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davieG

Technology, Science and the Environment.

By davieG, in General Chat

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Innovindil

Innovindil

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47339774

 

Interesting topic, really. As tech gets more and more advanced, the ethics involved within it are likely only going to get more and more thorny tbh - I mean, the whole reason the Space Race existed was because the US and USSR wanted a more efficient way to blow each other to kingdom come, after all.

 

Is it even possible to separate technological development from the intent of killing people? (You can call it "defence" as much of you like but once you strip away all the rhetoric, that's what it comes down to.)

Highly doubtful. Even if Microsoft and Google pull out of any military based development, someone else would fill the void. If there's a market, there's a supplier. 

 

Just the way it is, even if it's not the way it should be. 

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leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted
50 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

Highly doubtful. Even if Microsoft and Google pull out of any military based development, someone else would fill the void. If there's a market, there's a supplier. 

 

Just the way it is, even if it's not the way it should be. 

The idealist in me hopes you're wrong, the cynic knows you're not.

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yorkie1999

yorkie1999

Posted
Posted
On 05/03/2019 at 14:05, leicsmac said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47418405

 

Yup, it's a pretty ludicrous luxury car, but it proves that in terms of performance electric engines are getting there. The next iterations will be more practical and more affordable.

They will get there eventually but not for many years due to our electric supply infrastructure, every road and every residential pathway will need to be dug up to replace supply cables, every terrace house will need a port outside on the pavement and with that comes the public liability problem, and then there's the problem of will we be able to generate enough electricity without building more power stations and wind farms on top of the ones penciled in for our projected electric needs that don't take into account electric vehicle power supply. Plus, electric cars don't go vroom vroom, so will people be even interested in them. 

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leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted
37 minutes ago, yorkie1999 said:

They will get there eventually but not for many years due to our electric supply infrastructure, every road and every residential pathway will need to be dug up to replace supply cables, every terrace house will need a port outside on the pavement and with that comes the public liability problem, and then there's the problem of will we be able to generate enough electricity without building more power stations and wind farms on top of the ones penciled in for our projected electric needs that don't take into account electric vehicle power supply. Plus, electric cars don't go vroom vroom, so will people be even interested in them. 

All fair concerns.

 

The point of criticality which will solve all of them (apart from the vroom vroom thing for which people may well have to seek alternative remedies for their tiny penis instead) is when an electric car is able to charge at a station like a petrol-powered car, as often or less as a petrol-powered car, and the electricity it uses for that charge being less in terms of overall emissions for generation than the equivalent amount of petrol combustion.

 

I think all of these things are perfectly possible in due time.

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yorkie1999

yorkie1999

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

All fair concerns.

 

The point of criticality which will solve all of them (apart from the vroom vroom thing for which people may well have to seek alternative remedies for their tiny penis instead) is when an electric car is able to charge at a station like a petrol-powered car, as often or less as a petrol-powered car, and the electricity it uses for that charge being less in terms of overall emissions for generation than the equivalent amount of petrol combustion.

 

I think all of these things are perfectly possible in due time.

Don't get me wrong, i'd love a jag ipace.

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MC Prussian

MC Prussian

Posted
Posted

Kudos to Boyan Slat for the Ocean Cleanup project - just not working as intended at the moment:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkart/2019/01/11/founder-of-ocean-cleanup-vows-return-says-failure-talk-is-rubbish/#73eb513365c8

 

There's also concerns over its impact on sealife/biological diversity in the areas "treated".

http://www.deepseanews.com/2019/02/the-ocean-cleanup-struggles-to-prove-it-will-not-harm-sea-life/

 

But hopefully, in the end, the technology will prevail and overcome the hurdles, leading to cleaner oceans.

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leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, MC Prussian said:

Kudos to Boyan Slat for the Ocean Cleanup project - just not working as intended at the moment:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkart/2019/01/11/founder-of-ocean-cleanup-vows-return-says-failure-talk-is-rubbish/#73eb513365c8

 

There's also concerns over its impact on sealife/biological diversity in the areas "treated".

http://www.deepseanews.com/2019/02/the-ocean-cleanup-struggles-to-prove-it-will-not-harm-sea-life/

 

But hopefully, in the end, the technology will prevail and overcome the hurdles, leading to cleaner oceans.

Yeah, here's hoping this is just some teething problems, I'm glad someone is actually taking some technological action on the topic.

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leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47607696

 

We've gotten over 90% of the ones over 1km (the true civilisational threats), but as can be seen here we're still not nearly getting as many of the ones between 150m and 1km (which, in the wrong place, could give a population centre a very bad day with all the associated economic and social consequences).

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The Bear

The Bear

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 13/03/2019 at 12:41, leicsmac said:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613092/a-quantum-experiment-suggests-theres-no-such-thing-as-objective-reality/

 

It's it too much to hope that this will kill off Objectivism as any kind of legit philosophy?

I'm sceptical. Superposition is one of those weird properties of quantum mechanics. I'm not sure that means reality isn't what it is, just that you can make different measurements based on how you view/measure it. Stuff like quantum entanglement shouldn't be possible either but it is. Quantum is just plain weird. We need another Einstein to solve it and provide a unified theory. 

 

 

Either that or we all live in The Matrix. 

Edited by The Bear
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leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

This is a good idea because

 

a) People need to know and

 

b) it will make my father-in-law furious

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/mar/19/use-forecast-to-talk-about-climate-change-urges-ex-bbc-presenter

Yep. The right mixture of getting more information out there and trolling the hell out of people who have (either through ignorance or malice) no thought about the long term future.

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