What does that tech reactionary guy like? > On Jan 27, 2022, at 1:02 PM, glen <geprope...@gmail.com> wrote: > > The algorithm recommended this to me this morning: > > The Tesla Semi Is An Engineering Failure > https://youtu.be/w__a8EcM2jI > > I can't help but wonder if electric ships run down any differently. Oh, and > the algorithm recommended these 2 companies yesterday: > > https://www.zeroavia.com/ > https://wisk.aero/ > > I suppose the question is largely about "just in time" versus "just in case" > supply chains. Batteries spread a spectrum between them. Fuel cells plug some > holes in their span, I suppose. Maybe we should have nuclear trucks and > ships? Who wouldn't want a bunch of tiny reactors trolling the > [high|water]ways? As long as we replace the amphetamine fueled humans with > autonomous controls, I guess. > >> On 1/27/22 12:39, Marcus Daniels wrote: >> The tankers come and go from Richmond day after day. This is how the >> energy in the U.S. really works. >> *From:* Friam <friam-boun...@redfish.com> *On Behalf Of *Prof David West >> *Sent:* Thursday, January 27, 2022 12:32 PM >> *To:* friam@redfish.com >> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Cautionary Tales: CliFi >> In California there is a movement (ballot initiative I think) that will >> basically put the billion dollar rooftop solar industry out of business by >> giving public utilities exclusive rights for green power in the form of wind >> farms and large solar arrays. Keeps the inefficient distribution grid that >> they own in business as well. >> davew >> On Thu, Jan 27, 2022, at 12:24 PM, Marcus Daniels wrote: >> Steve, >> In the Bay Area, and in other places there is a trend toward >> electrification. It sounds plausible on the surface, but to go all the way >> means solar for water and for electricity. Most houses within financial >> reach for most people don't have the square footage to support all that. >> Consider that a smaller electric on-demand hot water heater could draw 75 >> amps flat out. There's no reasonable way to get lithium batteries that can >> absorb that kind of load. That would be $50k just to even start on the >> batteries never mind the panels. If not that, then one must give up (often >> limited) lot space for the tube style solar, which really isn't all that >> efficient. >> The "freedom from the utility" is just not going to happen except in the >> posh South San Francisco type areas. Meanwhile the utilities want to >> penalize individual solar producers because they stress the grid. >> Meanwhile, if the price of gasoline goes north of $5 / gallon, people are >> screaming bloody murder. Why isn't it $20? No, these folks (which is >> mostly everyone it seems) aren't going to be joining the 2000-watt society. >> And then there's the Manchin types holding out to keep *coal* afloat? >> Don't we just deserve to suffer at this point? At least we could try but >> fail to develop and deploy replacements. That non-fiction would be >> interesting reading. >> Marcus >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> *From:*Friam <friam-boun...@redfish.com >> <mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com>> on behalf of Steve Smith >> <sasm...@swcp.com <mailto:sasm...@swcp.com>> >> *Sent:* Thursday, January 27, 2022 12:15 PM >> *To:* friam@redfish.com <mailto:friam@redfish.com> <friam@redfish.com >> <mailto:friam@redfish.com>> >> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] Cautionary Tales: CliFi >> Marcus - >> Thanks for your feedback on KSR's writing style... it really sobered me >> to realize how much of an obsessionist I am on this topic and what I will >> ignore to feed that obsession. >> I tripped over (thank you Google News Feed) an interesting article in >> Grist: >> >> https://grist.org/climate/with-the-world-on-fire-climate-fiction-no-longer-looks-like-fantasy/ >> >> <https://grist.org/climate/with-the-world-on-fire-climate-fiction-no-longer-looks-like-fantasy/> >> that resonated with my reflections. While I do feel a little obsessive >> on the topic (not just climate but all the convergent "endogenous >> existential threats" coming at us), I feel somewhat balanced about it, >> especially as I graze on the buffets that books like MotF and Stephenson's >> Termination Shock and Amithav Ghosh's "Great Derangement" offer. I also >> found William Gibson's Jackpot Series: >> https://www.wired.co.uk/article/william-gibson-agency >> <https://www.wired.co.uk/article/william-gibson-agency> >> refreshing (for a dystopia) with our myriad existential threats (climate, >> species, pollution, finance, civil unrest, fascism, etc.) converging on a >> bit of a (nasty) wet-fizzle of an apocalypse he sardonically dubs "The >> Jackpot". >> The Grist article describes (somewhat) the value of keeping one's eye on >> the dystopian/apocalyptic future threatened by our short-sighted habits and >> (overly optimistic?) conceptions of the future generated by our >> materialistic pop-culture. >> Someone here (Marcus, Glen, EricS ?) mentioned Musk and the idea that he >> might be pursuing the canonical "Good Old Fashioned Future" coined in the >> Golden Age and refashioned in the Modern Era of Science Fiction. We >> boomers (and Xers?) who went into Sci/Tech likely read at least a lot of >> Marvel/DC comics (if not the Science Fiction without pictures) of our era >> and I claim it heavily shaped our image of what was possible/desireable. >> I don't think it is serving us (Gaia of whom we are her most precocious >> children?) >> - Steve >> On 1/25/22 5:58 PM, Marcus Daniels wrote: >> < It might not surprise anyone here that I have become a CliFi >> obsessionist with Kim Stanly Robinson's stuff well represented ("Ministry >> for the Future" standing out well above the others). His Red/Green/Blue >> Mars series is a good complement with the social/technological/spiritual >> implications of Terraforming there. > >> Huh. I found MftF drawn-out and boring with distracting little >> nonsense chapters interleaved. I don’t see why it is popular. A few good >> ideas here and there but couldn’t care less about the characters. It could >> be massively compressed. >> That would be *all* of KSR's novels I'm afraid... my obsession with >> the ideas (unanticipated problems as well as unanticipated responses) trumps >> any need I have for being entertained by the characters or even plot. >> It really read to me (as you point out) as a series of loosely >> connected vignettes of specific interest. To the extent that *some* of the >> MoTF characters did get under my skin, it was as an irritant as much as >> anything. I probably read Red Mars when it was new as my introduction to >> KSR and did not go back to his writing until as little as 5 years ago when I >> found his topics more relevant than I had acknowledged before... He seemed >> to me to be a lot preachy and I guess now I'm enough of the choir to be able >> to hum along with his sermons now. >> Stephenson also gets very tedious for me, but I find his depth of >> research and quirkiness of characters and technical surprises worthy of my >> attention through his gruelingly long and seemingly careening storylines and >> characters. >> > > -- > glen > Theorem 3. There exists a double master function. > > .-- .- -. - / .- -.-. - .. --- -. ..--.. / -.-. --- -. .--- ..- --. .- - . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn UTC-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: > 5/2017 thru present https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
.-- .- -. - / .- -.-. - .. --- -. ..--.. / -.-. --- -. .--- ..- --. .- - . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn UTC-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: 5/2017 thru present https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
