Talk-Polywell.org

Repeated since the point was apparently missed by Charles, Mining asteroids for use up there Jeepers you are a contentious bunch. And not sharp readers. What is this, the Internet? First of all, I wrote that one possible use of asteroid mining is "go to asteroid, mine ore, use for construction in s...

There are many areas of china still functioning at essentially iron age levels with stone age infrastructure. Perhaps. But China made a decision to develop a high speed rail system, and 10 years later had the world's largest. 25 years ago the idea China would become essential to the USA as its bank...

You've got it backwards. Whatever method is used: -- to go asteroid, attach device to send to earth in a controlled way (so it won't crash, and won't burn up -- very dangerous and improbable) -- go to the asteroid, mine ore, return that -- go to asteroid, mine ore, use for construction in space and...

because the problem is really really awful) No doubt. Physicists continue to overpromise, but perhaps with good reasons (scientific -- not just to impress investors/government funders). but unless we have a great model with enough computational power, we will have to build it to know if it works. W...

earning how tub-boat asteroids into lunar orbits for the purpose of exploration and mining That *is* wild! And surprising. It implies a lack of confidence in terrestrial sources, including under-sea sources. Maybe the space boys (and girls) will come up with something brilliant (a ore-capacity spac...

Prosperity is dependent on free market organization of economies. That is a common attitude, and it surprises me. It seems obsolete in light of the rise of communist China, which combines local free markets with top-down long range planning. Whatever else can be said about Chinese society (and I am...

All interesting, Preston, thanks. ...are all private companies trying to make profit at the end of the day. These guys need to pay the bills and keep the lights on. There is always a tendency to over-promise No doubt that's a factor. Something similar may be true for NiF and others getting governmen...

over half of the Russian economy. I wonder. Oil has uses (for example, as an industrial feedstock) that may continue to make it valuable. But if you are correct that fusion will kill oil economies, isn't that just a part of the equation? Because fusion should also spread prosperity. As long as fusi...

will cause a crash in oil prices as Oilpeck I wonder. In particular, I wonder about the extent to which cheap electricity from fusion can substitute for everything else. Fusion can't *directly* replace oil as a transportation fuel, or as an industrial feedstock. Fusion-derived cheap electricity can...

Interesting chart, Preston. Assuming it is based on valid assumptions and progress continues as it projects, when it break-even fusion? When is heat, containment density and containment time sufficient for p-B11? If the chart is an accepted metric for evaluating fusion progress, why are NiF, Polywel...

NIF is no joke. It is doing well what it was built to do No -- so far -- it has failed. There is no ambiguity on this point. It repeated promised breakeven, and by every standard, including its own ,failed to achieve it by the deadlines it set for itself. And NiF is the successor to Nova that faile...

It has been ~8 years since Bussard's Google talk and his admittedly optimistic predictions were predicated on a Manhatten like effort (though of much smaller scale) That's not what heard. -- The "Manhattan Project" has become a metaphor for the expectation a speculative goal can be achieved if just...

plasma physics is near impossible to model due to the complexity of interactions within the plasma Then NiF -- and the rest -- should be more cautious in their predictions. I am always amused to read the phrase "is not completely understood." It means "NOT understood." until a machine is built Lots...

and none of us promise results. "20 years away, and always will be" is based on the undisputable fact that many fusion efforts have made VERY specific promises break-even (and better) would be achieved by specific deadlines But the failed. NiF, for example, promised breakeven by 2012; and that fail...

those of us in the plasma physics community I was hoping to see reasons -- reasons based on physics -- why the past failure of fusion physics should not cause pessimism about the future of fusion. Instead I see only denial and condescension. 1. This is not about "science" where success is measured ...