Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Kraftwerk's radical 1976 track

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 222 posts

Re: Kraftwerk's radical 1976 track

#61

Post by KKOSer »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #41
emptybits wrote: post #39

If you like Kraftwerk and you're not aware of this book, I recommend it: "Kraftwerk: Future Music from Germany", by Uwe Schütte. It's packed with details of albums, songs, tours, equipment, and people. The anti-nuclear message in "Radio-Activity" certainly came later and was repeatedly updated, right into the Fukushima era [2011], but this was not the original sentiment [1976]. From the book: "At the time, Billboard…

Great story. Had no idea. Still love the name Uwe. One of those German names that doesn’t have an English equivalent unlike, say, Pieter.

I was told once Hugh is the nearest equivalent to Uwe, but i can't tell if thats correct.

Re: Kraftwerk's radical 1976 track

#62

Post by p2detar »

rectang wrote: post #43
AngryData wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because of anti-nuclear sentiments we are right now currently storing used nuclear waste in its most dangerous form in the most open and uncontained and open storage lots. Worrying about expanding nuclear and ending up putting the waste in a hole deep in the ground is such a nonissue to me. If humans blast themselves back to the neolithic era and 5,000 years from now some dudes die from walking into some old facility…

Seems to me that pro-nuclear sentiments have at least as much to do with ongoing accumulation of nuclear waste as anti-nuclear sentiments. > Worrying about expanding nuclear and ending up putting the waste in a hole deep in the ground is such a nonissue to me. Blithe minimization of the problem of storing nuclear waste over millenia feels like "Peak HN". :) ("Peak HN" jabs are a cheap shot, though — so let me engage…

> by our inability to design incentive structures for responsible stewardship that persist over centuries.

Simply untrue. Finland‘s Onkalo is exactly that-a storage solution engineered to require zero stewardship. It is possible and now we know we can do it right. Storage is the weakest argument against nuclear.

By the way, Solar panels and wind turbines contain heavy metals with no decay path, e.g. Cadmium. Nuclear waste at least decays after apprx. 1000 years with spent fuel roughly as radioactive as the uranium ore originally mined for it.

The fearmongering against nuclear was always crazy to me. Especially since nuclear and renewables actually complement each other really well. We can use nuclear for baseload and renewables filling in on top when sun and wind are available.

Re: Kraftwerk's radical 1976 track

#63

Post by rectang »

soperj wrote: post #60
rectang wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And perhaps meaningfully contributed to a reduction in the quantity of radioactive waste products requiring custodianship on a timescale that humans can barely conceive of let alone commit to or execute responsibly.

Coal also produces radioactive byproducts. They just release them into the air.

Brazil nuts and bananas are radioactive too, compared to other foods — but do not pose risks compared to coal ash.

Similarly, while coal ash is nasty stuff that kills lots of people, it lacks many of the qualities that make spent nuclear fuel especially difficult to manage even in small amounts.

For example, a “dirty bomb” made by packing coal ash around conventional explosives would be far less effective than one made from spent nuclear fuel.

Re: Kraftwerk's radical 1976 track

#64

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

mejutoco wrote: post #53
kev009 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A hidden danger of coal is ironically the radioactivity of its waste, which gets put into concrete products and contribute to indoor air quality issues. The paranoia around nuclear power is tied to generational fear mongering of governments during the Cold War. The oddest part is why not use safer reactor designs; water reactors make sense for the US Navy and not on land.

> The paranoia around nuclear power is tied to generational fear mongering of governments during the Cold War And Chernobyl. And Fukushima. Nuclear is great but it has some very real risks

Don't forget Windscale and Three Mile Island

Re: Kraftwerk's radical 1976 track

#65

Post by FabHK »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #19

The original version is quite different from the version performed today. The original lyrics refer to the pun of "radioactivity" versus "radio activity", meaning, activity on the radio. The new live version refers almost exclusively to the former meaning, and adds "stop" to turn it into a protest song. I've seen Kraftwerk live twice, at London's Albert Hall and Berkeley's Greek Theater, both times absolutely amazing…

Just saw Kraftwerk live exactly a week ago, 2026-05-06, in Hong Kong on their Asia tour. They played Radioactivität, among their other hits. Recommended indeed. There might not be another tour, Ralf Hütter is 79!

