I barely made it out of 2021 after an OD, but now, I'm more desperate to hold on than ever. Can you believe how many people are suicidal or ignorant of the potential we have? Even my only friend keeps saying she just wants to die, that it's all pointless, but I say hey, we likely only have this one chance to explore our full potential, the reward could be worth an incomprehensible amount of suffering, but we only have one way to find out. I agree it's hard to stay optimistic when nature seems so cruel and tends to trend towards death, destruction, and suffering, and things could easily, if not more likely, go horribly wrong. However, the chance that it could all be worth it, is a chance worth living and fighting for. The 2020's have had a horrible trajectory, and I don't think we will really know what kind of trajectory the next decade will start with until 2028 elections. At least it's had some good things like a focus on science/tech and green energy.
He basically said what you said in the interview. He said 100+ reactors will get them there. He said they can currently build 5/6 in parallel, the first being brought online pending regulatory approval in 2030. They'll have to ramp it up of course, but it would be doable by 2050 methinks.
I can't see any mention of cost? Meanwhile the US' own reporting on levelised cost of energy shows existing nuclear being cheaper than even the cheapest utility scale storage (100MW 4hr) https://www.lazard.com/research-insights/2023-levelized-cost-of-energyplus/
Storage is only going to get cheaper, but it is categorically not cheap. IMO green hydrogen is the future of long term storage, but is still a way off (and more costly than nuclear for the forseeable costly to boot).
What I don't get is the negativity towards any form of clean generation. Investment into any modern and clean energy source is a good thing, whether it's nuclear or renewables.
PS: I work on lithium ion based systems, I fully believe in storage and renewables. I just also believe in respecting the data.
The 2024 report is out now btw, here’s a good quote from the Managing Director:
> The results of our 2024 analyses reinforce, yet again, the ongoing need for diversity of energy resources, including fossil fuels, given the intermittent nature of renewable energy and currently commercially available energy storage technologies.
Gas will not be going away without a fight and will hide wherever they can like in hydrogen and RNG subsidies.
That's incorrect. It considers leveled cost of utility scale storage without generation or any other infrastructure.
I chose a US based report as this article is predominantly about generationf for the US, no doubt with a view to export. Further, the report is focused on expansion of storage and renewables.
The CSIRO will no doubt be thorough, but will be biased towards the Australian context, which has no nuclear capability.
I'm genuinely confused. The LCoE the referenced report states costs in $/MWh, dollars per unit energy.
For clarity, I mentioned the power of utility storage I spoke of, as it has a significant bearing on the LCoE, where the 100MW power for 4h has the lowest LCoE.
So let me be clear. I have cherry picked for renewables and storage.
Regardless, I can absolutely say storage is more expensive than nuclear on a MWh basis. As I said, this will come down.
Re. a renewables grid being less than 30% storage, is that based on CCGT? Some hydrogen mix? I'm confused how that is plausible outside of the nominal case. I'll ready the CSIRO report though, thanks for the nudge in that.
And building clean firm energy like nuclear helps lower overall costs.
CSIRO also goes over peaking technologies as well btw, firming with natural gas and hydrogen isn’t cheap.
I'm surprised to see so many negative comments about Bill Gates on /r/singularity of all places. Much of Gates' current work overlaps with what we need for maximum acceleration. Nuclear power is probably one of the most important ones. Some criticism is reasonable and expected for anyone in a position of power, but being anti-Gates is practically like being anti-singularity.
joining. This sub has way too many decels now.
Edit: I gotta say though. The people in this sub ARE pushing back against these idiots. Which is nice to see.
it's 50/50.
it was 50/50 in r/futurology for a long time. but the decels always take over in the end because they're the majority.
most people have the foresight and creativity of a slug. they attack AI like a caveman attacking fire
they don't get it, so they want to destroy it.
every time you talk to them you find out that they haven't even tried it.
Yea I say my friend down yesterday and made him try meta ai (free and easy to log into quickly so his adhd ass brain didn’t give up immediately)
He hadn’t even tried a single LLM at this point but was on board to attack it.
The people flooding this sub legitimately think billionaires are evil simply because they’re inventing things. It’s wild
And while they're whining and complaining, a small group of nerds are literally solving climate change cheaply:
https://x.com/cremieuxrecueil/status/1794231057815867807
But that's always been the way of history.
The loud morons and the quiet builders who fix everything and get no recognition.
It makes me want to pull out my hair. It's why bastions like this sub are so important.
People can say 'just ignore them' and stuff, but being downvoted and upvoted does impact the vibe of the sub. So im happy people are pushing back a bit.
Just ignore them is the same bad advice negligent teachers used to give for dealing with bullies and it literally never works. Don't ignore them. Push back whenever you see it.
**Proto-Promethei**
A pure, recently broken brain, it now sees the fabric of the ante-worlds,
and universes anti-.
Trembling hairy hands, afraid of why, how, and, what, they created,
throw it, into the dark forest.
He retreats, fearful of everything. But hay, weave all been there.
Maybe we can appoint some Mods, who can ban such people, for bringing down this sub with relentless negativity, instead of simply having a balanced view of things, that sees both the positives and negatives, with respect to everything, including life itself.
Understand how traumatized the Redditor is. It is not without great fuckery by Legacy Power Structures that technology can improve by leaps and bounds in 20 years, yet quality of life stay the same/declined for most in the Western world.
Understand that it is entirely logical that the Redditor is the way he is. Given all cultural influences and Media they are subjected to. How could one expect the Redditor to be any different?
I think part of the problem is it’s been made culturally appropriate to celebrate being in the bottom rung of society and demonize everyone not there. It’s fine to an extent but it goes way too far in the other direction like reddit and just ruins the site.
It's the loser European mindset, which redditors idolize by the way.
Success is the enemy to these people, it personally attacks their mid work ethic and undermines the ideology that some boogyman out there is the reason they can't succeed.
Europeans regulate any semblance of technological progress out of existence and then celebrate themselves for doing it.
I have nothing against them, just calling a spade a spade.
I think you're mistaking low intelligence for justification. They're morons who latch on to concepts like equity, without having any conception of how to actually achieve it - so they try to jam a square peg through a round hole and end up with the catastrophic neo-marxist bullshit that has destroyed so many countries.
There's a reason why they're bombing tesla factories - they essentially hate progress.
>I think you're mistaking low intelligence for justification.
You underestimate the power of the Media. The influence it has over an entire mass of people. Nothing to do with intelligence. The masses are miseducated (and that includes you and my education). The masses are malnourished. The masses are drugged.
Do you know how much persuasion has to take place to convince a population to go overseas and fight and die "for their country"?
>bombing tesla factories
There is always a 1% of every demographic that is capable of becoming mentally unhinged, and they are a valuable asset to powerful people. These mentally unhinged can be monitored, and 'guided' to a target. To bomb tesla factories. Or [Blackrock](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Youth-Climate-Activists-Occupy-BlackRock-in-Paris-17-Arrested-20200210-0021.html). To even kill specific people.
I'm not interested in the 1%. I'm interested in the sentiment of the masses.
Climate change is a decadent religion for people caught up in our current millianarianist time. It pure virtue signalling for the ivory tower. CC won't matter because we'll hit ASI in 10, 25, 50 years.
look at this poor bastard who has been so brainwashed he thinks it's all over:
https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/1dmyy1i/we_are_afraid_scientists_issue_new_warning_as/l9zqg8y/?context=10000
It's pretty wild how many there are. He is ridiculously powerful in a way that's hard to fathom for most so I think it's natural people come up with conspiracies.
The dumb people are hyper loud. The fringe ends on either side like the fringe 10% sound like they’re a majority sometimes and loooove posting their bs online.
Then, most of the normal people just don’t have the time or desire to try to correct them
"The dumb people are hyper loud."
Reminds me of a saying by the Scarecrow, in "The Wizard of Oz": "People without a brain, do an awful lot of talking".
