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Chowderhead wrote: The future is the space that I am currently trying to occupy, while also accepting that I am in the past.
(Late Night Philosophy with Chowderhead)
But what if your future self, in it's occupasy, is currently in the past?
Dude, I haven' slept since the Sunday to Monday night change thing. I literally cannot comprehend anything that is remotely philosophically inclined.
But the space between later and previous, which has roughly the same morphic field as a Schroedinger's cat, that is reserves for the elusive, the orgastic now.
Every Normal Man Must Be Tempted At Times To Spit On His Hands, Hoist That Black Flag, And Begin Slitting Throats.
Chowderhead wrote: The future is the space that I am currently trying to occupy, while also accepting that I am in the past.
(Late Night Philosophy with Chowderhead)
But what if your future self, in it's occupasy, is currently in the past?
Dude, I haven' slept since the Sunday to Monday night change thing. I literally cannot comprehend anything that is remotely philosophically inclined.
But the space between later and previous, which has roughly the same morphic field as a Schroedinger's cat, that is reserves for the elusive, the orgastic now.
I know how you feel; I have two jobs right now, one where I work 3-8 AM, the other being 5-11 PM.
What is sleep?
I've never feared Death or Dying. I've only feared never Trying.
India and China will realize their plans of world domination and begin systematic enslavement of all other races.
Side note: A mostly male China invades the US because of the US having reached a 2 to 1 female to male population ratio.
The northern hemisphere will plunge into a mini- ice age. The global warming doomsayers will quickly proclaim that they were right and that the cold spell is proof of how man has ruined the world.
Also, same scientists that were working to stop global warming will begin to work on stopping global cooling.
Unchecked oil drilling and pumping leaves giant chasms in the earth that end up causing "mysterious sinkholes".
Kim Kardashian is appointed president. During her swearing in the rest of the world launches their nukes against the US when it is announced that the presidency will now be a reality based tv series.
Later,
ff
Officially elevated by St. God of Yams to the rank of Scholar of the Church of the Children of the Eternal Turtle Pie at 11:42:36 PM 05/01/09
If they are too stupid to live, why make them?
In the immortal words of Socrates, I drank what??!
Science and progress is slow, so slow that we rarely notice it changing our lives. Whatever the future is, it will always be the present. But as long as there is ice cream cake I'm good
hotsauceman1 wrote: Science and progress is slow, so slow that we rarely notice it changing our lives. Whatever the future is, it will always be the present. But as long as there is ice cream cake I'm good
I disagree. We just adapt very well. The World Wide Web has only been around for just over 20 years, and in use by most people for less than 15. The modern mobile phone has been around for about the same time, GPS too, with true mobile internet and ubiquitous GPS on phones having only been around for about 5-6 years. In the last 5 years these have completely revolutionized our lives. Things change very fast, we just don't notice.
insaniak wrote: Sometimes, Exterminatus is the only option.
And sometimes, it's just a case of too much scotch combined with too many buttons...
A new holiday is celebrated annually where families and communities gather together to burn effigies of the inventors of auto-tune and the inverted cell phone camera.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/08/20 11:31:51
hotsauceman1 wrote: Science and progress is slow, so slow that we rarely notice it changing our lives. Whatever the future is, it will always be the present. But as long as there is ice cream cake I'm good
As an undergraduate, I was ahead of the curve because I knew how to use Telnet on the campus library computers to search the card catalogs of other nearby colleges.
As a graduate student -- just 7 years later -- I didn't have to even visit the campus library anymore because I could use the Web to download full-text scholarly journal articles from the comfort of my apartment.
The '90s were INSANE for information technology development. Of course, that was clearly a remarkable period. And not everything advances at the same rate. Witness our lack of flying cars. But there will be other similar booms, although they may not be in areas that you notice or realize. Take advances in medicine, for instance. Other times, as Steve pointed out, we adapt so quickly that we forget what it was like in the past.
Unchecked oil drilling and pumping leaves giant chasms in the earth that end up causing "mysterious sinkholes".
