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Andrew McCalip demonstrates synthesis of LK99

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Re: Andrew McCalip demonstrates synthesis of LK99

#301

Post by cycomanic »

MetaWhirledPeas wrote: post #286
dotnet00 wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, where did withholding information come into this?

> Maybe I'm misunderstanding, where did withholding information come into this? When I mentioned gatekeeping I was specifically referring to how there's this formula that was kept secret since 1999. At some point the potential significance surely became apparent, and one of the only speculations I can come up with to justify that would be gatekeeping; keeping the information out of the hands of the filthy commoners f…

They didn't keep it, they simply did not work on it and only came back to it 20 years later (somebody posted a bit of history on the other thread currently on the front page, I'm on mobile so it takes to long to find it atm). They didn't know about it's superconducting properties either.

So no withholding information at all. But on a more general level if everyone would be posting out every little bit of information they produce during their research instead of publishing articles it would be a disaster. The reason we do science is because we are trying to understand things just posting your random results would just give everyone information overload, because you would know what to focus on. Lk99 is actually a great example, the material would have completely been ignored by most (maybe even has been, not sure if they published about it previously?) if not for these recent results. Moreover because the results were published before the authors were confident about what they had, they have been subject to lots of ridicule and accusations of fraud. It might turn out alright in this case, but something like this can be career ending if it turns out to just be an experimental error.

Re: Andrew McCalip demonstrates synthesis of LK99

#302

Post by cooper_ganglia »

OJFord wrote: post #43
est wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's made in USA baby!

I think you're joking, I'd 100% assume it, except that I ran into some truly bizarre US patriotism while trying to follow McCalip's updates a few days ago - last relevant one I could find was 'materials coming tomorrow' on 27th, but then I couldn't find anything about using them or any update. Just a decent into people tweeting (in thread) about how great America is, the best country, etc. Really surreal. Think it wa…

I don’t think the USA is at the forefront of science, and I’m really disappointed to see discoveries like this originating from South Korea, China, and Russia before we saw results here. But even in light of that, I don’t think it’s very controversial to say that the USA is inarguably the greatest country on the planet.

While it's true that the USA may not always be the first to every scientific discovery, what it is at the forefront of is global trends and driving forward progress in a multitude of arenas. Silicon Valley has single-handedly transformed the global tech landscape, with pioneering companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook leading the charge.

American universities such as MIT, Harvard, and Stanford consistently rank among the top in the world, pushing the boundaries of research and innovation. The cultural sphere is heavily influenced by American trends as well. Hollywood and New York City define global standards in entertainment, fashion, and lifestyle.

Also, America's economic is the largest globally, and has considerable influence in shaping global financial trends. And let's not forget the huge strides in space exploration, highlighted by NASA's momentous moon landing and Mars missions. I mean, even the Soviets got a man in space! And that was half a century ago! European astronauts have to hitch a ride on an American-made rocket to represent their nations.

So yeah, while there's always room for improvement, America's influence as a pace-setter, innovator, and leader on the global stage sets it apart. This isn’t just a “USA! USA!” chant, I have a seemingly never-ending list of criticisms of my country, but, in terms of advancing the human species, I would take the USA over literally any other country every single day of the week.

Re: Andrew McCalip demonstrates synthesis of LK99

#303

Post by moolcool »

DoingIsLearning wrote: post #60
sashank_1509 wrote: post #40

This makes me extremely bullish about Varda Space, they have engineers of high quality and expertise that they could do a decent replication very quickly (if they got access to raw materials earlier, they might have been first to do so, comparable with the Chinese Groups) while working on their off time (from what I’ve seen of their twitter) and not a single big academic lab has managed to complete any sort of replic…

The first pre-print came out on 22 July (if I am not mistaken). Not enough time has passed pure and simple. If I was an academic working on this, I would be following the Sagan Standard and triple checking my results before claiming anything. I think we are all suffering from 24 hour news cycles. The work in China and now Varda is very exciting but they are warp speed developments.

> If I was an academic working on this, I would be following the Sagan Standard and triple checking my results before claiming anything.

Counterpoint: It's better that a lot of people know "Hey, we might be onto something interesting here" early on.

Re: Andrew McCalip demonstrates synthesis of LK99

#304

Post by giantrobot »

dbish wrote: post #239
nemo44x wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He’s replicating a cutting edge material science in his garage. People are celebrating the optimistic spirit of Americans. The indomitable will that this country encourages and the sense that anything is possible if you’re ambitious and smart enough to pull it off.

Garage? That’s an industrial lab

Maybe the industrial lab is his garage? My "office" is also technically a bedroom.

/s

Re: Andrew McCalip demonstrates synthesis of LK99

#305

Post by dotnet00 »

MetaWhirledPeas wrote: post #286
dotnet00 wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, where did withholding information come into this?