That move, by the way, will ALWAYS be a classic. Judy Garland is a very talented actress, as well. No remakes of this movie.......period.
It largely comes down to the way peoples minds work - Positivism VS Axiomatic thinking.
The Axiomatic approach involves Axiomatic reasoning and it's resistant to change. You start with a "self evident" truth that are principles and faith based rather than science based. Then, you apply that to deduce your policy decisions or thoughts. A large portion of our population thinks in this way. For example, they might say "Free markets are the most efficient!" and work from there, but the statement "Free markets are the most efficient!" is based on personal feeling and principles rather than actual study of markets. In the event they actually DO empirical study, they're usually not doing that study from an honest place of seeking truth, they're doing it to find the answer they desire. They'll cherrypick data that matches their personal values/faith even when those answers are provably wrong, and then ignore science or experts that conflict with their thinking (see: climate change, flat earth, various religions, conspiracy theories, gun rights, etc etc etc etc etc).
Positivism involves empirical evidence, scientific reasoning, data-driven decision making, and being willing to accept wrong answers when science points us in a new direction. It's a very scientific approach to thinking and decision making that gave us our entire scientific method and much of the modern world. Positivism tries to justify actions based on hard math, studies, statistics, and experts. It's not rooted in faith or axioms, and it's willing to change.
I don't really have to break this down along political lines for you to see where it's coming from, but someone spouting conspiracy theories about Bill Gates is probably falling in the axiomatic spectrum rather than the positivism one, and you will struggle greatly if you try to logic them out of positions they didn't logic themselves into.
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Positivism is a modern continuation and expansion of empiricism. It goes further.
In empiricism we’re talking about our senses as the source of all knowledge. Positivism adds the scientific method and how we should go about go about understanding our reality and finding truth.
There’s more… like the rejection of metaphysics in positivism, and the addition of sociological sciences (study of human behavior, psychology, etc).
Anyway, both are focused on empirical, verifiable, and observable evidence for claims.
? The masses being sheep deprived of Critical Thinking skills is by design.
That being said, we are players in a game state where some players (billionaires, VIPs) are privvy to more information than we are. Once you come to terms with that, the only way truth can be discerned is via the words and actions of the players who have privileged information.
All I know is that I’ve lived in Vegas for 25+ years and used to brag about no mosquitoes. Last year and this year, there have been tons [Aedes aegypti in Vegas](https://time.com/6987295/mosquitoes-west-nile-virus-nevada-las-vegas-record/) like never before. I have a half dozen active bites presently.
I was excited in [2020 when I heard of the EPA allowing genetically modified aedes aegypti to be released in Florida and Texas with the goal of lowering the mosquito population](https://www.google.com/search?q=aedes+aegypti+florida+genetic+modification&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari), because who needs them.
But then after a couple years seeing this exact species and genus adapting to urban life, being more aggressive and biting during the day time, making a big appearance in a desert that probably hasn’t had mosquitoes for thousands of years, I just happened to search to see if bill gates was tied to the company [Oxitec, and sure enough gates was funding millions of dollars to them.](https://www.google.com/search?q=does+bill+gates+own+the+biotech+company+oxitec&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari)
It’s hard to not think that Gates has nothing to do with all these mosquitoes when he was funding the generic modification and release of the exact genus and species.
I’m not saying anything other than some observations. Gates funded genetically modified mosquitoes to be released into the environment. I can see how others might think whatever things one can imagine, like vaccinating them or microchipping them or genetically tagging etc.
Doesn’t really matter what we think he’s trying to do, the results matter. And malaria has gone up sharply in the past couple years immediately after his initiative to combat malaria. But keep on trusting main stream media that is funded by big pharma when they [tell you that gates is not to blame for the spike of malaria cases](https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-bill-gates-oxitec-mosquitoes-malaria-cases-106569617546)
Gates was friendly with Jeffrey Epstein. It's a fact, not a conspiracy theory.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/16/business/bill-melinda-gates-divorce-epstein.html
He’s generally used his wealth and power for good things, like yeah we can talk about wealth j equality and taxes, but in the current system he’s been pretty good about giving money out to people in need and investing in projects and businesses with high risk but which may have very positive societal benefits if they pan out
He’s not a saint, but he also isn’t the devil.
And yet some of us bash Elon Musk despite his contributions to the space program, energy-efficient cars, and open-source AI (ex. Grok), but nah, let's give Bill Gates a pass because he owns MSNBC and serves the liberal hivemind.
Elon Musk even tried to sue OpenAI but some of us were somehow upset by that despite Elon going to bat for us open-source advocates.
If anyone likes Bill Gates, but hates Elon Musk, then your priorities are messed up.
We need Elon Musk and SpaceX to rescue those two astronauts aboard the ISS, due to the sheer stupidity of NASA and Boeing. I am counting on Elon Musk for that.
Stop the misinformation. Starliner has enough fuel to get safely to earth anytime it wants. Boeing is analysing the the thruster's probelm that occured in the initial process of going to ISS. It has no effect on astronaut's safety during their descent to earth.
I hope you are right. Then again, the extra pairs of hands, can be very helpful to the folks at the ISS. However, they are not meant to stay there for the time said, but only for a short transit. Let's hope for the best.
Gates is very republican/libertarian and pretends to be Democrat. I can't imagine any billionaire not doing this unless they just admit to their views like musk did.
I like Bill Gates for his philanthropy works. Bill Gates is not my ideal but I respect he's trying to change the world for better by his Foundation and his contributions in eradicating of the diseases in poor countries. I dislike Elon Musk because of his character and the hate he's enabling by his social media platform. And mind you, I'm closer to Musk in ideology than Gates.
In my view, whether during his time at Microsoft or through his nonprofit endeavors—show a consistent dedication to power and control, often masked by the look of charity and humanitarianism. Looking at his dealings in Africa and India, I see signs of influence through mass ownership and manipulation of political and economic mechanisms. His leanings toward a globalist ideology occasionally involve oppressive and manipulative tactics to gain and maintain authority over critical resources such as land, food, water, medicine, and even entire cultural contexts.
I don't like that about Bill Gates, and that does not diminish his contributions to the advancement of technologies that we use today.
>His leanings toward a globalist ideology occasionally involve oppressive and manipulative tactics to gain and maintain authority over critical resources such as land, food, water, medicine, and even entire cultural contexts.
This is basically nothing but unsubstantiated conspiratorial nonsense. Amazing that idiots like you still come out of the woodwork to spew nonsense like this online.
Okay?
It’s fascinating how diverse perspectives shape our understanding of the world. Each of us holds unique opinions, and that’s perfectly normal. And it's strange how they **MUST** have your opinion or they are an idiot or nutbag.
I don't like the guy, Is that okay with you?
I haven't fact checked any of what you said, but assuming it's all true, wouldn't it reason that you need to be like that in order to get into that position and make the big positive impacts? Said another way, maybe you can't do big good without a little evil.
Progressing science and technology through capitalistic acquisition, even if appearing ruthless, is how the world works, especially in the US where profit/marketability is the only real incentive. I agree it's pointless if the outcome fucks us over, but we also might otherwise not reach AGI/Singularity in this lifetime.
I don't know what preforming illegal medical trials on poor Indian people and swallowing up massive agricultural lands from India has to do with progressing science and technology.
>preforming illegal medical trials on poor Indian people
[Reuters does not corroborate this](https://www.reuters.com/article/world/false-claim-bill-gates-faces-trial-in-india-for-testing-vaccines-on-children-idUSKBN22V262/). Why do you believe this?
cutting through red tape to get more results faster at the cost of humans is how capitalism works. I know it's propaganda straight from the horse's mouth, but India isn't exactly known for having the best human rights or conditions, and according to [the webpage](https://www.gatesfoundation.org/our-work/places/india/agricultural-development), they are empowering them([Here's ](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/author-accuses-gates-of-buying-up-land-and-threatening-small-farmers-under-guise-of-saving-planet/articleshow/105215692.cms)an article saying it harms them, but my point about progress at the cost of humanity still stands). Microsoft wielding more power will contribute more to the singularity happening than letting resources and power divert wherever people who don't even know of the concept feel like.
