need infrastructure to deploy and you'll also
need phased array aerials. In terms of lifetime 
you can probably recycle silicon onboard, but this
is going to get quite heavy.
 
> snip
> 
> > Subject: [ExI] Iain Banks has terminal cancer
> 
> Bummer.
> 
> Nobody really knows what the post singularity world will be like, but
> Banks tried and his work, like that of Charley Stross, is excellent.
> 
> There are experimental treatments on the research horizon that just
> cure such things.  Cancers avoid the immune system by displaying a
> "I'm a good guy" signal on their surfaces.  Block that (which has been
> done experimentally) and you get really sick for a couple of weeks
> while the immune cells clean up the cancer.
> 
> I wonder if Banks would consider cryonics?  Grim as it seems, cancer
> is the best way you can go for a good suspension.

I presume Iain is now mostly offline, but if any of you have contacts,
consider plugging the idea to him.



More information about the extropy-chat mailing list