[extropy-chat] Forbes Magazine on Robotics

Alejandro Dubrovsky alito at organicrobot.com
Mon Aug 21 11:23:36 UTC 2006


On Mon, 2006-08-21 at 06:53 +0100, John wrote:
> I was going to comment on this earlier but didn't for some reason.
> 
> My comment was to be along the lines of... "I hope everyone isn't assuming 
> that alternative energy means wind power, hydro & solar"
> 
> Fusion isn't too far away and will wipe out the above three in terms of what 
> it means for us and how practically it can be deployed in the here and now.
> 
Depending on your definition of far away.  The ITER people say the Fast
Track version of their plan, which needs many a billion being pumped in
by about 7 countries, doesn't see commercial reactors till 2050.  Big
hot fusion is not going to come out of a garage.  
If you are hoping for self-rep nanotech to cheapen the building process,
it seems to me that self-repped massive solar panel fields would be
easier to design than a very complex reactor, and once they are built,
bothering with fusion would seem less urgent.





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