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The Big Idea:
Fusion Reactors
Remember this dude? Dr. Octavius trying to make a fusion reactor in Spiderman?… It’s actually closer than we think.
Let’s start with an easy question. WTF is Fusion?
The way energy is made in the sun, is through a process of nuclear fusion.
Hydrogen nuclei are shooting around in the sun at an incredibly high speed and start slamming together and fuse into helium. Because the mass of the resulting single nucleus is less than the two original nuclei, the leftover mass becomes energy… A sh*tton of energy to be precise. That’s Fusion
When we talk about nuclear energy on earth, All nuclear energy to date is produced through fission - where we take much heavier elements like plutonium and uranium and they break apart to create energy, but it also creates radioactive material…
Since the 1950’s the question has been: Can we recreate the conditions of the sun on planet Earth, by creating a plasma - very hot, fast, and dense hydrogen that can fuse into helium and release energy?
Plasma Fusion is the holy grail of energy. If you can generate plasma fusion, the amount of energy needed to create the plasma is less than the amount of energy that gets created.
This means infinite, free energy.
The system people have been building for the last 25 years are these donut-shaped systems called Tokamak. They spin the plasma around inside and it takes a lot of energy and magnets to try and make this work.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems which uses a new superconducting material, instead of using expensive magnets to control that plasma, has just raised $1.8 billion dollars.
The joint European Taurus which is managed by the atomic energy authority in the UK just demonstrated energy output from their Tokamak plasma fusion system where they generated 59 megawatts of energy in 5 seconds which is a new world record.
The ITER System, which is the biggest construction project in Europe, 35 nations have contributed a total of 60 billion dollars towards making this system is expected to go online in 2027. They’ve been building it for 20 years.
It’s going to be a 500 megawatt demonstration system. If it works, it opens the door that in the future, we may actually be able to to turn plasma fusion into an energy source for all of humanity.
Basically the system just uses water. Because you get hydrogen from water, spin it around, heat it up, get it really dense, and ultimately get power out of it.
The implications are extraordinary.
With unlimited free energy, we can terraform the earth.
Why is that important?
We can take ocean water, desalinate it and turn it into fresh water that we can pump into deserts - turning them into rain forests. The total annual production of energy on earth is about 170 terawatt hours; that amount of energy could be generated from 10x10x10ft cube of water - that’s the amount of material that would be turned into photons that would drive all of the electricity we need on earth.
We’ll decarbonize the atmosphere.
We‘ll terraform the planet.
We’ll make whatever we want.
But the same system of plasma fusion theoretically could be used to fuse heavier elements than just helium, so fast forward 100-200 years; if we can actually make plasma fusion systems work, we could also make heavier elements like the rare earth metals that make things like batteries; or phosphorus that we’ll run out of in 100 years which is a crucial ingredient in agriculture.
To make this possible has required technical breakthroughs in electronics, sensors, computing, hardware in material science, superconductors. All of this is starting to coalesce that plasma fusion might actually become a reality. What the future looks like when Fusion is discovered. What laws it’ll follow. How it’ll change the political landscapes. Only time can tell.
The Stash
Sony - Aibo Black Sesame AI Dog
Remember Baymax? This is kinda like that. Aibo is a companion robot designed to recognize faces, interact with family, and develop its own personality. It can link up to an AI Cloud Plan where you can name your dog, see how it grows, and add new tricks.
For a more authentic experience, owners can also add a food and water bowl and feed them virtual Kibbels ‘N Bits.
SHOWER THOUGHTS
The family pet tends to get more positive affirmation than all the human family members put together.
For the average person, becoming Batman is more attainable than becoming Bruce Wayne.
Snakes kill in 2 ways: hugs and kisses.
Retirement homes will just be big-ass LAN parties in 30 years.
A fat pet is a sign of neglect. A fat animal in the wild is a sign of success.
Alright, see you next time!
Nick “Hold the Power of the Sun” Ning
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