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The Terrifying Potential of 5G

newyorker.com

61–70 of 76 posts

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#61

Whether people want to believe it or not, 5G is being deployed as both a biological and psychological weapon. Millimetre waves and their effects are well studied and utilised by military in their active denial crowd control systems. Wifi is also dangerous, why would they have chosen 2.4Ghz when this is the frequency absorption spectrum of H2O. The same frequency microwave ovens use to most effectively heat food. Simi…

For microwave ovens / water: You have cause and effect reversed. You believe water has an absorption peak at 2.4GHz because microwave ovens use it, not the other way around. In reality, microwave ovens use 2.4GHz because it's legally available (ISM band) and water has a wide absorption spectrum in GHz area (the exact peak shifts wildly with temperature[1]. 2.4GHz is _far_ from optimal). Microwave ovens also contain kilowatt output in a small chamber using RF reflective walls (necessary for the standing waves to develop). Contrast this with the inverse square law for cell towers.

For air: The 60GHz allows reduced cell size. This makes it more realistic for you to opt out of receiving everyone else's emissions (by walking away). Also, air is not not "fundamental to biological life" (anaerobic organisms exist). More seriously, at 60GHz and above skin penetration is very, very shallow.

Active denial systems use a slightly higher frequency (95GHz) and much higher radiated power (30kW-2.5 MW says Wikipedia).

The social aspects of IOT have as much to do with 5G as with, say, smartphones in general. That's just anti-tech. It can be discussed, but it's not an interesting argument in the context of whether 5G is harmful.

You are making emotional arguments that are not grounded in technical arguments.

[1] Please refer to the chart in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_absorption_by_...

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 50/60hz wiring radiation is a mild annoyance compared to 2.4 and 5Ghz wifi (I prefer 5Ghz because it seems to transfer less heat to my tissues); I sporadically use 4G on my phone so I don't need a permanent wifi installation in my room. Contrarily, I've found that staring into the sun, early in the morning for seconds up to a few minutes, is quite pleasant. If 5G is much worse than 4G I'm literally getting lead-l…

>Contrarily, I've found that staring into the sun, early in the morning for seconds up to a few minutes, is quite pleasant. Interesting... What've been your findings?

It's good for my mood and concentration, and it supports my sleep rhythm. I shouldn't focus on seeing into the sun itself, though I have seen it look 3D now, super cool! That hurt my eyes for a day or so, they felt mildly bruised. It wasn't so bad, as I've hurt my eyes quite a lot before, playing around with a green laser with diffractor. That felt like "100+ small cuts in my retina" that lasted for over a week.

It works best to aim for an "HDR" effect (as a baseline, or when it's at all uncomfortable), so look around the sun and only for a small part of the time directly into the sun, aiming to make the sun more defined (vs. "overexposed white area").

For safe fun, use a candle instead. A real burning one, LEDs are Not Nice for staring at.

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#64
At least we won't have to worry so much about the Great AI Induced Job Loss that's coming: "One estimate projects that 5G will pump twelve trillion dollars into the global economy by 2035, and add twenty-two million new jobs in the United States alone."

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#65
post #24

Maybe I’m not forward thinking enough, but I’ve yet to hear any compelling new use cases for 5G. I’m doubtful it’ll be of much use for self-driving cars or robotic surgery, and 4G is more than fast/low latency enough for my phone needs and the needs of most people. I really don’t see how 5G is going to add anywhere close to $12T to the economy.

I don’t think it will be revolutionary in countries with good last mile high speed. IMO 5g will neutralize most of the benefits of last mile deployments and be much cheaper to deploy. This will be a major boon for overstretched 4g networks in the developing world.

5g is theoretically fast enough to compete with landline ISPs directly in most of the US. I suspect we’ll start to see landline internet with the same regard as landline phones in a decade or so. Especially as personal computers (rather than smart devices) continue to fall out of favor in home use.

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I prefer 5Ghz because it seems to transfer less heat to my tissues A single 60W incandescent bulb (which has about 10% efficiency for its lighting) transfers more heat to your tissues than a stack of 10 home routers.

That's a wide-band transmission with a regular 50hz signal, instead of a narrow-band 2.4/5Ghz modulated by chaotic 10/100/1000Mhz (Mb/s) data. Like the difference between a lightbulb and a tissue-penetrating laser strobe.

No it isn’t. The antenna is basically just a flashing light bulb for 5 GHz. 5 GHz transfers way less energy into your body than visible or infrared light because it’s not absorbed as readily and each photon has less energy. It’s like the difference between a blue lightbulb and a red lightbulb.

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#67
post #24

Maybe I’m not forward thinking enough, but I’ve yet to hear any compelling new use cases for 5G. I’m doubtful it’ll be of much use for self-driving cars or robotic surgery, and 4G is more than fast/low latency enough for my phone needs and the needs of most people. I really don’t see how 5G is going to add anywhere close to $12T to the economy.

Think of any wireless device that a human directly or indirectly interacts with that is connected to the internet. Almost all of those will be eventually replaced with faster alternatives. Boom, 5G everywhere in 10 years.

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#68
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Air polution is known to kill millions of people every year. And not just in India. Cities like Paris and London are mess. Nobody gives a shit.

This is both irrelevant and wrong. It’s wrong because people do give a shit and these cities are trying to come up with a solution like limiting or completely banning certain pollutants like cars or burning coal etc. The air quality is constantly monitored since years and EU country’s have implemented quite strict environmental policies. It’s irrelevant because even if people didn’t given a shit about pollution , wou…

> EU country’s have implemented quite strict environmental policies.

True, but yet, noone cares: - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jan/30/london-reach... - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/12/london-h... - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44612642

You can point to the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which means you can't drive in to very central London (where most people work, but almost noone actually lives there) with a petrol car or van that is older than 13 years. Doesn't sound ultra low to me, compared to hybrids have been produced for more than a decade and electric cars are available to the mainstream. And even this very low bar is enforced to the very inner boroughs only. The 50 years old diesel trains that are running its per-carriage engines at the platform when idle, are an exception of course.

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone/way...

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#69
post #24

Maybe I’m not forward thinking enough, but I’ve yet to hear any compelling new use cases for 5G. I’m doubtful it’ll be of much use for self-driving cars or robotic surgery, and 4G is more than fast/low latency enough for my phone needs and the needs of most people. I really don’t see how 5G is going to add anywhere close to $12T to the economy.

Internet of Turds

Re: The Terrifying Potential of 5G

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's gonna be fun to see if people are affraid of 5G or if microwave oven and 2G will keep their spot on the podium

I already disable LTE just to avoid Amber alerts. 3G is about 10% slower. Around here, they send all alerts out at the “incoming nuclear missile” level.

You should re enable it. Amber alerts are when a kid has been kidnapped and is probably going to raped or killed. You should do your part to watch for the perpetrator.
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