Humanity is on the cusp of practically limitless energy via nuclear fusion | Hacker News Reader

Humanity is on the cusp of practically limitless energy via nuclear fusion

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28 pointsNilef21 comments

Super interesting thread, I've always heard lots of doom and gloom about this on Hn threads but seems that there's been a pivotal step forward in the field with these new superconductors

Can only imagine what the world would look like with a limitless energy source like this.

Anyone see any reason not to be highly optimistic about this development?

if wealth ineauality continues, rich people will ensure it gets doled out for enclaves ot fascist governments.

the politicial climate with a source of unlimited energy seems ripe for the wrong type of people.

technology is not an unbiased "good"

It all comes down to who controls the tech. Rest assured it won't be set free for the greater good of all.

How do you know this? Why would they proliferate smartphones and internet and antibiotics and vaccines but not free energy?

Not to be cynical, but because people who run things make a lot of money from smartphones, the internet, antibiotics, vaccines, and paid energy.

We could have had free energy a long time ago (Tesla, the guy, not the company) but the wealthy men of that time (also energy guys, BTW), didn't want a free competitor. And still don't.

If this is true, then humanity is also on the cusp of being able to eliminate the impact on climate from burning fossil fuels in one generation!

:-)

> If this is true, then humanity is also on the cusp of being able to eliminate the impact on climate from burning fossil fuels in one generation!

Depending on how you define 'generation', this may be unrealistic. Even if the whole world economy were to become carbon neutral tomorrow, it would be a while before greenhouse gasses started to go down, and that assumes we haven't already reached a tipping point for a runaway greenhouse effect.

We're already seeing very worrying releases of methane from ocean floor clathrates and from melting permafrost, for example.

Even optimistic scenarios suggest that it would be touch and go for the next couple of decades, and there is little evidence that our branch of the multiverse is following an optimistic scenario.

Globally we have about 17,000 TWh (and increasing) of fossil fuel power generation we'll need to replace. It's gonna take a while, and that's very unfortunate.

My point was that even if it was all replaced tomorrow, the extra greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere won't go away immediately, and the extra heat trapped won't either.

>assumes we haven't already reached a tipping point for a runaway greenhouse effect.

With limitless energy, we could just make some kind of Earth AC unit.

There is really no such thing as "too cheap to meter" and certainly not "limitless" power.

If absolutely nothing else, there is a limit on the number of powerplants that can be built, and certainly on how fast they can be built.

But I thought humanity was "on the cusp of practically limitless energy"!

Then we'll finally find out which of the climate change activists genuinely care about the planet and which are using it as an excuse for overthrowing capitalism.

(For the record, I do believe climate change is a big problem. But I also believe that not all those fighting the fight have the best intentions. Both of these things can be true.)

My nephew and I were pondering the following question: what will the real world downsides of fusion be after it has been widely deployed for a few decades? Every time humans have developed a new technology, we have failed to foresee some of the inevitable downsides (in hindsight) of that new technology that only arise and become known after it is widely deployed. I'm curious if I'll be around long enough to see what the answer turns out to be.

so can we be gifted a small fusion reactor from the government and then go home-steading in small, portable fusion powered eco friendly homes.

Yes, it's called 'the sun'.

Limitless power corrupts without limit.

Pretty sure that is referring to political power rather than sustainable energy. I don’t think there is a direct link between energy efficiency and moral deficiency.

Energy can be converted into political power fairly easily.

Yeah I think I have an ac to autocracy step converter in my garage.

And money. Lots and lots of money.

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