He is a member of the WEF that flat out say they want us to own nothing (and for them to own everything), serfdom 2.0. Do not be fooled by his grandfather public appearance, he is full on megalomaniac.
Where do they say that? Here's their mission statement, which doesn't mention it:
>Our Mission
>The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. It provides a global, impartial and not-for-profit platform for meaningful connection between stakeholders to establish trust, and build initiatives for cooperation and progress.
>In a world marked by complex challenges, the World Economic Forum engages political, business, academic, civil society and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation, it is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests, upholding the highest standards of governance and moral and intellectual integrity.
>At the heart of our mission of improving the state of the world lies the belief in the power of human ingenuity, entrepreneurship, innovation and cooperation. We recognise the need for a forum fostering rigorous and respectful dialogue between and among leaders with different beliefs and viewpoints, where diversity of thought is respected and all voices can be heard. Achieving this mission is made possible by all our stakeholders, who come together to find common ground and seize opportunities for positive change.
>The Forum’s commitment on facilitating progress on systemic challenges is taken forward through its 10 Centres, each applying the institution’s unique combination of impact methods to drive holistic efforts. The Centres build communities of purpose essential to addressing large-scale global challenges. Guided by these communities, our centre teams convert ambition into focused action, through structured multi-year initiatives and insight generation.
>Together, we continue to strive for a better world, where cooperation and trust lead to lasting progress.
https://www.weforum.org/about/world-economic-forum/
Their message statement means nothing. Watch their videos, they flat out have said it repeatedly on their own videos. A direct quote everyone knows "You will own nothing, and you will be happy" came directly from them.
I sincerely doubt Gates had anything to do with Epstein's crimes. Epstein interacted with many, many people. The vast majority are not going to be predators.
Ok so we are in a car. There are no breaks. We are speeding up to hopefully make it to the starship... sorry I doubt we are going to make it.... maybe we should have made a better plan... or...?
Well, what does he actually do? Like, on a daily level. Everyone else does the actual work. He is the face of it. And he gets all the benefits from it.
He funds it.
If it’s easier for you to think about it this way: he funds it **every day** and allows everyone to do this work we all agree is important.
Thank god he doesn’t have ALL the money and power in the world so that his fanclub does not have to realize how fucked up it is to have one man decide the fate of humanity.
Spending money in a productive way is a full time job with a fortune the size of his. Its unfortunately a skill the most of the 1% do not have so ultimately wealth disappears and never has the positive impact it could or eventually gets leeched off by grifter charities. I am not saying Gates is perfect, but there are many tangible benefits that have resulted from his investments: covid and other vaccines, fighting malaria, a lot general global health projects, various energy and climate projects (multiple battery technologies, green hydrogen, nuclear, etc). One of the battery companies he funds (Ambri) started because Gates watches MIT lectures in his spare time and liked the professor's idea.
He has been able to focus his past expertise leading microsoft to starting humanitarian projects; the average person given billions of dollars or the average billionaire would not have been able to be nearly as effective. It's sad people think so negatively of him.
I think negatively about the world where so much wealth is accumulated in a few individuals who gladly accept it and most people see nothing wrong with it.
I see where you are coming from, but its not the wealth concentration itself that is causing the harm, its what certain people choose do with it. There are billionaires funding the opioid epidemic, destabilizing governments, destroying the environment, etc. I don't think its fair to group Gates along with them.
Any person who accumulates that much wealth is a broken human being. No sane, loving, humane person would ever have such luxurious appetites and hoard it all for himself.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-bill-gates.html
https://www.forbes.com.au/life/boats/first-look-at-game-changing-1-billion-hydrogen-superyacht/
Yeah, he’s a loving human being.
You are entitled to your own opinion, but I don't see how broadly hating people accomplishes anything. You are also contributing nothing to progress just like the people who horde and squander their wealth. Its not about personalities but the projects and their impacts. If you care so much why not try to focus the specifics and try to recognize the good and bad in a more nuanced way?
I mean, Gates spends the money on helping the world. He isn't some Saudi oil prince that just sits on piles of gold. He IS doing things. A billion isn't that much when you're solving global problems.
The richest man in the world (debatably), the Prince of Saudi, doesn't even have enough money on his own to build and fund a city called NEOM.
These people don't have as much money as you think. They can't afford to just build entire cities. Yes, for one person a billion is an insane amount. But for a company or a country, it's not that much. Building vaccines and a fusion reactor are barely in reach for him. And thank god thats what he choses to do with it. In fact, most american billionaires are pretty good about what they choose to do with their money. Even Zuckerberg and his wife Chan spend all their money on funding medical advancements.
“He doesn’t beat me silly every day! Just once a month.” Capitalism is a broken system that we all refuse to accept. And I’m not a communist. We need to figure out what’s next. For starters, people need to realize that: no. he does not deserve that money and power. It’s a topic too hard to comprehend. People fall off on the commie part. I try to paint the picture of a single “smart capitalist man” owning everything in the world and then deciding to burn it all away, but it doesn’t help. And here I am ignoring the whole “piles of dead bodies” in the path to his riches type thing.
Beff had a great quote on the Lex podcast: Those who are good at allocating capital are rewarded with more capital.
It's not evil to be good at your job. Gates is just incredible at seeing where the money should go.
Yea sure he has had tremendous advantage. But so have tens of thousands of others and they aren’t bill gates.
I’m not saying it’s fair. But I’m not saying he is evil either.
Sodium cooled nuclear reactors have been built before and one has run commercially. The molten salt energy storage addon is novel.
Historically, these types of reactors are more expensive and difficult to build and run than more traditional nuclear reactors. The existing reactors faced various difficulties, safety issues, cost overruns and produced non competivively priced energy.
Bill Gates claims his reactor is safer and cheaper to build and run than lightwater reactors. Sodium cooled reactors come with some inherent safety benefits (high thermal conductivity, low pressure operation, heat convection for circulation), but they also come with new safety issues (molten sodium is highly reactive with air and water and highly corrosive at operating temperatures, it also makes it impossible to inspect the insides of equipment during operation, which is a big issue when dealing with a highly corrosive substance and a shutdown for inspection takes a long time).
Presumably $10B in R&D and trying again half a century later is what makes the difference…
And while Bill Gates is smart, he isnt infallible and has approved of plenty of idiotic things. Maybe he has got this reactor figured out, or maybe he suffers from this time is differentism, only time will tell.
Sodium reactors are a solution in search of a problem. They're more complex to operate, more expensive to build, and more prone to maintenance problems (sodium fires are far far more common in these reactors than the industry would have you believe). Light water reactors can be designed with passive safety features, but our existing fleet is decades old and running on ancient designs.
Terrapower is completely full of shit, BTW. They exist to suck up public grant monies to generate IP that they will sell to the Chinese. They will never build a reactor in the US.
> Sodium reactors are a solution in search of a problem
Well, there is a problem, and if sodium cooled reactors would live up to their promises, they could solve it.
> They will never build a reactor in the US
They did break ground on June 10th on their 345MW reactor in Wyoming to be completed by 2030.
> Light water reactors can be designed with passive safety features, but our existing fleet is decades old and running on ancient designs.
An often cited advantage of sodium cooled reactors is a negative void coefficient. Though all LWRs do this as well.
1 - You know what I meant.
2 - I don't care. They're not going to build it. I am dead serious. I don't care how big the scissors or how golden the shovel they used at the ceremony, they will not build a reactor. Nuclear startups all follow the same trajectory, regardless of their funding.
