Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#371

Post by irthomasthomas » Mon, Aug 08, 2022, 2:53 PM UTC

trgn wrote: post #300

irthomasthomas wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The quantity of CO2 needing to be dumped in to the atmosphere to manufacture new cars to meet this is going to be astronomical. The majority of the CO2 cost of a car is in the manufacturing. I don't understand why they are doing this?

ICE cars pollute the local environment, which is worse imho than their contribution to global warming. ICE cars are noisy, stink, and have unhealthy exhaust. For those reasons alone, an electric car is better.

I agree 100%,and if they sold them on that, I might support them. But then I would rather scrap cars altogether. Phase them out over 20 years, and replace with public transport and bicycles.

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#372

Post by freedomben » Mon, Aug 08, 2022, 2:53 PM UTC

gwbas1c wrote: post #158

handelaar wrote: post #37

DC home electricity. If your future home has solar and local storage, and your domestic usage is mostly in appliances which convert back down to DC immediately behind the plug socket (most of us have this) then at some point we're going to start wanting to power our homes like houseboats or camper vans. Yes, this won't help for (eg) appliances with heating elements, I'm probably talking about a second discrete wiring…

> and your domestic usage is mostly in appliances which convert back down to DC immediately behind the plug socket (most of us have this) then at some point we're going to start wanting to power our homes like houseboats or camper vans. Most of these appliances use low voltage which travels poorly over long distances. Your car, camper van, and boat all use ultra-thick cables to move 12 volts. This is quite uneconomic…

My thoughts exactly. A/C has some important electromagnetic characteristics that make it a lot easier to transport. Particularly for long distance lines, high voltage is critical and transformers make it trivial to modify voltage levels, such as to get to 120V for the house. it's also a lot easier to convert AC to DC than the other way around. If we start transporting with DC, we take on a number of problems/challenges that we don't deal with now.

I could see a point in time where there are AC outlets and DC outlets in a house depending on where the power comes from (power lines vs. solar panels/battery), but unless we radically decentralize (which I don't see happening) it seems unlikely to me that we switch to DC for long-distance power transmission.

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#373

Post by HideousKojima » Mon, Aug 08, 2022, 2:53 PM UTC

suoduandao2 wrote: post #182

throwaway787544 wrote: post #163

The stumble over abandonment of ICE vehicles. By 2030 (8 years from now) at least six manufacturers will have stopped making ICE vehicles entirely, and India claims it will ban the sale of ICE-only vehicles. By 2040 (18 years from now) over half of all new cars sold will be electric, and the UK and France claim they will ban the sale of ICE-only vehicles. However, there's still not a plan that makes all that sustaina…

understandable if you don't want to give away the secret sauce, but what would you recommend an enterprising nibling do to prepare?

People hoarded incandescent bulbs and large tank toilets in anticipation of similar bans.

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#374

Post by machiaweliczny » Mon, Aug 08, 2022, 2:53 PM UTC

Geee wrote: post #284

General purpose humanoid robots. They're kind of mainstream idea, but very few people talk about them or take them seriously. Humanoid robots will have an absolutely massive impact in very near future. Most people don't realize that with general purpose humanoid robots, labor becomes software. Labor becomes repeateable, testable, simulatable, modular, extensible, verifiable, etc. All things that apply to software wil…

I bet that software creation will get automated before that.

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#375

Post by rgrieselhuber » Mon, Aug 08, 2022, 2:53 PM UTC

colinmhayes wrote: post #251

ChadNauseam wrote: post #247

Preimplantation polygenetic testing. The idea is that, when doing IVF, you sequence the genome of all the embryos and implant the ones that you predict will have properties that you like. This already exists for monogenetic screening (for parents who don't want to pass on heritable diseases for their children, where those diseases are localized to one gene). But the idea here is that, by checking thousands of genes,…

Rich people already have children that are more attractive than average. Being attractive is the biggest signal for generational wealth which reinforces the need for trophy spouses which reinforces the signal and so on.

Of the truly rich today, can you honestly say that they are more attractive than average? I’m not seeing it. I’m not talking Hollywood level but much higher, generational wealth levels. I realize that it’s hard to get data on this but just anecdotally, there aren’t many examples that come to mind.

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#376

Post by tristor » Mon, Aug 08, 2022, 2:53 PM UTC

youngNed wrote: post #364

philwelch wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rich people already have children who are more intelligent and attractive than average. They do this via mechanisms like “being intelligent enough to get rich, or at least not being stupid enough to go broke” and “being rich enough to marry hot people and have kids with them”. I don’t know if polygenetic testing is going to have a significant effect, but if it does, there is going to be a significant generation gap i…

this 'people are rich because they are smart' is not a take i expected to find on HN. Its not quite as damaging as 'people are rich because they work harder' but its really not far off

Okay, rather than being pithy, perhaps you could explain succinctly why people are rich, then?

Or perhaps you can admit that in many cases people have achieved moderate to high wealth in democratic free market societies by either working harder or worker smarter than their peers?

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#377

Post by Spakman » Mon, Aug 08, 2022, 2:53 PM UTC

I'm not nearly educated enough about this subject to try to summarise it, but the research being carried out by Michael Levin's group into how organisms control anatomy growth is completely fascinating and has the feel of a breakthrough. Almost all the talks I've seen are good, for example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-9rLlFgcm0

Creating new species without genetic changes seems wild!

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#378

Post by moistly » Mon, Aug 08, 2022, 2:54 PM UTC

throwaway787544 wrote: post #163

The stumble over abandonment of ICE vehicles. By 2030 (8 years from now) at least six manufacturers will have stopped making ICE vehicles entirely, and India claims it will ban the sale of ICE-only vehicles. By 2040 (18 years from now) over half of all new cars sold will be electric, and the UK and France claim they will ban the sale of ICE-only vehicles. However, there's still not a plan that makes all that sustaina…

> an insanely higher number of chargers

Or use battery swapping, like China is doing. This enables many gas stations to remain viable, allows far better battery health monitoring/remediation, permits slower, less stressful charging & greatly reduces the grid issue, eliminates the battery as a limitation of the car’s lifespan, etc.

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#379

Post by s1artibartfast » Mon, Aug 08, 2022, 2:54 PM UTC

youngNed wrote: post #364

philwelch wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rich people already have children who are more intelligent and attractive than average. They do this via mechanisms like “being intelligent enough to get rich, or at least not being stupid enough to go broke” and “being rich enough to marry hot people and have kids with them”. I don’t know if polygenetic testing is going to have a significant effect, but if it does, there is going to be a significant generation gap i…

this 'people are rich because they are smart' is not a take i expected to find on HN. Its not quite as damaging as 'people are rich because they work harder' but its really not far off

There is some value to the averages, if not the absolute.

Re: Ask HN: What's the next big thing that few people are talking about?

#380

Post by bilsbie » Mon, Aug 08, 2022, 2:54 PM UTC

sacrosanct wrote: post #4

Clean Energy, Water Desalination, Nigeria's crackdown on anonymous SIM cards, Monkeypox, Separation of Church & State in a post-Roe world, Computer chips made out of light, The managed decline of Britain, Crackdowns on E2E encrypted messaging apps, Quantum-resistant cryptography, Tesla cars charged by burning coal.

Turn off CNN and half these problems disappear.