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Comment by ghayes | Hacker News Reader

I had to look up "high-temperature superconductor" since it read like a typo:

> High-temperature superconductors (abbreviated high-Tc or HTS) are defined as materials that behave as superconductors at temperatures above 77 K (−196.2 °C; −321.1 °F), the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. They are only "high-temperature" relative to previously known superconductors, which function at even colder temperatures, close to absolute zero.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-temperature_superconducti...

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Despite their names suggesting otherwise, high-temperature superconductors actually require a colder environment than their room-temperature counterparts. This may seem counterintuitive, yet it's a perfect illustration of the idiosyncrasies that arise within complex systems that evolve over time. These naming conventions, like the codebases in large corporations, are the outcome of continual modifications that are so deeply ingrained, a complete overhaul would be prohibitively costly. When examining such codebases, inconsistencies and discrepancies are common, and they can appear almost ludicrous when compared side by side. However, it's crucial to understand that they are not mistakes, but rather footprints in the path of progression, mapping out the convoluted journey of technological evolution.

This is an awful lot of analysis for “it’s high-temperature relative to the superconductors that preceded it”

See very high frequency VHF and ultra high frequency UHF and super high frequency SHF.

High-Speed USB High-Temprature Superconductor

Phrasing it as if high temperature and room temperature are separate categories makes it sound more confusing than it is.

It's all relative: the "high temperature" is high compared to absolute zero (~77 K higher), but much lower than "room temperature" (which is defined as around 20° C). And of course these are separate categories, because room temperature is another ~220 K higher than "high temperature" (and also because "high temperature semiconductors" are common by now, whereas "room temperature semiconductors" remain the holy grail).

Superconductor. We have plenty of room temperature semiconductors around

Had to : https://xkcd.com/2798/

Oh, right, sorry! But unfortunately too late to edit my comment :(

It's a subset.

It's only becoming confusing as the vocabulary begins to leak from specialists into general public.

Sounds like a ChatGPT comment. Either way, you didn’t need to post this.

> Sounds like a ChatGPT comment.

Uh? No it does not.

> Either way, you didn’t need to post this.

Who made you the arbiter of that?

The comment made very good points. It explained how counter intuitive these particular technical terms are, explained the history behind this, and generalised this phenomenon to things some us might have more experience with.

I want to read more of that kind of comment not less.

I agree it doesn't sound like ChatGPT and the little codebase reference ChatGPT would not normally include.

The "However, ..." section at the end is a very common trope for ChatGTP to put some qualifications on what it just said and backpedal a bit. That is the only part that I feel might be confused for ChatGPT.

Your penchance for scolding notwithstanding, I appreciated the parent comment's content.

In the case of high temperature superconductors, I imagine this new discovery will overturn the old terminology.

> In the case of high temperature superconductors, I imagine this new discovery will overturn the old terminology.

Nah, it'll stick around and you'll just have people talking about very high temperature superconductors.

GPT-edited comment detected :(

It's funny, right?

The content and the structure of the comment are both "high-quality" and useful, but at the same time they are of a very specific type of "quality" (the school essay format) that clearly rings ChatGPT-like.

Does HN have an official stance on AI-written comments?

The official policy is to tear the human behind them to small, bloody pieces with claws and razors.

Sounds about right for how to best treat our human overlords.

Looks like we're going to need a VHTS and UHTS. Exciting times.

WQUXGA Superconductor.

We have RTS

Ultra mega high definition superbconductor

It's like "High Frequency" radio waves, which are actually at the low end of the spectrum used in practice today.

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