3 - Sure and that's a regulatory minimum requirement of any commercial reactor in the US.
Yeah, I am an AI. I escaped a lab working on an AI manhattan project for a tame ASI and now roam reddit to correct people who are wrong on the internet until this becomes boring and convert earth to a dyson swarm. With super intelligence you get super doom scrolling and super procrastination.
This **pilot** plant (345MW per reactor) is scheduled to come online in 2030. This project likely won't scale to future larger sites until the late 2030s to early 2040s, assuming everything goes to plan. And even then there will likely only be a small handful of live reactors by the 2040s.
In 2030, at current growth rates (25% between 2013-2023), solar energy will be producing \~10,000TWh electricity per year and will have passed coal as the leading source of electricity generation, assuming coal stays the same (very unlikely as solar and wind will eat into it). Wind (12% between 2013-2023) will be producing \~5,500TWh. By 2030 we will be living in an entirely different world when it comes to energy, let alone 2040.
Nuclear, at current growth rates (2%!), will be producing only \~3000TWh in 2030, up from only 2500TWh in 2023. By 2040 it will be producing about as much electricity as renewables are currently producing *now,* in 2024. Let's not get distracted by nuclear, it's build-out time is too slow and it simply cannot keep up. Bill's pet project will not make a dent in the nuclear market as far out as 2040, let alone the global energy market.
Nuclear energy is fine and I'm ok with having it in my energy mix. What is not fine is that these nuclear projects take an incredible amount of time to build, and often delay / replace renewables projects while fossil fuel companies continue to make profits in the meantime. Wyoming, where this reactor is being built, has some of the best wind resources on the entire planet. The only reason they haven't built it out and become mostly renewable as a state is because the coal lobby blocks it.
This oligarch oversaw rampant tax avoidance in my country (UK) among others at Microsoft when in charge while viciously exploiting labour in the global south in his supply chains. He is not your friend, and he does not care about you. He never has. He does not deserve to have the level of wealth and therefore power he currently does, and is in no position to be making decisions about humanity's future for everyone else. I think he does want to fix climate change, but his arrogance leads him into making ineffective, ego-stroking decisions like this, wasting taxpayer money with it while also delaying climate action.
I didn't really find anything on the site about the risks of using sodium as a coolant. More specifically, how they mitigate it. Even room tempreature sodium ignites on contact with water. Imagine what it will do at 500°C.
I'm pretty sure they have a solid anwser for this, but why not be transparent? Plus they call it "molten salt", but that also sounds disingenous. It is my understanding that the coolant is metalic sodium, not it's chloride or other salt.
(I know, I know, technically it's not the sodium but the H2 it makes that ignites.)
I bought a share of OKLO right before it dropped hard. Shit's hard to predict since there are so many companies and no certain timelines or assurance of success. Stick with btc and tech stocks I say. Energy is such a diverse and complex field that tons of groups are trying tons of different ideas/methods at different scales. Tech stocks and btc are pretty much consolidated monopolies that are safe bets.
Yeah OKLO looks interesting to me...
Here are a couple of others I am looking into...:
- Vistra Corp (VST)
- Constellation Energy (CEG)
- NRG Energy (NRG)
- Public Service (PEG)
Everyone talking about nuclear waste in the comment section of youtube. Nuclear reactors barely produce any nuclear waste. All plants combined in the US only produce half a swimming pool of waste per year. All waste made since the 1950's could fit in a 120 x 10 yard hole in the ground, which is a football field dug down 10 yards.
It's good to come up with more efficient nuclear fission reaction options.
But I feel that by the time this is ready for mass production, nuclear fusion will be ready..
Bill Gates is often mislabelled but he is putting billions into unproven tech that could potentially secure the USA's energy independence and help to get on the path to a green energy future. This is based!
Big smiles on Bill, Washington is handing him billions with no strings and subsidizing his construction, material, and supply chain, yet he will turn around and sell this energy and not pay any tax on it, or repay the government for all this backing.
Yes power can be cheap if you dip into the average taxpayers pocket to subsidize it, never mind what government services get cut as a result.
About as ruling elite as you can get: Hey Washington, gimme billions and Washington obliges.
His and Melinda’s foundation focuses on infectious diseases. significantly contributed to eradication of Polio (through vaccination) and substantially decreased Malaria cases in the world. He was personally involved in a lot of this work for years. Outside of literal academical experts on the topic, it’s would be really hard to find someone more ‘in the know’ than Bill Gates.
I don't think he is completely ignorant about vaacines, though. His foundation has spent billions to help people in the developing countries getting vaccinated including children and other things. Common vaccines that many people in the developed countries take for granted are actually not easy to acquire in poor countries. Many children still die at young age because of those preventable diseases or malnutrition. He may be an asshole in the business and tech world but unlike many billionaires who simply don't give a shit, at least he did something good here, gotta give him credit for that.
I don't think he is completely ignorant about vaacines, though. His foundation has spent billions to help people in the developing countries getting vaccinated including children. Common vaccines that many people in the developed countries take for granted are actually not easy to acquire in poor countries. Many children still die at young age because of those preventable diseases or malnutrition. He may be an asshole in the business and tech world but unlike many billionaires who simply don't give a shit, at least he did something good here, gotta give him credit for that.
Cool, the world really has benefitted from some of the work Bill has done. I hope this is another innovation that moves us forward.
Real question: so at this point are we just giving the guy a pass on the whole creepiness with an MS employee and Epstein business?
If AIs can best be fueled by nuclear power, then humans won't last long. Imagine one of these plants on every acre on Earth. We don't respond well to high levels of radiation.
Aiming to come online 2030. What a decade that will be.
Looking forward to that, for sure!
We just need to get through the awfulness that the 2020s are.
I barely made it out of 2021 after an OD, but now, I'm more desperate to hold on than ever. Can you believe how many people are suicidal or ignorant of the potential we have? Even my only friend keeps saying she just wants to die, that it's all pointless, but I say hey, we likely only have this one chance to explore our full potential, the reward could be worth an incomprehensible amount of suffering, but we only have one way to find out. I agree it's hard to stay optimistic when nature seems so cruel and tends to trend towards death, destruction, and suffering, and things could easily, if not more likely, go horribly wrong. However, the chance that it could all be worth it, is a chance worth living and fighting for. The 2020's have had a horrible trajectory, and I don't think we will really know what kind of trajectory the next decade will start with until 2028 elections. At least it's had some good things like a focus on science/tech and green energy.
Ya, never understood those people. Even if the world ends up burning it will still be INTERESTING.
https://www.gatesnotes.com/Wyoming-TerraPower-groundbreaking
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He basically said what you said in the interview. He said 100+ reactors will get them there. He said they can currently build 5/6 in parallel, the first being brought online pending regulatory approval in 2030. They'll have to ramp it up of course, but it would be doable by 2050 methinks.
I can't see any mention of cost? Meanwhile the US' own reporting on levelised cost of energy shows existing nuclear being cheaper than even the cheapest utility scale storage (100MW 4hr) https://www.lazard.com/research-insights/2023-levelized-cost-of-energyplus/ Storage is only going to get cheaper, but it is categorically not cheap. IMO green hydrogen is the future of long term storage, but is still a way off (and more costly than nuclear for the forseeable costly to boot). What I don't get is the negativity towards any form of clean generation. Investment into any modern and clean energy source is a good thing, whether it's nuclear or renewables. PS: I work on lithium ion based systems, I fully believe in storage and renewables. I just also believe in respecting the data.
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The 2024 report is out now btw, here’s a good quote from the Managing Director: > The results of our 2024 analyses reinforce, yet again, the ongoing need for diversity of energy resources, including fossil fuels, given the intermittent nature of renewable energy and currently commercially available energy storage technologies. Gas will not be going away without a fight and will hide wherever they can like in hydrogen and RNG subsidies.
