It sincerely (and still) makes absolutely no sense to me to be trying this sort of thing
We get that it makes no sense to you, no need to keep repeating. Maybe try to get some perspective here. It would help if you educated yourself a bit more about the difference between engineering and research.
We're in the process of trying to re-create conditions we think exist in the sun
No we aren't. The sun has the benefit of being much larger than any reactor we could build on earth so it can operate at a much lower temperature. Some details here.
There really is not a lot of overlap between the way the Sun goes about things and the way a tokomak does, other than that both are fusion. The reactions are very different. Out sun fuses four hydrogens to make one helium while tokomaks typically use a deuterium-tritium reaction suitable for conditions that can be created on earth.
Sustainable in the economic sense is a lot more than 20 years away, OP said "break even". And even then, the excess heat is probably not being captured, but just leaked away. It is thought that an economical generating system would soon follow a demonstration of sustainable break even operation but for now, nobody knows how big, expensive, complex or reliable that might be, so any attempt to put a specific timeframe to it is just a wild guess. But progress marches on, this is really not science fiction any more, just a whole lot of brutally hard work ahead. How long did it take humanity to get from the first campfire to a steam generator? A hundred thousand years? Getting from the steam generator to a fusion generator is moving comparatively much faster.
Caveat: I'm an armchair bystander, not a physicist, so the following is just my layman's view.
As a researcher hoping to contribute to a larger project (ITER) you have to choose your focus, this is to min/max your contribution (read: published papers) according to your research budget. This group chose to go for the high temperature numbers, understandably, because it makes for a great press release and helps to secure budget for the next experiment. Their principal engineering contribution seems to be a pioneering use of superconducting magnets.
Ten seconds is actually a decently long time to maintain a plasma, it seems they have in mind to increase that by two orders of magnitude by improving this equipment, but that is still plenty of time to read out a whole lot of data. The last thing they want to do is burn up a lot of expensive hardware on an early test run by running it until it melts. Doesn't make for such a great press release, it eats up the budget and lays waste to the timeline.
You're hardly going to get good technical information from a press release, but there is plenty of good non-paywalled info on EAST out there on the net. From a quick look, I don't know how much heat they are generating from fusion at this point, but since they don't say much about it, I presume it is essentially all from external sources, and improving the external energy injection mechanisms is a major goal of their project. Ignition is not a goal of their project, it is not even a goal of ITER.
See, isn't this a whole lot more interesting than jumping onto the internet and swearing a lot while advertising your ignorance? You could have googled it first, just like I did.
Large metallic meteor impact? Mine it. True fact: pretty much all the gold we mine got here by way of metallic meteor impact. Our own gold supplies having sunk deep into the core before the crust was formed. South Africa got its gold this way. Of course, the crater that did it for them is a bit bigger, just the lava dome in the middle is twice the diameter of this Greenland crater.
Next step, all Facebook engineers must use Linux laptops instead of Macbooks. Imagine all the piteous crying, nothing hurts as much as going cold turkey on an addiction. But in the end, the Linux laptop is just better as an engineering tool. There are some very nice Windows ultrabooks that make great Linux laptops. Bonus: more computer for less money.
Of course they could also use Windows laptops if getting constantly owned inside the network is ok.
actual working exploits outside of carefully controlled lab experiments, or balls out just prove I can copy some random bits which I can't identify as belonging to something have yet to be seen or developed... a full year later.
You are out of touch. Take a quick run around the comments section on any Intel vs AMD article and you will find Meltdown frequently cited. And Meltdown has gone mainstream. Even the business pages talk about it because it is affecting Intel's stock price.
See, it's like GMO, it may or may not affect you directly but it is always a concern and a source of endless debate, such as this. The only way out of this for Intel is to fix it definitively in hardware as opposed to papering over by minor circuit tweaks, costly microcode workarounds and disgusting OS hacks. That isn't going to happen until Cannon Lake.
The Meltdown deniers are just angry nerds like you.
Slashdot Mirror
Your attempt at explanation was exactly what confirmed you have no technical skill. You're the old fart shouting at the cloud.