Nah, the chasms/mysterious sinkholes will open portals to another dimension, in which the first Kaiju will appear, attacking coastal cities across the world. In response, the world's best engineers will build giant robots to combat them
hotsauceman1 wrote: Science and progress is slow, so slow that we rarely notice it changing our lives. Whatever the future is, it will always be the present. But as long as there is ice cream cake I'm good
I disagree. We just adapt very well. The World Wide Web has only been around for just over 20 years, and in use by most people for less than 15. The modern mobile phone has been around for about the same time, GPS too, with true mobile internet and ubiquitous GPS on phones having only been around for about 5-6 years. In the last 5 years these have completely revolutionized our lives. Things change very fast, we just don't notice.
hotsauceman1 wrote: Science and progress is slow, so slow that we rarely notice it changing our lives. Whatever the future is, it will always be the present. But as long as there is ice cream cake I'm good
I disagree. We just adapt very well. The World Wide Web has only been around for just over 20 years, and in use by most people for less than 15. The modern mobile phone has been around for about the same time, GPS too, with true mobile internet and ubiquitous GPS on phones having only been around for about 5-6 years. In the last 5 years these have completely revolutionized our lives. Things change very fast, we just don't notice.
That is exactly what I was saying.
Some people do notice... I can't remember how many times I've gotten into the conversation of "remember what we did when we didn't have X available to us??" With landmark changes in our lives, such as the prevalence of Smartphones, there are going to be people of an age who remember what life was like not having those things. Sometimes, skills are lost because of the new Tech, but some people still prefer the old ways, ie, hiking with a map and compass, as opposed to a GPS.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/08/20 16:31:48
What's in the future? The end of fossile fuel. It won't be pretty. Our industrial civilization is built on one thing: cheap and plentiful energy.
You remove that, you kill the industrial civilization.
How do you harvest crops without that gas-guzzling machinery? How do you transport all that food to major urban aeras without those gas-guzzling trucks?
Renewable energies have two very small problems: their power density is ridiculous, and they're often intermittent. Prepare yourself for a lot of shortages, especially in winter. Basically, you won't be able to turn your computer on, have hot water (or any water at all) if Mother Nature doesn't give you that energy. Africa and Soviet Russia showed us it's possible to make the economy "run" in those conditions, but it definitely won't be pretty.
Global warming too. Good bye Venice, good bye Amsterdam, it was nice to see you.
Paradigm wrote: I'd like to see nuclear power (particularly fusion as it's very powerful and potentially extremely efficient) take centre stage
Just cross the Channel.
We also had a breeder reactor, alas the green party shut that one down. Because plutonium = bad, bad, bad.
Litcheur wrote: What's in the future? The end of fossile fuel. It won't be pretty. Our industrial civilization is built on one thing: cheap and plentiful energy.
You remove that, you kill the industrial civilization.
How do you harvest crops without that gas-guzzling machinery? How do you transport all that food to major urban aeras without those gas-guzzling trucks?
Renewable energies have two very small problems: their power density is ridiculous, and they're often intermittent. Prepare yourself for a lot of shortages, especially in winter. Basically, you won't be able to turn your computer on, have hot water (or any water at all) if Mother Nature doesn't give you that energy. Africa and Soviet Russia showed us it's possible to make the economy "run" in those conditions, but it definitely won't be pretty.
Global warming too. Good bye Venice, good bye Amsterdam, it was nice to see you.
Paradigm wrote: I'd like to see nuclear power (particularly fusion as it's very powerful and potentially extremely efficient) take centre stage
Just cross the Channel.
We also had a breeder reactor, alas the green party shut that one down. Because plutonium = bad, bad, bad.
I know from my time stationed in Germany they were taking steps to get away from Nuclear, and gather more "renewable" sources... As a result, you can see more and more wind farms popping up from time to time.
I also remember before I left, there was a "huge" news story over there about one of the nuclear plants was going to be shut down. All the green people/tree hugger types were all excited claiming it as a victory due to their efforts. What later came out was that the German government had conducted a simulated terror event, in which this, and many other plants failed (they would have been overrun/destroyed in minutes apparently) and it was deemed cheaper in the long run to shut down this particular reactor, as opposed to bringing security measures up to the level the Government wanted. Sorry hippies... you did nothing to contribute to that particular shut down
Ensis Ferrae wrote: I know from my time stationed in Germany they were taking steps to get away from Nuclear, and gather more "renewable" sources... As a result, you can see more and more wind farms popping up from time to time.