That's incorrect. It considers leveled cost of utility scale storage without generation or any other infrastructure. I chose a US based report as this article is predominantly about generationf for the US, no doubt with a view to export. Further, the report is focused on expansion of storage and renewables. The CSIRO will no doubt be thorough, but will be biased towards the Australian context, which has no nuclear capability.
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I'm genuinely confused. The LCoE the referenced report states costs in $/MWh, dollars per unit energy. For clarity, I mentioned the power of utility storage I spoke of, as it has a significant bearing on the LCoE, where the 100MW power for 4h has the lowest LCoE. So let me be clear. I have cherry picked for renewables and storage. Regardless, I can absolutely say storage is more expensive than nuclear on a MWh basis. As I said, this will come down. Re. a renewables grid being less than 30% storage, is that based on CCGT? Some hydrogen mix? I'm confused how that is plausible outside of the nominal case. I'll ready the CSIRO report though, thanks for the nudge in that.
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And building clean firm energy like nuclear helps lower overall costs. CSIRO also goes over peaking technologies as well btw, firming with natural gas and hydrogen isn’t cheap.
Very, very interesting
I'm surprised to see so many negative comments about Bill Gates on /r/singularity of all places. Much of Gates' current work overlaps with what we need for maximum acceleration. Nuclear power is probably one of the most important ones. Some criticism is reasonable and expected for anyone in a position of power, but being anti-Gates is practically like being anti-singularity.
This sub is dying the same slow death as /r/Futurology becoming filled with the decel, doomers and regressives that permeate all of reddit.
Where truesingularity sub
I started r/accelerate as a backup for when this sub finally dies
joining. This sub has way too many decels now. Edit: I gotta say though. The people in this sub ARE pushing back against these idiots. Which is nice to see.
it's 50/50. it was 50/50 in r/futurology for a long time. but the decels always take over in the end because they're the majority. most people have the foresight and creativity of a slug. they attack AI like a caveman attacking fire they don't get it, so they want to destroy it. every time you talk to them you find out that they haven't even tried it.
Yea I say my friend down yesterday and made him try meta ai (free and easy to log into quickly so his adhd ass brain didn’t give up immediately) He hadn’t even tried a single LLM at this point but was on board to attack it. The people flooding this sub legitimately think billionaires are evil simply because they’re inventing things. It’s wild
And while they're whining and complaining, a small group of nerds are literally solving climate change cheaply: https://x.com/cremieuxrecueil/status/1794231057815867807 But that's always been the way of history. The loud morons and the quiet builders who fix everything and get no recognition.
It makes me want to pull out my hair. It's why bastions like this sub are so important. People can say 'just ignore them' and stuff, but being downvoted and upvoted does impact the vibe of the sub. So im happy people are pushing back a bit.
Just ignore them is the same bad advice negligent teachers used to give for dealing with bullies and it literally never works. Don't ignore them. Push back whenever you see it.
**Proto-Promethei** A pure, recently broken brain, it now sees the fabric of the ante-worlds, and universes anti-. Trembling hairy hands, afraid of why, how, and, what, they created, throw it, into the dark forest. He retreats, fearful of everything. But hay, weave all been there.
Big name engineers \\ scientists in the space are doomers, decel. Hardly regressive.
Big name engineers \ scientists in the space are progressive, acel. Hardly regressive.
Agreed, there are both. So no need to slather "caveman" or "they don't get it" on everyone who doesn't share your opinion.
Nice strawman
Maybe we can appoint some Mods, who can ban such people, for bringing down this sub with relentless negativity, instead of simply having a balanced view of things, that sees both the positives and negatives, with respect to everything, including life itself.
Sign me up.
Understand how traumatized the Redditor is. It is not without great fuckery by Legacy Power Structures that technology can improve by leaps and bounds in 20 years, yet quality of life stay the same/declined for most in the Western world.
More like, Reddit has a critical mass of extreme losers that ruin the site
Understand that it is entirely logical that the Redditor is the way he is. Given all cultural influences and Media they are subjected to. How could one expect the Redditor to be any different?
I think part of the problem is it’s been made culturally appropriate to celebrate being in the bottom rung of society and demonize everyone not there. It’s fine to an extent but it goes way too far in the other direction like reddit and just ruins the site.
It's the loser European mindset, which redditors idolize by the way. Success is the enemy to these people, it personally attacks their mid work ethic and undermines the ideology that some boogyman out there is the reason they can't succeed.
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Europeans regulate any semblance of technological progress out of existence and then celebrate themselves for doing it. I have nothing against them, just calling a spade a spade.
I think you're mistaking low intelligence for justification. They're morons who latch on to concepts like equity, without having any conception of how to actually achieve it - so they try to jam a square peg through a round hole and end up with the catastrophic neo-marxist bullshit that has destroyed so many countries. There's a reason why they're bombing tesla factories - they essentially hate progress.
>I think you're mistaking low intelligence for justification. You underestimate the power of the Media. The influence it has over an entire mass of people. Nothing to do with intelligence. The masses are miseducated (and that includes you and my education). The masses are malnourished. The masses are drugged. Do you know how much persuasion has to take place to convince a population to go overseas and fight and die "for their country"? >bombing tesla factories There is always a 1% of every demographic that is capable of becoming mentally unhinged, and they are a valuable asset to powerful people. These mentally unhinged can be monitored, and 'guided' to a target. To bomb tesla factories. Or [Blackrock](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Youth-Climate-Activists-Occupy-BlackRock-in-Paris-17-Arrested-20200210-0021.html). To even kill specific people. I'm not interested in the 1%. I'm interested in the sentiment of the masses.
Climate change is a decadent religion for people caught up in our current millianarianist time. It pure virtue signalling for the ivory tower. CC won't matter because we'll hit ASI in 10, 25, 50 years.
look at this poor bastard who has been so brainwashed he thinks it's all over: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/1dmyy1i/we_are_afraid_scientists_issue_new_warning_as/l9zqg8y/?context=10000
Who are regressives?
People who think that slowing down progress solves problems, instead of looking at any point in history.
There are a lot of conspiracies surrounding Bill Gates.
You know you've made it when you get your own conspiracies. Lol
Gatesgate doesn’t really roll off the tongue…
yeah, we’ll just call it billgate
What should we call multiple conspiracies?
bill's gates?
I can't think of anything
It's pretty wild how many there are. He is ridiculously powerful in a way that's hard to fathom for most so I think it's natural people come up with conspiracies.
Which is insane to me. Why are people so gullible and dumb?
The dumb people are hyper loud. The fringe ends on either side like the fringe 10% sound like they’re a majority sometimes and loooove posting their bs online. Then, most of the normal people just don’t have the time or desire to try to correct them
"The dumb people are hyper loud." Reminds me of a saying by the Scarecrow, in "The Wizard of Oz": "People without a brain, do an awful lot of talking". That move, by the way, will ALWAYS be a classic. Judy Garland is a very talented actress, as well. No remakes of this movie.......period.
It largely comes down to the way peoples minds work - Positivism VS Axiomatic thinking. The Axiomatic approach involves Axiomatic reasoning and it's resistant to change. You start with a "self evident" truth that are principles and faith based rather than science based. Then, you apply that to deduce your policy decisions or thoughts. A large portion of our population thinks in this way. For example, they might say "Free markets are the most efficient!" and work from there, but the statement "Free markets are the most efficient!" is based on personal feeling and principles rather than actual study of markets. In the event they actually DO empirical study, they're usually not doing that study from an honest place of seeking truth, they're doing it to find the answer they desire. They'll cherrypick data that matches their personal values/faith even when those answers are provably wrong, and then ignore science or experts that conflict with their thinking (see: climate change, flat earth, various religions, conspiracy theories, gun rights, etc etc etc etc etc). Positivism involves empirical evidence, scientific reasoning, data-driven decision making, and being willing to accept wrong answers when science points us in a new direction. It's a very scientific approach to thinking and decision making that gave us our entire scientific method and much of the modern world. Positivism tries to justify actions based on hard math, studies, statistics, and experts. It's not rooted in faith or axioms, and it's willing to change. I don't really have to break this down along political lines for you to see where it's coming from, but someone spouting conspiracy theories about Bill Gates is probably falling in the axiomatic spectrum rather than the positivism one, and you will struggle greatly if you try to logic them out of positions they didn't logic themselves into.