Over the next month, they will play in Ireland and UK, then Eastern Europe. https://kraftwerk.com/concerts/index-concerts.html

Re: Kraftwerk's radical 1976 track

#66

Post by jcul »

01100011 wrote: post #25
ainch wrote: post #11

I love Kraftwerk, but contributing to anti-nuclear sentiment in Germany hasn't been a major success. If only more European countries had followed the French example and developed substantial nuclear fleets.

Like most backward looking judgements these days, such things require understanding the culture and zeitgeist of the mid 70s. I'm pro-nuclear as well, but understand that for many decades the "smart" thing to do was to oppose it. I wouldn't expect a musical artist to have a more nuanced opinion than most of their contemporaries.

I think Chernobyl was a big factor in European sentiment towards nuclear power too, in the 80s / 90s.

I grew up in the 90s and didn't even fully understand what it was, but I remember the fear around it. I remember people in Ireland worrying about Sellafield nuclear power plant in the UK and talking about things like wind direction if there was an incident. And the government posting out iodine tablets to homes.

Re: Kraftwerk's radical 1976 track

#67

Post by 9dev »

kev009 wrote: post #24
kingleopold wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

coal kills more people, this is a fact. so with blocking nuclear lead to coal, so they indirectly supportered killing thousands, incredible stats really. who said art can't be bad for the public?

A hidden danger of coal is ironically the radioactivity of its waste, which gets put into concrete products and contribute to indoor air quality issues. The paranoia around nuclear power is tied to generational fear mongering of governments during the Cold War. The oddest part is why not use safer reactor designs; water reactors make sense for the US Navy and not on land.

None of you ever manages to answer the waste storage question. That was, and still is, one of the deciding factors in Germany, for example.

Re: Kraftwerk's radical 1976 track

#68

Post by Mashimo »

Qdulf wrote: post #56
cluckindan wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More like the robot thing to do. Anti-nuclear sentiment in Germany was entirely manufactured; it was the product of Gerhard Schröder and similar robots who enriched themselves on Russian oil and gas. Ironically, it is also where the so-called Green Party began.

This is historical revisionism. Anti-nuclear sentiment in Germany is rooted in the peace movement and environmentalism, with the majority of public discourse starting in the 1970s. The debate has always been about what to do with the waste. Our government misrepresented the "Asse" as a solved solution for a final repository, even though it was always only a test repository for low and intermediate-level radioactive w…

Indeed. Also Asse was a political decision, against the scientist who found better places to put the waste, but Asse II was close to east Germany. And West German politicians wanted to give a big "screw you" to East Germany, because they also did something similar.

I'm still against nuclear in Germany. I'm fine with Finland doing it.

Re: Kraftwerk's radical 1976 track

#69

Post by JuniperMesos »

happymellon wrote: post #42
01100011 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it came from peaceniks and hippies mostly. You're talking about the equivalent of modern anti-vax liberals. Anti-science and given to conspiracies and mysticism. There was a pretty good reason to be scared of nukes when these folks were children in the 50s. The world was quite a different place back then. The US was lagging behind the Soviets, militarily speaking, and Communism was much more expansionary.

> anti-vax liberals Just a small correction, but the anti-vax arguments are very conservative, not liberal.

There are both liberal and conservative strains of anti-vaccination sentiment that have been more or less prominent at various times.

Re: Kraftwerk's radical 1976 track

#70

Post by happymellon »

secretsatan wrote: post #50
happymellon wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> anti-vax liberals Just a small correction, but the anti-vax arguments are very conservative, not liberal.

There is undeniably a middle class anti vax wellness leftist movement whether it was originally conservative or not, unfortunately.

> wellness leftist movement

Hang on, are we talking about liberal or leftist now?

Because a lot of these hoax "wellness" movements are conservative. Distrusting science and things you don't understand is a conservative mindset.

Post reply on HN