Futurist movement, Techno Science Optimists
POSTED BY: JAYNEZTOWN
UPDATED: Sunday, July 19, 2026 13:59
VIEWED: 5453
PAGE 4 of 12
What is a Nuclear Breeder Reactor?
https://www.allthescience.org/what-is-a-nuclear-breeder-reactor.htm
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I am a scientist and I believe in nuclear power. If I gave up on nuclear power it was for political reasons. » Angela #Merkel to HenriProglio in 2012
https://twitter.com/EnergyJvd/status/1733860927785587170
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One of these days they may make fusion practical.
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I did at one time look rather deeply into the isdues involving thorium reactors. I don't recall everything I read, but the upshot is that barring an unforeseen technological advance, thorium reactors are a significant MATERIAL SCIENCE challenge.
The issue, as I recall, is that thorium reactors work as molten salt reactors. You need a material that can withstand molten salt AND pass neutrons. AFAIK that doesn't exist, yet.
But that's the problem with technology that's simple IN PRINICIPLE: quite often there are knotty complications that need to be ironed out.
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Take EVs, for example. I love the theoretical simplicity of having a battery run an electric motor. And regenerative braking? GENIUS! So aside from the electricity generation, grid, and battery complications, it sounds like a great concept.
Until I saw a video of a guy who actually REPAIRS EVs for a living! It's not like fixing your old electric drill. Oh no! The battery, for example, requires both a heater AND a cooler, bc it won't start if cold and burns up if hot. Ok, so you need a heater to warm the battery.
Where do you get the heat from? Turns put you need a second battery - standard lead acid as I recall.
Much simpler overall to have a small engine charge a battery and run the car off that.
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They say there are three stages of technology. The first is the simple one, when a principle is first discovered. The second is complicated, when all kinds of corrections and tweaks are applied to the tech. The third is simplified, again, when the tech is truly understood and refined. Not sure if all tech goes that way, but right now we seem to be in a bit of a swamp with our energy tech, all at the complicated stage..
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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JAYNZE, I thought you would appreciate this. I would change "magic" to " mystery" tho.
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THE STAGNATION OF SCIENCE AND THE DEATH OF MAGIC
Authored by Gaius Baltar ( http://gaiusbaltar.substack.com)
Many of us have the feeling that the world is empty and sterile. There are no mysteries anymore, or magic. Many of us have a deep need for mystery and magic as demonstrated by the popularity of such books, TV shows and movies. We retreat into a more exciting and meaningful world of fiction to escape the grey and mechanistic reality which increasingly seems to be sucking our life force out of our bodies. We are told by all the experts and scientists that this is a normal state of affairs. They say we live in an age of reason; in enlightened societies where science has triumphed. We finally understand how the world works they say. When they say “we” they are obviously talking about themselves, not us. We just have to take their word for it.
Many people don’t feel this way at all. They bask in the enlightenment of our culture and seek the truth in the scientific consensus. They feel that we have moved into the light from a barbaric past, populated by stupid and brutish people. They focus on their lives and the self-affirming feedback they get on social media, and leave the thinking to the experts. There are no problems they say, and the world is far from being empty and sterile. There is no need for meaning in an enlightened world.
If you are one of the poor bastards in group one, you are lucky. You may be unhappy and unsatisfied with your life, but at least you are alive. The other group is dead, without realizing it. They are to be pitied.
Perhaps you want even more than just mystery, magic and meaning. Perhaps you also have a passion for the truth and true knowledge and understanding of the world. That’s level 10 weirdness and you better not tell people about it. They might react badly and your social media account might get cancelled. You have gone from being just a malcontent to being a threat.
Now, here is the funny thing: If we were to assume that the human race is on a journey to discover the full nature and meaning of the universe and reality in general, how far have we come? A scientist may tell you that we are at 70% or 80%. An exceptionally delusional scientist might even say 90%. They are wrong. We are perhaps at 5%, or maybe just at 1%. Why do I say that? Well, let’s take a few examples of what we don’t know.
Our entire civilization is based on electricity – but we don’t know what electricity is or how it really works
We don’t know what light is
We don’t know what frequency of light actually is
We don’t know what magnetism is
We don’t know why the Earth has a magnetic field – or why the Moon and Mars have one
We don’t know how memories are stored in the brain
We don’t know what consciousness is
We don’t know how atoms are structured
We don’t know what gravity is
We don’t know how life started
We don’t know how big the universe is
We don’t know why the universe is structured like a central nervous system
I could go on and on. Most people don’t realize that we don’t know this, or how little we understand about even the most basic phenomena. Many scientists will pretend to understand some of these things – because they equate theories with knowledge. We have theories about most of these things – but in reality we don’t understand any of them. The truth is that we understand almost nothing about the nature of the universe and the nature of reality. Perhaps the 1% guess is more realistic than the 5% one. Believing we understand 70% or more is outright delusional. In fact, hiding how little we know seems to be the single most important goal of modern science.
Modern science truly does hide its ignorance. Theories are presented as facts and phenomena we don’t understand are explained by giving them names. Let’s take the standard model of particle physics as an example. It deals with three of the four fundament
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SIGNYM I would disagree with many finer points and details but maybe support the general message within the post that it is very arrogant to think we know everything.
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techno-optimists
https://twitter.com/Milei_Explains/status/1743862327055659140
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South Korea’s Artificial Sun Is Cooking 100-Million-Degree Plasma
https://gizmodo.com/kstar-artificial-sun-fusion-energy-korea-plasma-to
kamak-1851134009
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China probe successfully lands on far side of Moon
https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-probe-successfully-lands-far-23031004
3.html
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China and the Race for Nuclear Fusion
https://thediplomat.com/2024/06/china-and-the-race-for-nuclear-fusion/
The AI Revolution Will Rival the Industrial One, and It Has Begun
https://www.dailycourier.com/opinion/the-ai-revolution-will-rival-the-
industrial-one-and-it-has-begun/article_80f96e56-2a69-11ef-a231-93c42cad4a8c.html
A new age in the human experience on Earth is underway.
The Secret to Living Past 120 Years Old? Nanobots
https://www.wired.com/story/the-singularity-is-nearer-book-ray-kurzwei
l/
3-D printed home almost built in Melbourne
https://www.yahoo.com/news/3-d-printed-home-almost-222631469.html
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Forget solar panels, algae could be the next big thing in renewable energy
https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/algae-fueled-power-cells
-carbon-negative-energy
Photon Polarization: The Next Breakthrough in Fusion Technology?
https://scitechdaily.com/photon-polarization-the-next-breakthrough-in-
fusion-technology/
China's lunar probe returning to Earth with samples from moon’s far side
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202406/1314198.shtml
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