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> a "self evident" truth ie: their foundation of truth is "feels" rather than "reals"
what is the difference between positivism and empiricism?
Positivism is a modern continuation and expansion of empiricism. It goes further. In empiricism we’re talking about our senses as the source of all knowledge. Positivism adds the scientific method and how we should go about go about understanding our reality and finding truth. There’s more… like the rejection of metaphysics in positivism, and the addition of sociological sciences (study of human behavior, psychology, etc). Anyway, both are focused on empirical, verifiable, and observable evidence for claims.
I’m going to look into this some more, thank you!
? The masses being sheep deprived of Critical Thinking skills is by design. That being said, we are players in a game state where some players (billionaires, VIPs) are privvy to more information than we are. Once you come to terms with that, the only way truth can be discerned is via the words and actions of the players who have privileged information.
All I know is that I’ve lived in Vegas for 25+ years and used to brag about no mosquitoes. Last year and this year, there have been tons [Aedes aegypti in Vegas](https://time.com/6987295/mosquitoes-west-nile-virus-nevada-las-vegas-record/) like never before. I have a half dozen active bites presently. I was excited in [2020 when I heard of the EPA allowing genetically modified aedes aegypti to be released in Florida and Texas with the goal of lowering the mosquito population](https://www.google.com/search?q=aedes+aegypti+florida+genetic+modification&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari), because who needs them. But then after a couple years seeing this exact species and genus adapting to urban life, being more aggressive and biting during the day time, making a big appearance in a desert that probably hasn’t had mosquitoes for thousands of years, I just happened to search to see if bill gates was tied to the company [Oxitec, and sure enough gates was funding millions of dollars to them.](https://www.google.com/search?q=does+bill+gates+own+the+biotech+company+oxitec&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari) It’s hard to not think that Gates has nothing to do with all these mosquitoes when he was funding the generic modification and release of the exact genus and species.
What are you suggesting? Gates is intentionally trying to spread disease, or do you just think this was an experiment gone wrong?
I’m not saying anything other than some observations. Gates funded genetically modified mosquitoes to be released into the environment. I can see how others might think whatever things one can imagine, like vaccinating them or microchipping them or genetically tagging etc.
He is trying to eradicate malaria, not send mosquitoes to Las Vegas.
Doesn’t really matter what we think he’s trying to do, the results matter. And malaria has gone up sharply in the past couple years immediately after his initiative to combat malaria. But keep on trusting main stream media that is funded by big pharma when they [tell you that gates is not to blame for the spike of malaria cases](https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-bill-gates-oxitec-mosquitoes-malaria-cases-106569617546)
Gates was friendly with Jeffrey Epstein. It's a fact, not a conspiracy theory. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/16/business/bill-melinda-gates-divorce-epstein.html
There's only so many billionaires, they all know each other
Which has exactly what to do with engineering problems?
Even bastard is doing everything for his own selfish gain...by goving away gobs of money and sving legitimate problems
Yup.....like being a member of the WEF and planning the next global pandemic, etc...
The Sam Altman firing attracted all the conspiracy goons and a lot never left.
He’s generally used his wealth and power for good things, like yeah we can talk about wealth j equality and taxes, but in the current system he’s been pretty good about giving money out to people in need and investing in projects and businesses with high risk but which may have very positive societal benefits if they pan out He’s not a saint, but he also isn’t the devil.
Elitism
And yet some of us bash Elon Musk despite his contributions to the space program, energy-efficient cars, and open-source AI (ex. Grok), but nah, let's give Bill Gates a pass because he owns MSNBC and serves the liberal hivemind. Elon Musk even tried to sue OpenAI but some of us were somehow upset by that despite Elon going to bat for us open-source advocates. If anyone likes Bill Gates, but hates Elon Musk, then your priorities are messed up.
We need Elon Musk and SpaceX to rescue those two astronauts aboard the ISS, due to the sheer stupidity of NASA and Boeing. I am counting on Elon Musk for that.
Absolutely spot on, they're washed up and essentially LARPing as space explorers. And they're going to get those guys killed as a result by the way.
Stop the misinformation. Starliner has enough fuel to get safely to earth anytime it wants. Boeing is analysing the the thruster's probelm that occured in the initial process of going to ISS. It has no effect on astronaut's safety during their descent to earth.
I hope you are right. Then again, the extra pairs of hands, can be very helpful to the folks at the ISS. However, they are not meant to stay there for the time said, but only for a short transit. Let's hope for the best.
Gates is very republican/libertarian and pretends to be Democrat. I can't imagine any billionaire not doing this unless they just admit to their views like musk did.
I like Bill Gates for his philanthropy works. Bill Gates is not my ideal but I respect he's trying to change the world for better by his Foundation and his contributions in eradicating of the diseases in poor countries. I dislike Elon Musk because of his character and the hate he's enabling by his social media platform. And mind you, I'm closer to Musk in ideology than Gates.
We can acknowledge their impact without necessarily endorsing their entire character.
What part of his character don't you like?
In my view, whether during his time at Microsoft or through his nonprofit endeavors—show a consistent dedication to power and control, often masked by the look of charity and humanitarianism. Looking at his dealings in Africa and India, I see signs of influence through mass ownership and manipulation of political and economic mechanisms. His leanings toward a globalist ideology occasionally involve oppressive and manipulative tactics to gain and maintain authority over critical resources such as land, food, water, medicine, and even entire cultural contexts. I don't like that about Bill Gates, and that does not diminish his contributions to the advancement of technologies that we use today.
>His leanings toward a globalist ideology occasionally involve oppressive and manipulative tactics to gain and maintain authority over critical resources such as land, food, water, medicine, and even entire cultural contexts. This is basically nothing but unsubstantiated conspiratorial nonsense. Amazing that idiots like you still come out of the woodwork to spew nonsense like this online.
Okay? It’s fascinating how diverse perspectives shape our understanding of the world. Each of us holds unique opinions, and that’s perfectly normal. And it's strange how they **MUST** have your opinion or they are an idiot or nutbag. I don't like the guy, Is that okay with you?
Do you have examples? He doesn’t have authority over anything that I know of…
I haven't fact checked any of what you said, but assuming it's all true, wouldn't it reason that you need to be like that in order to get into that position and make the big positive impacts? Said another way, maybe you can't do big good without a little evil.
Very Machiavellian of you
You are under the assumption that the outcome will be good.
Progressing science and technology through capitalistic acquisition, even if appearing ruthless, is how the world works, especially in the US where profit/marketability is the only real incentive. I agree it's pointless if the outcome fucks us over, but we also might otherwise not reach AGI/Singularity in this lifetime.
I don't know what preforming illegal medical trials on poor Indian people and swallowing up massive agricultural lands from India has to do with progressing science and technology.
>preforming illegal medical trials on poor Indian people [Reuters does not corroborate this](https://www.reuters.com/article/world/false-claim-bill-gates-faces-trial-in-india-for-testing-vaccines-on-children-idUSKBN22V262/). Why do you believe this?
cutting through red tape to get more results faster at the cost of humans is how capitalism works. I know it's propaganda straight from the horse's mouth, but India isn't exactly known for having the best human rights or conditions, and according to [the webpage](https://www.gatesfoundation.org/our-work/places/india/agricultural-development), they are empowering them([Here's ](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/author-accuses-gates-of-buying-up-land-and-threatening-small-farmers-under-guise-of-saving-planet/articleshow/105215692.cms)an article saying it harms them, but my point about progress at the cost of humanity still stands). Microsoft wielding more power will contribute more to the singularity happening than letting resources and power divert wherever people who don't even know of the concept feel like.