> Maybe I'm misunderstanding, where did withholding information come into this? When I mentioned gatekeeping I was specifically referring to how there's this formula that was kept secret since 1999. At some point the potential significance surely became apparent, and one of the only speculations I can come up with to justify that would be gatekeeping; keeping the information out of the hands of the filthy commoners f…

Ah, then I completely misunderstood you. Yeah I'm not in favor of outright withholding information.

However, what I think happened here is that they weren't able to work on it for a while, and if say, they didn't feel confident in their findings back in 1999 and only got around to being able to look at it again in 2017, it would make sense that their intent wasn't to gatekeep, it had just become one of those "we'll get around to testing it one day" type of projects everyone has. In this case it just potentially was a pretty massive thing to put off.

Re: Andrew McCalip demonstrates synthesis of LK99

#306

Post by Tade0 »

dclowd9901 wrote: post #280
mschuster91 wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Anime profile pictures are usualy a redflag. These kind of people should only be ignored since they never want to cooperate. A lot of them are simply trans and tired of dealing with constant harassment campaigns directed towards their gender identity. Of course they're wary about cooperations with people they don't intimately trust.

You’re making quite a leap here assuming they’re trans, but it’s an inarguable stance to take anyway. If I say “they should reveal to increase the profile of trans folks everywhere”, you’ll say “why is it incumbent upon them to prove their value?” If I say “they should reveal to shut down harassers,” you’ll say that I must be a transphobe. Sexual politics is tiring and pointless, honestly. With all the ad hominem bul…

I don't think it's a valid hypothesis anyway.

The culture around anime profile pictures is that you pick a character that you at least somewhat relate to - or used to in the past and embraced that.

For trans people that's usually a character that is at least in some way gender-bending - like being mistaken for the other sex by other characters or people unfamiliar with the franchise.

Re: Andrew McCalip demonstrates synthesis of LK99

#307

Post by zarzavat »

aoeusnth1 wrote: post #238
willis936 wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There would have to be a lot of cognitive dissonance to be illegally trans yet self identity as "ethnically soviet" on a social media bio.

It takes a lot of cognitive dissonance to be pro USSR in the first place, so a little more shouldn't hurt.

USSR means something different to Russians than it does to Americans. To Americans it was the Enemy. To Russians it was the last time that Russia was truly important on the world stage and had some degree of prosperity.

Re: Andrew McCalip demonstrates synthesis of LK99

#308

Post by fragmede »

ncann wrote: post #210
mschuster91 wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If LK-99 works out, expect some congressmen to use this as a bludgeoning tool against the state of US public science. I hope for the same here in Germany. It's way past time we actually deal with the sorry state of science funding and academia in general across the Western world.

Yeah and it's not just the US but also France/UK/Germany/Canada, all the western countries usually held in high regards for science, the lack of enthusiasm (for lack of a better word) is rather disappointing. I don't think I've seen a single university lab in these countries announced "hey we're trying to replicate this as well".

Given the international reach of the US' War on Drugs, is red phosphorus also controlled in other nations? Being denied access to the precursors needed makes replication far harder.

Re: Andrew McCalip demonstrates synthesis of LK99

#309

Post by carabiner »

sashank_1509 wrote: post #40

This makes me extremely bullish about Varda Space, they have engineers of high quality and expertise that they could do a decent replication very quickly (if they got access to raw materials earlier, they might have been first to do so, comparable with the Chinese Groups) while working on their off time (from what I’ve seen of their twitter) and not a single big academic lab has managed to complete any sort of replic…

These are completely different activities... Doing some week long materials experiment has almost no relevance to production aerospace engineering with regulatory burdens and multi-year test schedules. I might as well say that any mathematician who can publish a paper quickly about boundary functions can also be a very effective SWE at Amazon working on cloud.

Re: Andrew McCalip demonstrates synthesis of LK99

#310

Post by brakedam »

zarzavat wrote: post #276
username332211 wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any time the material exhibits a properties inconsistent with superconductors, the to-go explanation is that it's supposedly extremely difficult to manufacture. Not to mention, the original instructions include stuff like "The sealed tube containing the mixed powder was heated in a furnace at 925°C for 5-20 hours." which sounds a tad bit imprecise. Don't you think in those conditions it's at least a little bit reason…

They’ve said they will provide samples after peer review. Which seems fair doesn’t it? How can they complete their paper and peer review without the samples? And if the samples get damaged they will be regret ever handing them over. If you were in the same situation you’d make the same decision. I and everybody else would love them to hand over the samples for external testing, but it’s their samples so they can do w…

But I heard that in the interview, Dr. Kim said they have various samples that have different magnetization properties. It doesn’t make sense that they have only a few samples, ironically. I’m sorry, but this makes me think that they are trying to move the public some other way.
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