For each wind farm, you have to build a coal/gas power plant. A power grid is a fragile equilibrium, supply should be equal to demand, so you need to be able to produce more power. Unless you adapt the demand to the supply, and leave people in the dark.
Each coal plant contributes a little more to global warming, not to mention the short-term effects on human health. Each gas plant makes us, baby step by baby step, Putin's bitches. Just like oil made the Saudis/Qataris rich and powerful. If it wasn't from our oil consumption, the Bin Laden family would just be a bunch of random guys.
Riding camels in the middle of nowhere.
Ensis Ferrae wrote: I also remember before I left, there was a "huge" news story over there about one of the nuclear plants was going to be shut down. All the green people/tree hugger types were all excited claiming it as a victory due to their efforts. What later came out was that the German government had conducted a simulated terror event, in which this, and many other plants failed (they would have been overrun/destroyed in minutes apparently) and it was deemed cheaper in the long run to shut down this particular reactor, as opposed to bringing security measures up to the level the Government wanted. Sorry hippies... you did nothing to contribute to that particular shut down
Nuclear power isn't clean, nuclear power isn't safe. Trust me, I work in that field.
Energy's definitely an ugly world, and if we don't want to radically change our way of life, nuclear power may be the less ugly choice we have.
hotsauceman1 wrote: Science and progress is slow, so slow that we rarely notice it changing our lives. Whatever the future is, it will always be the present. But as long as there is ice cream cake I'm good
It isn't just that the change is slow, but that some quirk in our psychology makes us ignore changes when they're good. "This thing is slowly getting better" is a story that just never gets told.
Classic example right now is the massive improvements we're seeing in the price of solar technology, so that it is now price competitive with non-renewables in certain contexts, and if prices continue will soon be price competitive in a whole lot more. And yet those stories get very little coverage compared to stories about running out of fossil fuels.
And then there's the stories of whole new forms of fossil fuels being accessed, and the massive increases in production we've seen in the US and are now seeing elsewhere in the world - to the extent those stories are covered at all it is almost entirely on the negative environmental impact.
Basically, we're miserable bastards obsessed with everything becoming really crappy at some point in the future.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/08/21 01:48:28
“We may observe that the government in a civilized country is much more expensive than in a barbarous one; and when we say that one government is more expensive than another, it is the same as if we said that that one country is farther advanced in improvement than another. To say that the government is expensive and the people not oppressed is to say that the people are rich.”
Adam Smith, who must have been some kind of leftie or something.
Nuclear power isn't clean, nuclear power isn't safe. Trust me, I work in that field.
Energy's definitely an ugly world, and if we don't want to radically change our way of life, nuclear power may be the less ugly choice we have.
Aside from the spent fuel rods, how is Nuclear unclean? And compared to the environmental damage, or potential for it in the wastes created by solar, wind, etc. products, combined with the accidents that have happened in basically every other form of power generation, how is nuclear unsafe? Earlier in the thread I pointed out the research that I personally have done. As you work in the field, I'd love to hear what you have to say.
And then there's the stories of whole new forms of fossil fuels being accessed, and the massive increases in production we've seen in the US and are now seeing elsewhere in the world - to the extent those stories are covered at all it is almost entirely on the negative environmental impact.
Basically, we're miserable bastards obsessed with everything becoming really crappy at some point in the future.
I can agree with that... I cant remember how many articles or news stories I've seen regarding corn, due to the new biodiesels made from it. I mean, some ranged from "God didn't create corn for fuel, so it's no good, it's of the Devil, so we must burn it" to "the price of corn in the supermarket is too damn high!"
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/08/21 02:07:43
Nuclear power isn't clean, nuclear power isn't safe. Trust me, I work in that field.
Energy's definitely an ugly world, and if we don't want to radically change our way of life, nuclear power may be the less ugly choice we have.
Sure, and I'm the President of the US. You saying that is kinda proof you're full of it.
Nuclear Power is extremely safe because of all the precautions that are taken in modern properly designed plants. Flight Attendants are exposed to more radiation than leaks out of power plants, more than actually comes out of conventional coal plants.
