"Mr Fusion", what if ?
Discussion
Been watching the Chernobyl HBO Mini Series and its got me reading about Nuclear energy so got me thinking, say Nuclear Fusion got cracked and a device like in Back to The Future could be purchased and provide people with limitless, sustainable energy ?
What would be the implications ?
Not asking for the technical reasons why it hasnt happened yet, or wont, but how would it change things ?
I read, that a glass of water, has in its molecules, enough energy if released by Fusion to power a city for a year which blew my mind, a bloody glass of water, not even Special Brew or something !
What would be the implications ?
Not asking for the technical reasons why it hasnt happened yet, or wont, but how would it change things ?
I read, that a glass of water, has in its molecules, enough energy if released by Fusion to power a city for a year which blew my mind, a bloody glass of water, not even Special Brew or something !
MKnight702 said:
Fusion reactors have already been built, one was even built by a 14 year old (Taylor Wilson) in his parents garage, unfortunately they currently absorb more energy than they produce.
Just checked, and the youngest person to achieve fusion was 12! (Jackson Oswalt)
Thing is, they get to 14 and you never hear from them again, people assume big oil will have silenced them, I suspect it is more that they discover other outlets on the internet Just checked, and the youngest person to achieve fusion was 12! (Jackson Oswalt)
Kind of meant fully developed Fusion technology, and lets say it was developed like a lot of the Fusor community, to be open source and benefit humanity, not just a company.
sixspeed said:
LimaDelta said:
A monopoly for those who developed the tech, crash of oil prices, a new arms race, global war. A paradigm shift which will make the cold war and climate change combined look like cake walk in a tea park or something.
Love a glass-half-full outlook...Despite what the press may have you believe, we live in times of relative stability. A change like this would not just upset the apple cart, it would see the apple cart blowing it's brains out with a shotgun after-overdosing on citalopram.
LimaDelta said:
sixspeed said:
LimaDelta said:
A monopoly for those who developed the tech, crash of oil prices, a new arms race, global war. A paradigm shift which will make the cold war and climate change combined look like cake walk in a tea park or something.
Love a glass-half-full outlook...Despite what the press may have you believe, we live in times of relative stability. A change like this would not just upset the apple cart, it would see the apple cart blowing it's brains out with a shotgun after-overdosing on citalopram.
TX.
LimaDelta said:
A monopoly for those who developed the tech, crash of oil prices, a new arms race, global war. A paradigm shift which will make the cold war and climate change combined look like cake walk in a tea park or something.
Probably spot on.. The poor sod who invents it would also be pretty lucky to get away unscathed due to huge amounts of money involved, knock on effects, and vested interests.
I suppose publish asap get it out there, genie out of the bottle etc, then hope no one thinks it's worth assassinating you later because a billion people just lost their jobs.
If you were the only one with the secret I wouldn't rate your life expectancy very highly.
LimaDelta said:
sixspeed said:
LimaDelta said:
A monopoly for those who developed the tech, crash of oil prices, a new arms race, global war. A paradigm shift which will make the cold war and climate change combined look like cake walk in a tea park or something.
Love a glass-half-full outlook...Despite what the press may have you believe, we live in times of relative stability. A change like this would not just upset the apple cart, it would see the apple cart blowing it's brains out with a shotgun after-overdosing on citalopram.
If it was developed by one person or company who held the patents, then they would be very rich, but if it were developed and then released anonymously via the internet as a set of specs and plans that are free to use then would that still cause the doomsday scenario ?
If every individual, country or company was free to develop products that used water and produced limitless energy, would that cause widespread death and destruction ?
Other renewable energy sources wouldnt be needed.
Would it cause wars ? if everyone has access to as much energy as they need, there wouldn't be the need to cosy up with oil producing nations or have wars over the control of oil reserves/supply.
Other wars are largely caused by religion, so that would remain.
Wouldn't folk get on with having a quite nice lifestyle, transport that costs pennies, electricity to heat and light homes for next to nothing, cleaner air etc ?
Would Saudi Arabia go on the attack as its had is nose pushed out of joint ?
Why would there be an arms race, we already have mutually assured destruction between nuclear powers ?
J4CKO said:
Would Saudi Arabia go on the attack as its had is nose pushed out of joint ?
Zero chance of Saudia Arabia going on the attack if their oil is now worthless and there won't be any cosying up to them for access to said oil. They'd be back to riding camels around a 3rd world country.I just checked and their foreign wealth fund alone has $320bn in it. A country of 33 million people. So they'd be back to being the 3rd world country that they deserve to be.
J4CKO said:
If it was developed by one person or company who held the patents, then they would be very rich, but if it were developed and then released anonymously via the internet as a set of specs and plans that are free to use then would that still cause the doomsday scenario ?
It's one thing to have the specs and plans, it's another thing entirely having the manufacturing know-how and specialist skills required to bring those plans to fruition. I can find out online how to build a concert piano with ease. It doesn't mean I could just knock one up in my shed and put Steinway out of business. I can guarantee a fusion reactor will be built from some fairly difficult to source gucci materials.Algarve said:
J4CKO said:
Would Saudi Arabia go on the attack as its had is nose pushed out of joint ?
Zero chance of Saudia Arabia going on the attack if their oil is now worthless and there won't be any cosying up to them for access to said oil. They'd be back to riding camels around a 3rd world country.I just checked and their foreign wealth fund alone has $320bn in it. A country of 33 million people. So they'd be back to being the 3rd world country that they deserve to be.
Woudlnt the benefit of limitless power via Fusion outweigh the loss of oil revenue anyway ?
Good grief, PH has suddenly turned into a conspiracy theory site. The reason we get fission reactors and not thorium or fusion is that governments want the raw materials for bombs.
There is no element of big business stopping ever-lasting light bulbs, tyres or white suits, there will always be one upstart which does it and big business would always rather be the one to lead its rivals.
Simon
There is no element of big business stopping ever-lasting light bulbs, tyres or white suits, there will always be one upstart which does it and big business would always rather be the one to lead its rivals.
Simon
LimaDelta said:
J4CKO said:
If it was developed by one person or company who held the patents, then they would be very rich, but if it were developed and then released anonymously via the internet as a set of specs and plans that are free to use then would that still cause the doomsday scenario ?
It's one thing to have the specs and plans, it's another thing entirely having the manufacturing know-how and specialist skills required to bring those plans to fruition. I can find out online how to build a concert piano with ease. It doesn't mean I could just knock one up in my shed and put Steinway out of business. I can guarantee a fusion reactor will be built from some fairly difficult to source gucci materials.If teenagers can do it in their bedroom
J4CKO said:
Ok, it would cause a big upset for oil companies and oil producing nations, almost overnight fossil fuels would be rendered totally obsolete for producing power, still needed I guess for lubricants, plastics etc but the vast bulk of it is no longer required.
What proportion of oil is burned Vs used for making things?LimaDelta said:
A monopoly for those who developed the tech, crash of oil prices, a new arms race, global war. A paradigm shift which will make the cold war and climate change combined look like cake walk in a tea park or something.
It depends much on where the technology is developed - by which I mean under which country's authority.You would like to think that if it emerged from a benevolent, sensible, stable nation its introduction to the world would be properly managed.
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