[ExI] Silence in the sky-but why?

[Eugen Leitl]

On Mon, Sep 30, 2013 at 02:08:43PM +1300, Andrew Mckee wrote:
> On Fri, 27 Sep 2013 17:57:47 +1200, Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:
> 
> >Because alternative fuelcycle MSR breeders are an unsolved problem.
> >Nobody knows if they can be made to work eventually,
> 
> So more research and development is needed to figure out if they are

We need to be 90% done by 2050. This means that nuclear energy
sources will be not a noticeable part (<<1 TW) of the transition.

> feasible, isn't that pretty much par for the course of every new
> piece of complex technology humans have invented?

Alternative fuelcycle research programs (these which have not been
shut down due to problems) are alive and well all over the world.
Yet they have not been able to produce a solution in over half
a century. Including ability to draw funding, even from their
more enthusiastic proponents. 
 
> >but even if,
> >we already know they would come too late to make a difference.
> 
> Too late, how so?, surely everything arrives into existence right
> after some clever person(s) gets off their ass and decides to make
> something useful, exactly when is of more interest to historians I

Infrastructure work is not an idea, or a mobile app. Look at the
last time we did it. Try ordering a synfuel plant on Amazon.

> would think.