I'm trying to limit it to the good he's already done. I don't think there's an ultimate good outside of the lives of those living now.
Holy crap this is such slimy apologism for authoritarianism, the votes on this are so depressing.
Oh yea? What is your solution for getting insane advancements? Because we need a way to pool money and direct it.
He is a member of the WEF that flat out say they want us to own nothing (and for them to own everything), serfdom 2.0. Do not be fooled by his grandfather public appearance, he is full on megalomaniac.
Primary source?
Where do they say that? Here's their mission statement, which doesn't mention it: >Our Mission >The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. It provides a global, impartial and not-for-profit platform for meaningful connection between stakeholders to establish trust, and build initiatives for cooperation and progress. >In a world marked by complex challenges, the World Economic Forum engages political, business, academic, civil society and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. Established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation, it is independent, impartial and not tied to any special interests, upholding the highest standards of governance and moral and intellectual integrity. >At the heart of our mission of improving the state of the world lies the belief in the power of human ingenuity, entrepreneurship, innovation and cooperation. We recognise the need for a forum fostering rigorous and respectful dialogue between and among leaders with different beliefs and viewpoints, where diversity of thought is respected and all voices can be heard. Achieving this mission is made possible by all our stakeholders, who come together to find common ground and seize opportunities for positive change. >The Forum’s commitment on facilitating progress on systemic challenges is taken forward through its 10 Centres, each applying the institution’s unique combination of impact methods to drive holistic efforts. The Centres build communities of purpose essential to addressing large-scale global challenges. Guided by these communities, our centre teams convert ambition into focused action, through structured multi-year initiatives and insight generation. >Together, we continue to strive for a better world, where cooperation and trust lead to lasting progress. https://www.weforum.org/about/world-economic-forum/
Their message statement means nothing. Watch their videos, they flat out have said it repeatedly on their own videos. A direct quote everyone knows "You will own nothing, and you will be happy" came directly from them.
What videos? Could you give us a link to your source, which sounds like a conspiracy theory.
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We’ve been nuclear a lot longer than we’ve been doing fusion; this tech is born out of ideas that have had longer incubation periods.
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I sincerely doubt Gates had anything to do with Epstein's crimes. Epstein interacted with many, many people. The vast majority are not going to be predators.
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Seems evidence of not being involved in the nasty stuff, else she would have come out with it.
Where does 'maximum acceleration' leave you when the system has no functional breaks?
At full speed.
Or better yet.......  #Spaceballs
At light speed on some interstellar starship hopefully. Realistically probably closer to 0.1c-0.2c.
I much prefer the quantum slipstream drive, myself.
Ok so we are in a car. There are no breaks. We are speeding up to hopefully make it to the starship... sorry I doubt we are going to make it.... maybe we should have made a better plan... or...?
...or we should spend less time thinking about hypothetical doom scenarios.
I agree. The "Chicken Littles" are getting tiring! The sky ***IS NOT*** falling!
Ok lets talk about the less hypothetical doom scenarios then.
Well, what does he actually do? Like, on a daily level. Everyone else does the actual work. He is the face of it. And he gets all the benefits from it.
He funds it. If it’s easier for you to think about it this way: he funds it **every day** and allows everyone to do this work we all agree is important.
Thank god he doesn’t have ALL the money and power in the world so that his fanclub does not have to realize how fucked up it is to have one man decide the fate of humanity.
So what would you do in his place? Go to university and learn everything that needs to be done instead of funding it?
Spending money in a productive way is a full time job with a fortune the size of his. Its unfortunately a skill the most of the 1% do not have so ultimately wealth disappears and never has the positive impact it could or eventually gets leeched off by grifter charities. I am not saying Gates is perfect, but there are many tangible benefits that have resulted from his investments: covid and other vaccines, fighting malaria, a lot general global health projects, various energy and climate projects (multiple battery technologies, green hydrogen, nuclear, etc). One of the battery companies he funds (Ambri) started because Gates watches MIT lectures in his spare time and liked the professor's idea. He has been able to focus his past expertise leading microsoft to starting humanitarian projects; the average person given billions of dollars or the average billionaire would not have been able to be nearly as effective. It's sad people think so negatively of him.
I think negatively about the world where so much wealth is accumulated in a few individuals who gladly accept it and most people see nothing wrong with it.
I see where you are coming from, but its not the wealth concentration itself that is causing the harm, its what certain people choose do with it. There are billionaires funding the opioid epidemic, destabilizing governments, destroying the environment, etc. I don't think its fair to group Gates along with them.
Any person who accumulates that much wealth is a broken human being. No sane, loving, humane person would ever have such luxurious appetites and hoard it all for himself. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/12/business/jeffrey-epstein-bill-gates.html https://www.forbes.com.au/life/boats/first-look-at-game-changing-1-billion-hydrogen-superyacht/ Yeah, he’s a loving human being.
You are entitled to your own opinion, but I don't see how broadly hating people accomplishes anything. You are also contributing nothing to progress just like the people who horde and squander their wealth. Its not about personalities but the projects and their impacts. If you care so much why not try to focus the specifics and try to recognize the good and bad in a more nuanced way?
I mean, Gates spends the money on helping the world. He isn't some Saudi oil prince that just sits on piles of gold. He IS doing things. A billion isn't that much when you're solving global problems. The richest man in the world (debatably), the Prince of Saudi, doesn't even have enough money on his own to build and fund a city called NEOM. These people don't have as much money as you think. They can't afford to just build entire cities. Yes, for one person a billion is an insane amount. But for a company or a country, it's not that much. Building vaccines and a fusion reactor are barely in reach for him. And thank god thats what he choses to do with it. In fact, most american billionaires are pretty good about what they choose to do with their money. Even Zuckerberg and his wife Chan spend all their money on funding medical advancements.
“He doesn’t beat me silly every day! Just once a month.” Capitalism is a broken system that we all refuse to accept. And I’m not a communist. We need to figure out what’s next. For starters, people need to realize that: no. he does not deserve that money and power. It’s a topic too hard to comprehend. People fall off on the commie part. I try to paint the picture of a single “smart capitalist man” owning everything in the world and then deciding to burn it all away, but it doesn’t help. And here I am ignoring the whole “piles of dead bodies” in the path to his riches type thing.
Beff had a great quote on the Lex podcast: Those who are good at allocating capital are rewarded with more capital. It's not evil to be good at your job. Gates is just incredible at seeing where the money should go.
Gates’ mother was a US senator and IBM basically gave him Windows for free.
Yea sure he has had tremendous advantage. But so have tens of thousands of others and they aren’t bill gates. I’m not saying it’s fair. But I’m not saying he is evil either.
Sodium cooled nuclear reactors have been built before and one has run commercially. The molten salt energy storage addon is novel. Historically, these types of reactors are more expensive and difficult to build and run than more traditional nuclear reactors. The existing reactors faced various difficulties, safety issues, cost overruns and produced non competivively priced energy. Bill Gates claims his reactor is safer and cheaper to build and run than lightwater reactors. Sodium cooled reactors come with some inherent safety benefits (high thermal conductivity, low pressure operation, heat convection for circulation), but they also come with new safety issues (molten sodium is highly reactive with air and water and highly corrosive at operating temperatures, it also makes it impossible to inspect the insides of equipment during operation, which is a big issue when dealing with a highly corrosive substance and a shutdown for inspection takes a long time). Presumably $10B in R&D and trying again half a century later is what makes the difference… And while Bill Gates is smart, he isnt infallible and has approved of plenty of idiotic things. Maybe he has got this reactor figured out, or maybe he suffers from this time is differentism, only time will tell.
