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What I learned at work this year

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Re: What I learned at work this year

#81

Post by Retric »

irq-1 wrote: post #79
Retric wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though still missing the mark. Nuclear’s biggest issue is cost. If it was cheap enough companies would have built more and scaled them up and down to meet demand, instead France only got mostly Nuclear by exporting its excess and nobody else really got very close to full nuclear. The problem today is wind costs less. But, when you add a lot of wind during times of high wind your nuclear becomes useless. This ends up…

Nationalize any nuclear plant that has an "accident". Investors would have a financial justification to spend on safety.

It’s not a US or western problem. China, Saudi Arabia, Russia etc also use minimal nuclear power because of basic economic issues. It’s fine under 10%, but as you scale up the problems get worse.

PS: Rosenergoatom which runs Russia’s nuclear power plants has seemingly made progress in lowering operating costs, but it’s not clear how much of that progress is real. Though Russia is planning to ramp up to ~35% nuclear and is pushing a lot of R&D which is promising. Then again they have issues with solar.

Re: What I learned at work this year

#82

Post by lnsru »

sjroot wrote: post #78
lnsru wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have no idea about obesity...

Either bring more to the discussion or abstain from commenting. What exactly are you trying to say?

It’s not about education or price. It’s a pure emotional thing. You can ban sugar and all fast food, but the people will find something to abuse. There is a need for some nation wide happiness improvement program.

Re: What I learned at work this year

#83

Post by ratsimihah »

ArcMex wrote: post #64
ratsimihah wrote: post #29

> Did I devote enough time to my family? Did I learn enough new things? Did I develop new friendships and deepen old ones? These would have been laughable to me when I was 25 I'm almost 30 and those are my priorities, maybe that's why I am not as "successful" as Bill Gates?

I was thinking something similar. I'm 28 and 2018 was a difficult year because I had to end many, many friendships because it became harder and harder for me to relate to them on a level I desire for my personal growth but I digress. The fact that Gates mentions that he thinks about these things now as opposed to his 20s makes me wonder if I am making the right decisions here. Still, I have made great progress. Sober…

I think it's ok to end or lessen friendships that do not align with where you are going, as long as you commit and build new relationships that do align with your goals, which seems to be what you are doing :)

I haven't had to end friendships as I grew, as those that diverge tend to naturally fade away. But I always make sure to nourish new ones that are more in line with where I'm going, and it feels amazing to have that kind of control in your life.

Re: What I learned at work this year

#84

Post by irq-1 »

Retric wrote: post #81
irq-1 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nationalize any nuclear plant that has an "accident". Investors would have a financial justification to spend on safety.

It’s not a US or western problem. China, Saudi Arabia, Russia etc also use minimal nuclear power because of basic economic issues. It’s fine under 10%, but as you scale up the problems get worse. PS: Rosenergoatom which runs Russia’s nuclear power plants has seemingly made progress in lowering operating costs, but it’s not clear how much of that progress is real. Though Russia is planning to ramp up to ~35% nuclear a…

Bill Gates thinks he can run nuclear power-plants at a profit, and safely. Nationalizing plants that aren't safe would let investors try. Governments could reduce up-front regulations by punishing reckless investors.

Re: What I learned at work this year

#85

Post by zozbot123 »

ssivark wrote: post #3

> [...] we are also going to be focusing more on improving the quality of life. I think this will be the thrust of many big breakthroughs of the future. For example, software will be able to notice when you’re feeling down, connect you with your friends, give you personalized tips for sleeping and eating better, and help you use your time more efficiently. Seems like a retrofitted use case that is more of an answer t…

> Technology can of course be useful in numerous ways, but the right solutions would put human emotions and relationships front and center

You're looking for a technological solution to a social problem - such things don't generally exist. It's not that technology is bad per se, it simply can't do what you're expecting it to do.

Re: What I learned at work this year

#86

Post by plasticchris »

scarface74 wrote: post #59
ddalex wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is this panel discussion with Jobs and Gates, circa mid 2000s, where Gates describes the future of computing in now-obvious iPad form, and Jobs is obviously taking mental notes

History is that the iPhone project started in early 2005 and before that Apple was already prototyping touch screen tablets but decided on releasing a phone first.

They released the iPod touch before the iPhone, and it was arguably a touch screen tablet. That's how I used it.

Re: What I learned at work this year

#87

Post by davebryand »

"We still need a lot of innovation to solve problems like malaria or obesity, but we are also going to be focusing more on improving the quality of life."

To solve obesity we need the opposite of innovation. Nature has delivered the perfect array of nutrition for the human animal to thrive. We have innovated ourself into obesity and the reversion to the simple truth of natural nutrition is the cure.

Re: What I learned at work this year

#88

Post by sjroot »

lnsru wrote: post #82
sjroot wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Either bring more to the discussion or abstain from commenting. What exactly are you trying to say?

It’s not about education or price. It’s a pure emotional thing. You can ban sugar and all fast food, but the people will find something to abuse. There is a need for some nation wide happiness improvement program.

Perhaps it could be more than one factor?

I agree that there will always be something to abuse.

Re: What I learned at work this year

#89

Post by scarface74 »

plasticchris wrote: post #86
scarface74 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

History is that the iPhone project started in early 2005 and before that Apple was already prototyping touch screen tablets but decided on releasing a phone first.

They released the iPod touch before the iPhone, and it was arguably a touch screen tablet. That's how I used it.

They released the iPhone in June of 2007. They released the iPod Touch around September of 2007. They announced the iPhone in January of 2007.

Re: What I learned at work this year

#90

Post by WhompingWindows »

SCHiM wrote: post #74
Retric wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though still missing the mark. Nuclear’s biggest issue is cost. If it was cheap enough companies would have built more and scaled them up and down to meet demand, instead France only got mostly Nuclear by exporting its excess and nobody else really got very close to full nuclear. The problem today is wind costs less. But, when you add a lot of wind during times of high wind your nuclear becomes useless. This ends up…

The cost is a political problem. It's easier for the opponents of nuclear to find support for stricter and stricter safety laws for new reactors. Driving up the cost, making them economically nonviable. Meanwhile the older and far more dangerous reactors are rotting away and cannot be replaced (or are replaced with fossil fuels). It's been pointed out again, again and again. Coal plants pump out more radioactive wast…

I disagree; politics are a small factor, but up-front capital costs are by far the bigger issue. The most salient example is South Carolina, where it was up-front construction costs that axed the project. They poured billions into the plant multiple times and it never was completed.

I'm all for advanced nuclear but it's never going to happen with such high start-up costs, especially outside of an authoritarian economy like China, which is basically the only country making major expansions to nuclear today. Maybe traveling wave or molten salt or modular reactors could be cheaper and better on fundamentals, but if the cost to start-up is still very high, the LCOE isn't going to beat renewables/storage in the medium/long term.

On top of this, look at energy widely. Demand is flat, old coal is shutting down, new renewables/storage and new-ish gas turbines are going to be online for a couple decades. Where is the payback potential for an expensive nuclear plant in a flat-demand environment? Renewables kill the wholesale cost to boot, so nuclear would be running a deficit in windy or sunny times. It's just hard to make the numbers work.

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