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A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

science.org

421–430 of 821 posts

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#421
post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We'll use them to build spacecraft that retrieve asteroids so rich in gold that it permanently crashes the price of gold? People don't seem to realize how radically society will change if this superconductor thing is legit.

How does room temperature superconductivity lead to the feasibility of asteroid mining? Could you please explain?

[deleted]

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#422

The ramifications of the inflection point we are currently at is mind boggling. I had a hard time explaining this last night but we may very well be witnessing the beginnings of a technological transformation era much like when the p-n junction was invented. From the 1940s standpoint it would be hard to envision all we had today. - Lossless transport of energy - Batteries that don't take any time to recharge - Faster…

> Batteries that don't take any time to recharge

Huh? Is this actually a thing that this enables? I don't initially see how

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#423
post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Computer components already have gold in them, and they are already recycled for gold.

There's a wide space between "can be recycled" and "profitable enough that there's theft for base components that can be resold". That doesn't mean it won't be profitable to harvest the gold (I don't know), but one does not imply the other. For example, paper recycling is profitable when centralized (barely), but even that's with most the pipeline subsidized, and it's not profitable to the degree that people are stea…

[deleted]

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#424
post #422

The ramifications of the inflection point we are currently at is mind boggling. I had a hard time explaining this last night but we may very well be witnessing the beginnings of a technological transformation era much like when the p-n junction was invented. From the 1940s standpoint it would be hard to envision all we had today. - Lossless transport of energy - Batteries that don't take any time to recharge - Faster…

> Batteries that don't take any time to recharge Huh? Is this actually a thing that this enables? I don't initially see how

[dead]

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does LK-99 defy the laws of physics like the EmDrive did?

A room temperature and pressure semiconductor is more an astoundingly large jump forward in the space than something that defies known physics.

That doesn’t track. The EmDrive was legitimately pushing a premise that we had some fundamental law of physics wrong. Superconductors are pretty well understood, they’ve been around for a while. Finding a room temperature one isn’t that big of a jump, it’s just a really hard one to make.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The force of tradition is amazing. Imagine centuries knowing how to make something that explodes violently, and using it for entertainment instead of weapons. Just like how Mesoamerican civilizations invented the wheel, but only used it on children toys and not for transportation. There were no draft animals in the region, but they didn't even make wheelbarrows. https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/home/the-concept-of…

Is there a name for this kind of effect?

I always call this a "local maximum" problem. Once you've optimized the crap out of your tech, any change makes it worse (e.g., replacing crossbows with primitive guns). But if you do switch, then optimizing that technology takes you to an even higher maximum.

The problem is that you have to go backwards to go forwards, and you can't always predict (or convince the powers-that-be) that the end result will be better.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#427
post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We'll use them to build spacecraft that retrieve asteroids so rich in gold that it permanently crashes the price of gold? People don't seem to realize how radically society will change if this superconductor thing is legit.

How does room temperature superconductivity lead to the feasibility of asteroid mining? Could you please explain?

[deleted]

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#428

If it's real, how fast could we see concrete applications using this material? 5-year time frame? 10-year time frame? More?

Nobody knows, it depends on a multitude of factors, but most likely this won't be the exact material which will have applications, I'm sure there is a much easier to fabricate related material which will be the first of a whole set of materials which act as superconductors at room temperatures.

Yeah, this feels like the really early results of a material that they eventually refine into a process, hence their patents. There are reports they were worried about being beaten to the punch, im curious if that’s true and if so, who the word on the street said was close.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#429
post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japanese and South Korean increasing technical prowess didn't, why would Chinese be any different? China has serious fundamental problems and if you account for its gigantic population - it's seriously underachieving not only compared to US, but even compared to the rest of the developed world. It's fashionable to talk about China taking over, but it's far from guaranteed. China is pretty much confirmed to be falsify…

> it's seriously underachieving not only compared to US, but even compared to the rest of the developed world. This statement would have been viewed as absolutely obvious and ridiculous 2 decades ago. The fact that it even needs to be said now is indicating how fast they are advancing.

No, it's evidence of how fast they advanced under Deng. It is unclear that the advancement is continuing / has continued into Xi's reign, especially since the beginning of his third term.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watch gold be the only practically viable solution, making this new material wonderful but also incredibly expensive.

Time to start mining asteroids.

Is this how the science fiction future we’ve all read in books becomes reality?

SpaceX becomes an evil megacorp mining gold from the asteroid belt with LLM AI controlled robot slaves so that we can make hover cars using superconductors?

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