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Founders of Amazon and Microsoft funding little-known fusion energy companies

bbc.com

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Re: Founders of Amazon and Microsoft funding little-known fusion energy companies

#11

Post by darawk »

nxzero wrote: post #10

Has anyone since reasonable explanation of what the future would look like with fusion? To me, there will never be enough energy, this effort is about control, not power; even if there was (relatively speaking) an unlimited source of energy, the bounds of it's use would quickly be found, and as such, would not be "universally" available.

While I think that is true in general, and we will eventually saturate whatever fusion may provide - it will take a good while to do that. And in the mean time, we'll have a near perfect source of energy, that's cheap, plentiful and clean.

Fusion is truly a pretty revolutionary thing if we can make it work.

Re: Founders of Amazon and Microsoft funding little-known fusion energy companies

#12

Post by benevol »

nxzero wrote: post #10

Has anyone since reasonable explanation of what the future would look like with fusion? To me, there will never be enough energy, this effort is about control, not power; even if there was (relatively speaking) an unlimited source of energy, the bounds of it's use would quickly be found, and as such, would not be "universally" available.

Capitalism is always about control.

At the center of our society/culture is the human being's desire to dominate others. We use capitalism/money as a means to achieve that. Money/power always has a systemic property to create monopolies and reinforce them.

That being said, technological advance usually benefits more than just the owners of capital. But the balance usually is tipped in their favor.

In short: There's enough food for everybody on this planet, but we currently prefer to have more of it for ourselves and let others starve.

If we don't like this system, then we need to move away from capitalism (as we know it) and put different values than domination/power/money at the center of our culture.

Re: Founders of Amazon and Microsoft funding little-known fusion energy companies

#13

Post by dang »

nxzero wrote: post #9
dang wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've banned your account because we asked you not to post these. If you don't want it to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com.

Why was this user ban? ________ EDIT: So, much for any calms of transparency[1]: (1) It's not clear why the user was ban. (2) Mod requested to deal with the issue offline. -- To be clear, this is NOT about debating the matter, it's about transparency and helping the community understand how things work. To be more clear, I've posted and seen others post TLDR and unclear if these shouldn't be posted on HN, or if there…

I explained why: "because we asked you not to post these". Brevity and transparency are not incompatible.

When we ban someone and they email us, we simply ask them to promise not to do it again, and if they do, we unban them and welcome them back.

Edit: abhi3 emailed and is now unbanned.

Re: Founders of Amazon and Microsoft funding little-known fusion energy companies

#14

Post by justifier »

nxzero wrote: post #9
dang wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've banned your account because we asked you not to post these. If you don't want it to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com.

Why was this user ban? ________ EDIT: So, much for any calms of transparency[1]: (1) It's not clear why the user was ban. (2) Mod requested to deal with the issue offline. -- To be clear, this is NOT about debating the matter, it's about transparency and helping the community understand how things work. To be more clear, I've posted and seen others post TLDR and unclear if these shouldn't be posted on HN, or if there…

as pointed out in the comment dang has requested he stop posting 'these' types of comments

and if you showdead:yes you'll see 'these' types are 'TLDR' summaries

a previous example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11537818

also, dang even gave him an out if just requests it.. all seems very reasonable

Re: Founders of Amazon and Microsoft funding little-known fusion energy companies

#15

Post by bpodgursky »

It's really pathetic how HN has degenerated from an actual community of builders / startup founders / creators to reddit-style vitriol and populist complaints about the 1%.

Every comment right now is complaining about billionaires and the problems with of capitalism. Not even about the technology, much less being happy about this being funded.

Genuine question -- is there a community somewhere which is actually full of not-shitty people? I would like an invite.

Re: Founders of Amazon and Microsoft funding little-known fusion energy companies

#16

Post by daviddumenil »

nxzero wrote: post #10

Has anyone since reasonable explanation of what the future would look like with fusion? To me, there will never be enough energy, this effort is about control, not power; even if there was (relatively speaking) an unlimited source of energy, the bounds of it's use would quickly be found, and as such, would not be "universally" available.

My first thought was that an electricity cost at maybe 20% of what it is now would be result in a good economic uplift but not a seismic change.

But the interesting cases are those where much cheaper electricity unlocks new opportunities. Imagine the coast of sub-Saharan Africa transformed by the agriculture enabled by cheap desalinated water.

Re: Founders of Amazon and Microsoft funding little-known fusion energy companies

#17

Post by hendzen »

bpodgursky wrote: post #15

It's really pathetic how HN has degenerated from an actual community of builders / startup founders / creators to reddit-style vitriol and populist complaints about the 1%. Every comment right now is complaining about billionaires and the problems with of capitalism. Not even about the technology, much less being happy about this being funded. Genuine question -- is there a community somewhere which is actually full…

Check out lobste.rs.

Re: Founders of Amazon and Microsoft funding little-known fusion energy companies

#18

Post by fhrjfjc »

bpodgursky wrote: post #15

It's really pathetic how HN has degenerated from an actual community of builders / startup founders / creators to reddit-style vitriol and populist complaints about the 1%. Every comment right now is complaining about billionaires and the problems with of capitalism. Not even about the technology, much less being happy about this being funded. Genuine question -- is there a community somewhere which is actually full…

Have you considered that there may be many qualified people who want to work on innovative projects like fusion power, but are prevented from doing so because the necessary capital is locked up with the hyper-wealthy? Only by having inside connections and luck can you hope to acquire capital for your projects, but even then you work for years only to concentrate even more capital in the hands of your lender, making the problem worse. This is a legitimate problem holding back innovation.

Re: Founders of Amazon and Microsoft funding little-known fusion energy companies

#19

Post by reitanqild »

nxzero wrote: post #9
dang wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've banned your account because we asked you not to post these. If you don't want it to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com.

Why was this user ban? ________ EDIT: So, much for any calms of transparency[1]: (1) It's not clear why the user was ban. (2) Mod requested to deal with the issue offline. -- To be clear, this is NOT about debating the matter, it's about transparency and helping the community understand how things work. To be more clear, I've posted and seen others post TLDR and unclear if these shouldn't be posted on HN, or if there…

> When dang took over HN then topic of transparency was covered, and though I may have misunderstood, more transparency was promised.

IIRC before dang people used to be shadowbanned. Again IIRC pointing out that someone has been banned now is a huge step towards transparency.

Re: Founders of Amazon and Microsoft funding little-known fusion energy companies

#20

Post by GFK_of_xmaspast »

bpodgursky wrote: post #15

It's really pathetic how HN has degenerated from an actual community of builders / startup founders / creators to reddit-style vitriol and populist complaints about the 1%. Every comment right now is complaining about billionaires and the problems with of capitalism. Not even about the technology, much less being happy about this being funded. Genuine question -- is there a community somewhere which is actually full…

I checked your post history, of about 9 top-level comments on the first page (not including this one) I see seven normative posts and two technical ones.
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