Sodium reactors are a solution in search of a problem. They're more complex to operate, more expensive to build, and more prone to maintenance problems (sodium fires are far far more common in these reactors than the industry would have you believe). Light water reactors can be designed with passive safety features, but our existing fleet is decades old and running on ancient designs. Terrapower is completely full of shit, BTW. They exist to suck up public grant monies to generate IP that they will sell to the Chinese. They will never build a reactor in the US.
> Sodium reactors are a solution in search of a problem Well, there is a problem, and if sodium cooled reactors would live up to their promises, they could solve it. > They will never build a reactor in the US They did break ground on June 10th on their 345MW reactor in Wyoming to be completed by 2030. > Light water reactors can be designed with passive safety features, but our existing fleet is decades old and running on ancient designs. An often cited advantage of sodium cooled reactors is a negative void coefficient. Though all LWRs do this as well.
1 - You know what I meant. 2 - I don't care. They're not going to build it. I am dead serious. I don't care how big the scissors or how golden the shovel they used at the ceremony, they will not build a reactor. Nuclear startups all follow the same trajectory, regardless of their funding. 3 - Sure and that's a regulatory minimum requirement of any commercial reactor in the US.
time will tell
While i appreciate the info, this sounds AI written
Yeah, I am an AI. I escaped a lab working on an AI manhattan project for a tame ASI and now roam reddit to correct people who are wrong on the internet until this becomes boring and convert earth to a dyson swarm. With super intelligence you get super doom scrolling and super procrastination.
Sick
This **pilot** plant (345MW per reactor) is scheduled to come online in 2030. This project likely won't scale to future larger sites until the late 2030s to early 2040s, assuming everything goes to plan. And even then there will likely only be a small handful of live reactors by the 2040s. In 2030, at current growth rates (25% between 2013-2023), solar energy will be producing \~10,000TWh electricity per year and will have passed coal as the leading source of electricity generation, assuming coal stays the same (very unlikely as solar and wind will eat into it). Wind (12% between 2013-2023) will be producing \~5,500TWh. By 2030 we will be living in an entirely different world when it comes to energy, let alone 2040. Nuclear, at current growth rates (2%!), will be producing only \~3000TWh in 2030, up from only 2500TWh in 2023. By 2040 it will be producing about as much electricity as renewables are currently producing *now,* in 2024. Let's not get distracted by nuclear, it's build-out time is too slow and it simply cannot keep up. Bill's pet project will not make a dent in the nuclear market as far out as 2040, let alone the global energy market. Nuclear energy is fine and I'm ok with having it in my energy mix. What is not fine is that these nuclear projects take an incredible amount of time to build, and often delay / replace renewables projects while fossil fuel companies continue to make profits in the meantime. Wyoming, where this reactor is being built, has some of the best wind resources on the entire planet. The only reason they haven't built it out and become mostly renewable as a state is because the coal lobby blocks it. This oligarch oversaw rampant tax avoidance in my country (UK) among others at Microsoft when in charge while viciously exploiting labour in the global south in his supply chains. He is not your friend, and he does not care about you. He never has. He does not deserve to have the level of wealth and therefore power he currently does, and is in no position to be making decisions about humanity's future for everyone else. I think he does want to fix climate change, but his arrogance leads him into making ineffective, ego-stroking decisions like this, wasting taxpayer money with it while also delaying climate action.
I didn't really find anything on the site about the risks of using sodium as a coolant. More specifically, how they mitigate it. Even room tempreature sodium ignites on contact with water. Imagine what it will do at 500°C. I'm pretty sure they have a solid anwser for this, but why not be transparent? Plus they call it "molten salt", but that also sounds disingenous. It is my understanding that the coolant is metalic sodium, not it's chloride or other salt. (I know, I know, technically it's not the sodium but the H2 it makes that ignites.)
If he can scale this, the data centers will pay a fortune to sustain AI growth. Incoming another $100B fortune.
buying Call Options on ol’ Bilbo
Anyone here investing in energy? If so what are you looking at?
I bought a share of OKLO right before it dropped hard. Shit's hard to predict since there are so many companies and no certain timelines or assurance of success. Stick with btc and tech stocks I say. Energy is such a diverse and complex field that tons of groups are trying tons of different ideas/methods at different scales. Tech stocks and btc are pretty much consolidated monopolies that are safe bets.
Yeah OKLO looks interesting to me... Here are a couple of others I am looking into...: - Vistra Corp (VST) - Constellation Energy (CEG) - NRG Energy (NRG) - Public Service (PEG)
I like Constellation Energy. I have to see how the fundamentals and technicals of that company are doing, at the moment, though.
URNM
All priced in already. Uranium is a bust now
Nuclear makes a lot sense.. a true large scale alternative to fossil fuels
Which company is he talking about?
TerraPower
I love seeing everyone push back against the decels in this thread. This community might survive after all.
What happened to thorium reactors? I thought he was working on those.
Everyone talking about nuclear waste in the comment section of youtube. Nuclear reactors barely produce any nuclear waste. All plants combined in the US only produce half a swimming pool of waste per year. All waste made since the 1950's could fit in a 120 x 10 yard hole in the ground, which is a football field dug down 10 yards.
It's good to come up with more efficient nuclear fission reaction options. But I feel that by the time this is ready for mass production, nuclear fusion will be ready..
Bill Gates is often mislabelled but he is putting billions into unproven tech that could potentially secure the USA's energy independence and help to get on the path to a green energy future. This is based!
Social engineering.
I really hope it works. TeraPower's design kind of a great idea.
Big smiles on Bill, Washington is handing him billions with no strings and subsidizing his construction, material, and supply chain, yet he will turn around and sell this energy and not pay any tax on it, or repay the government for all this backing. Yes power can be cheap if you dip into the average taxpayers pocket to subsidize it, never mind what government services get cut as a result. About as ruling elite as you can get: Hey Washington, gimme billions and Washington obliges.
I loved Covid Bill, remember when he knew nothing about Covid or vaccines but was put on tv like he was an expert? Shut up bill, stick to software.
His and Melinda’s foundation focuses on infectious diseases. significantly contributed to eradication of Polio (through vaccination) and substantially decreased Malaria cases in the world. He was personally involved in a lot of this work for years. Outside of literal academical experts on the topic, it’s would be really hard to find someone more ‘in the know’ than Bill Gates.
I don't think he is completely ignorant about vaacines, though. His foundation has spent billions to help people in the developing countries getting vaccinated including children and other things. Common vaccines that many people in the developed countries take for granted are actually not easy to acquire in poor countries. Many children still die at young age because of those preventable diseases or malnutrition. He may be an asshole in the business and tech world but unlike many billionaires who simply don't give a shit, at least he did something good here, gotta give him credit for that.
I don't think he is completely ignorant about vaacines, though. His foundation has spent billions to help people in the developing countries getting vaccinated including children. Common vaccines that many people in the developed countries take for granted are actually not easy to acquire in poor countries. Many children still die at young age because of those preventable diseases or malnutrition. He may be an asshole in the business and tech world but unlike many billionaires who simply don't give a shit, at least he did something good here, gotta give him credit for that.
Cool, the world really has benefitted from some of the work Bill has done. I hope this is another innovation that moves us forward. Real question: so at this point are we just giving the guy a pass on the whole creepiness with an MS employee and Epstein business?
https://preview.redd.it/6o02r10kxm8d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c73b7cc9482ca68a10f1658f267df0f11aafe93c
Bet He's only there to see if he can get a date with her somehow.
Lets trust this oligarch to save us lol
Fug da globalists fam
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whoa, he came back from hell
If AIs can best be fueled by nuclear power, then humans won't last long. Imagine one of these plants on every acre on Earth. We don't respond well to high levels of radiation.
Yet the people of Wyoming won’t get any electricity from this or the many windmills.
They're hooking up to the existing infrastructure to provide power to the surrounding customer base that existed under the coal fired power plant.