~ The Luckiest Resolution to the Fermi Paradox ~
The recent Muon G-2 experiment is nearly definitive proof of a Fifth Force of Nature. Are we sure that’s all of them? Meanwhile, the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E wing is researching Low Energy Nuclear Reactions, aka Cold Fusion. Their work seems…
~ expect numerous specific disruptions soon from the Energy Explosion ~
TL;DR — Abundant, clean fusion power is about to happen. Check back in 2022 once presentations have been broadcast. Industries and nations will convulse; the specifics matter. In general, new opportunities multiply — for whoever leaps at them first.
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~ cool the Gulf and bring gentle daily rains to weaken storms ~
TL;DR — Hurricanes strengthen due to warm waters. Create water spouts (a weak ‘humidity-tornado’ at sea) to cool the waters and prevent hurricanes’ strengthening. They’ll also bring gentle, cool, regular rains, siphoning the intensity off of heavier…
~ cheap, durable, scalable soil amendments to fight deserts ~
Biochar? This is better.
Terra Preta do Indo, the “Black Earth of the Indians”, is a hyper-fertile soil type scattered across the otherwise acidic and leeched ground of the Amazon rainforest. …
Alexandra Libby and Timothy Buschman found an important fact about our brains: they recognize memories as distinct from present sensory stimuli by making certain neurons’ activations ‘orthogonal’. That is, certain measures of activity were ‘at right angles to each other’. …
~ unavoidable constraints pick designs for future robot-mining & transport ~
TL;DR — After we’ve laid a toe-hold on the moon, space industry will accelerate rapidly. Whoever converts capital-equipment into more equipment and infrastructure with the fastest doubling-time will dictate future activities in space. …
~ the most economical, near-term star-devouring strategy ~
TL;DR — After chewing-up asteroids (only 3% the mass of our moon, total) we’ll gobble Mercury for all its metals. Next, the icy moons become numerous Walls of Ice-Foam hurled toward Proxima Centauri and its sister stars, to clear the way of…
~ by learning to imitate a person, the A.I. is our informant ~
TL;DR —Reward a neural network when it accurately imitates the decisions of a particular person. That artificial intelligence can then be tested for bias in ways that the person would have evaded. …
~ and it is the first victory of a weird investment mindset ~
TL;DR — The key vulnerability is always whatever would never happen, ‘because no sane investor would do that…’ [I can only point to the genius-in-bloom known as Florencio, for the most vivid demonstration that the right kind…
~ text-to-image lets creators gather diverse reference images and bootstrap concepts rapidly — we now enter the Cambrian of Culture ~
“Between thought and expression lies a lifetime.” — Lou Reed
We have arrived: you type whatever scene you wish into the box, and dozens of images arise. Many are…
