He gets heralded by his stupid fanboys because he offers them the most comforting lie there is in this world, an easy fix to capitalism's problems that works entirely within the status quo. Techno-messianism is the last tiny beacon of hope that people can cling on to when they have bought into the core assumption that there must be no alternative to how things are.
Batteries are a bottleneck for a ton of technologies in both efficiency and energy density. They are extensively researched. "Rethinking the fundamental physics" is dumb marketing speech, what is he gonna (pay his employees to) do, reinvent solid-state physics?
Unless he has an actual idea (which he doesn't because he's not a physicist), this is like saying "to make a space elevator, we just need to invent a stronger material", as if it was just a matter of trying.
the engineering challenges have been known for a long time now, but there are ways around it. there are also other technologies that are viable, some, like the skyhook, are most of the benefit but possible with current tech. others, like orbital rings, are straight up better but have a high upfront cost to build
A lot of it is in the timing. It's not like there isn't a large group of people already thinking about batteries, the fundamentals of potential energy, and its various applications like hydroelectric dams. He's talking as if he's some natural philosopher pontificating and not as if he's some billionaire whose interests just got voted out of a South American democracy despite the US's strong interventions.
Love being a genius inventor and saying things like "uhh let's make batteries better by doing physics." What a novel idea!
(emh what is wrong with that statement tho, i mean other than the fact that his underpayed research team is gonna do it not him in the slightest)
The problem is that he gets heralded as some sort of genius by his stupid fanboys for saying something incredibly simple.
He gets heralded by his stupid fanboys because he offers them the most comforting lie there is in this world, an easy fix to capitalism's problems that works entirely within the status quo. Techno-messianism is the last tiny beacon of hope that people can cling on to when they have bought into the core assumption that there must be no alternative to how things are.
Batteries are a bottleneck for a ton of technologies in both efficiency and energy density. They are extensively researched. "Rethinking the fundamental physics" is dumb marketing speech, what is he gonna (pay his employees to) do, reinvent solid-state physics?
Unless he has an actual idea (which he doesn't because he's not a physicist), this is like saying "to make a space elevator, we just need to invent a stronger material", as if it was just a matter of trying.
mfw space elevators are unfeasable now too? aw man
I hate to break it to you, but they've always been unfeasable.
...on the Earth. We could make a Moon elevator with currently-existing materials.
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here's a good video on space elevators
the engineering challenges have been known for a long time now, but there are ways around it. there are also other technologies that are viable, some, like the skyhook, are most of the benefit but possible with current tech. others, like orbital rings, are straight up better but have a high upfront cost to build
this is my special interest, so ask away
its unfeasible because capitalists would definitely fuck it up and you dont want something that big falling down
Sky hooks are a far more feasible idea and do pretty much the same thing
A lot of it is in the timing. It's not like there isn't a large group of people already thinking about batteries, the fundamentals of potential energy, and its various applications like hydroelectric dams. He's talking as if he's some natural philosopher pontificating and not as if he's some billionaire whose interests just got voted out of a South American democracy despite the US's strong interventions.
Don Sadoway is years ahead of them at this point