Fukishima wasn't a failure of the plant, it was a very unfortunate set of circumstances that nobody could have forseen that combined to cause the malfunction. Saying that is proof Nuclear power is unsafe is like complaining that Seat Belts are insufficient protection after your car drives off a cliff.
The waste can be buried in a disposal sight where it will never leak and even if it does won't cause any harm. We got the Uranium out of the ground, burying it in the desert is about as safe as you can get short of launching it into the Sun. Nothing is going to happen to it unless someone actively tries to mess something up after its been left there, in which case its not the handling of the material or its nature that is to blame.
And aside from the waste, there is no harmful effects on the environment. And the waste can be isolated where it can do no harm.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/08/21 02:09:04
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
The future will be a wonderous place where due to fears of offending someone/litigation people will no longer talk directly to one another but instead communicate solely through devices with automated self-censoring programs. No one will be offended, everything will be good.
Manchu - "But so what? The Bible also says the flood destroyed the world. You only need an allegorical boat to tackle an allegorical flood."
Shespits "Anything i see with YOLO has half naked eleventeen year olds Girls. And of course booze and drugs and more half naked elventeen yearolds Girls. O how i wish to YOLO again!"
Rubiksnoob "Next you'll say driving a stick with a Scandinavian supermodel on your lap while ripping a bong impairs your driving. And you know what, I'M NOT GOING TO STOP, YOU FILTHY COMMUNIST"
The same as what the warhammer 40k world goes with no warp, daemons or eye of terror and a democracy or communism instead of the imperium. Different aliens and different forms of travel, and spaceships look modern not like gothic architecture, and no space marines, though genetically modifying people is possible. None of the xenos in Warhammer 40k and therefor no anarchy. Perhaps the only life in the galaxy is us. Who knows what alien races lie out there? One can never know until he encounters them. Oh, and different planet names, and earth will be called earth forever. The Star Wars hyperdrive and the necron's way of making there ships weightless seem like good ways of space travel and development.
Nuclear power isn't clean, nuclear power isn't safe. Trust me, I work in that field.
Energy's definitely an ugly world, and if we don't want to radically change our way of life, nuclear power may be the less ugly choice we have.
Sure, and I'm the President of the US. You saying that is kinda proof you're full of it.
Nuclear Power is extremely safe because of all the precautions that are taken in modern properly designed plants. Flight Attendants are exposed to more radiation than leaks out of power plants, more than actually comes out of conventional coal plants.
Fukishima wasn't a failure of the plant, it was a very unfortunate set of circumstances that nobody could have forseen that combined to cause the malfunction. Saying that is proof Nuclear power is unsafe is like complaining that Seat Belts are insufficient protection after your car drives off a cliff.
The waste can be buried in a disposal sight where it will never leak and even if it does won't cause any harm. We got the Uranium out of the ground, burying it in the desert is about as safe as you can get short of launching it into the Sun. Nothing is going to happen to it unless someone actively tries to mess something up after its been left there, in which case its not the handling of the material or its nature that is to blame.
And aside from the waste, there is no harmful effects on the environment. And the waste can be isolated where it can do no harm.
You are a wonderful person with words . That seat belt and driving a car off of a cliff comparison was so funny!
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/08/21 03:18:39
Ensis Ferrae wrote: I can agree with that... I cant remember how many articles or news stories I've seen regarding corn, due to the new biodiesels made from it. I mean, some ranged from "God didn't create corn for fuel, so it's no good, it's of the Devil, so we must burn it" to "the price of corn in the supermarket is too damn high!"
It's like how the most common story you'll see about wind power is that it kills birds. Never mind that coal and other forms of energy kill far more birds through the pollutants they put in the air...
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Grey Templar wrote: Fukishima wasn't a failure of the plant, it was a very unfortunate set of circumstances that nobody could have forseen that combined to cause the malfunction. Saying that is proof Nuclear power is unsafe is like complaining that Seat Belts are insufficient protection after your car drives off a cliff.
Saying that something come out of left field is a good argument in defence of the management of the plant, but it's a really terrible argument against the risk of nuclear power. There will always be "unknown unknowns", black swan events or as you say, "a very unfortunate set of circumstances that nobody could have foreseen". That such things can come out of nowhere and cause damage on the scale of Fukishima no matter what controls and risk management you have in place is an inherent risk to nuclear power.
