[ExI] Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley

[John Clark]

On Sat, Oct 25, 2025 at 8:33 AM <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:

*> The wind turbines become the secure source* [Of rare earths]


*I think that would be a very bad idea. The one huge advantage that China
has over the US in the AI race is that their electrical generating capacity
is over twice as large as that of the US. And China has been increasing its
electrical capacity by nearly 15% a year, and it's been increasing its wind
generating capacity by nearly 18% a year. But the US electrical generating
capacity has been virtually static for the last decade, zero growth.  *

*John K Clark*






>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com>
> ...
> >
> > If anything super important is being held up, we can mine the permanent
> magnets in wind turbines.
>
> >...I could not say.  I don't have a bill of materials for either an F35
> or a windmill.  However, magnets are not the only use of REs in high-tech
> defense hardware.  The engineers should never have been permitted to design
> in materials that did not have a secure source... Keith
>
> The wind turbines become the secure source.  Once one flies across the USA
> and realizes how damn many of those things have been planted over the
> years, you realize there is no real shortage of material, regardless of
> what China does.  There are pleeeeeenty of idle turbines, plenty.  Most of
> them are not generating enough power to bother keeping them.  Peak power
> happened during the most active turbine building phase.
>
> spike
>
>
>
>
>
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>
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