I mean, I'm in favour of nuclear power and think the risk is far superior to the alternative forms of power, but then that's pretty much what Litcheur was saying.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/08/21 06:15:44
“We may observe that the government in a civilized country is much more expensive than in a barbarous one; and when we say that one government is more expensive than another, it is the same as if we said that that one country is farther advanced in improvement than another. To say that the government is expensive and the people not oppressed is to say that the people are rich.”
Adam Smith, who must have been some kind of leftie or something.
Bullockist wrote: The future will be a wonderous place where due to fears of offending someone/litigation people will no longer talk directly to one another but instead communicate solely through devices with automated self-censoring programs. No one will be offended, everything will be good.
That's the present, not the future. Holy gak, does that fething mean that I've traveled into the fething future?
Nuclear power isn't clean, nuclear power isn't safe. Trust me, I work in that field.
Sure, and I'm the President of the US. You saying that is kinda proof you're full of it.
I'm a R&D engineer .
Spoiler:
And my current job is to design new materials to improve the durability of nuclear fuel cladding. Mostly with coatings on those good old zirconium-based alloys (Zy-4/M5).
I'm not one of those austenite-actually-like-neutrons dreamers.
So, yup, I try to improve life spans, especially in accidental conditions, i.e. loss of primary coolant (pressure drops to 1 atm, temperature rises to 1200°C, safety showers engage to save what can be saved). Just imagine you've stacked a material twice as dense as lead into something that just looks like the 4 m long copper pipes you can find in construction stores. Keep that cladding in stress corrosion conditions (350°C/150atm) for 3 years, then heat it until it's glowing. Nope, not that crappy red low-intensy glow. Should be bright orange. Keep it at that temperature for several minutes, then quench your stuff. Unless you've activated your gravity-cancelling field, don't forget to keep pulling during the whole process: your pellets are still supposed to be inside...
Materials don't really like it.
Grey Templar wrote: Nuclear Power is extremely safe because of all the precautions that are taken in modern properly designed, maintained and run plants. Flight Attendants are exposed to more radiation than leaks out of power plants, more than actually comes out of conventional coal plants.
FYP.
Nothing's inherently safe. Even grain silos can sponteanously explode. If you're not willing to take that risk, you just don't build grain silos, and assume every consequences of that choice. Nuclear plants are safer than many other industrial installations because they're often well designed, maintained and run, but it cannot be called "totally safe", because nothing can. That was my point.
Especially when you start to cut corners because some lobbies just want to spend less money, put everything on hold and not build new plants. What happens then? You use what you've got, and run old buckets. Yes, they're well designed... for something that was designed in the 70s. Yes, they're in pretty good shape. For something that has run well over the 30 years limit.
That's exactly what's currently happening in France. There's a common joke about that one.
Why is France the only nuclear power not to have experienced an INES 5?
Spoiler:
Our duct tape is better than yours.
Grey Templar wrote: The waste can be buried in a disposal sight where it will never leak and even if it does won't cause any harm. We got the Uranium out of the ground, burying it in the desert is about as safe as you can get short of launching it into the Sun. Nothing is going to happen to it unless someone actively tries to mess something up after its been left there, in which case its not the handling of the material or its nature that is to blame.
Nope, we don't know for sure they'll never leak. For one very simple reason: time. We're talking about several thousands centuries. All materials are visco-elastic, and when you're dealing with these time spans, even steel can be seen as a viscous fluid.
Designing containment materials that last that long is an achievement that has never, ever been done by mankind. It's almost prospective archaeometry.
You're pretty lucky to have deserts. They can be handy.
But I still think the nuclear energy is one of the cleanest we have. Which is not too difficult, we're mostly comparing to combusion. If I take a crap, I'd rather bury it than vaporize it into the dining room, take deep breaths and tell the kids to do the same.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2014/08/21 15:56:20
When the gulf stream stops flowing North, those seaside resorts will see few tourists.
London is sort-of level with Calgary? Without the South Atlantic's warmth, it's going to get chilly up here....
Officially elevated by St. God of Yams to the rank of Scholar of the Church of the Children of the Eternal Turtle Pie at 11:42:36 PM 05/01/09 
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