It sincerely (and still) makes absolutely no sense to me to be trying this sort of thing
We get that it makes no sense to you, no need to keep repeating. Maybe try to get some perspective here. It would help if you educated yourself a bit more about the difference between engineering and research.
A large meteor isn't that big compared to a mine.
Not the meteor, the crater. Look at the map.
Whoops, tokamak not tokomak.
We're in the process of trying to re-create conditions we think exist in the sun
No we aren't. The sun has the benefit of being much larger than any reactor we could build on earth so it can operate at a much lower temperature. Some details here.
There really is not a lot of overlap between the way the Sun goes about things and the way a tokomak does, other than that both are fusion. The reactions are very different. Out sun fuses four hydrogens to make one helium while tokomaks typically use a deuterium-tritium reaction suitable for conditions that can be created on earth.
Sustainable in the economic sense is a lot more than 20 years away, OP said "break even". And even then, the excess heat is probably not being captured, but just leaked away. It is thought that an economical generating system would soon follow a demonstration of sustainable break even operation but for now, nobody knows how big, expensive, complex or reliable that might be, so any attempt to put a specific timeframe to it is just a wild guess. But progress marches on, this is really not science fiction any more, just a whole lot of brutally hard work ahead. How long did it take humanity to get from the first campfire to a steam generator? A hundred thousand years? Getting from the steam generator to a fusion generator is moving comparatively much faster.
Caveat: I'm an armchair bystander, not a physicist, so the following is just my layman's view.
As a researcher hoping to contribute to a larger project (ITER) you have to choose your focus, this is to min/max your contribution (read: published papers) according to your research budget. This group chose to go for the high temperature numbers, understandably, because it makes for a great press release and helps to secure budget for the next experiment. Their principal engineering contribution seems to be a pioneering use of superconducting magnets.
Ten seconds is actually a decently long time to maintain a plasma, it seems they have in mind to increase that by two orders of magnitude by improving this equipment, but that is still plenty of time to read out a whole lot of data. The last thing they want to do is burn up a lot of expensive hardware on an early test run by running it until it melts. Doesn't make for such a great press release, it eats up the budget and lays waste to the timeline.
You're hardly going to get good technical information from a press release, but there is plenty of good non-paywalled info on EAST out there on the net. From a quick look, I don't know how much heat they are generating from fusion at this point, but since they don't say much about it, I presume it is essentially all from external sources, and improving the external energy injection mechanisms is a major goal of their project. Ignition is not a goal of their project, it is not even a goal of ITER.
See, isn't this a whole lot more interesting than jumping onto the internet and swearing a lot while advertising your ignorance? You could have googled it first, just like I did.
You've made it abundantly clear your technical skill rounds to zero. And you're delusional, that's heady stuff. Must be confusing to be inside you.
Large metallic meteor impact? Mine it. True fact: pretty much all the gold we mine got here by way of metallic meteor impact. Our own gold supplies having sunk deep into the core before the crust was formed. South Africa got its gold this way. Of course, the crater that did it for them is a bit bigger, just the lava dome in the middle is twice the diameter of this Greenland crater.
Facebook is hardly the only bad actor. Let's not forget Google, looking the other way while Trump/Russian shitposters swarm Youtube.
Tweedledee and Tweedledum, one trafficking in addiction, the other in voyeurism. Which is worse? Please beat each other to death.
Next step, all Facebook engineers must use Linux laptops instead of Macbooks. Imagine all the piteous crying, nothing hurts as much as going cold turkey on an addiction. But in the end, the Linux laptop is just better as an engineering tool. There are some very nice Windows ultrabooks that make great Linux laptops. Bonus: more computer for less money.
Of course they could also use Windows laptops if getting constantly owned inside the network is ok.
Just in case, I verified using appropriate tools. I doubt you are capable of that.
So you understand that a browser can consume CPU per tab by decoding a video per tab.
Perhaps your brain fever leads you to imagine that videos stop decoding when you switch tabs.
actual working exploits outside of carefully controlled lab experiments, or balls out just prove I can copy some random bits which I can't identify as belonging to something have yet to be seen or developed... a full year later.
Wow, where have you been?
Q: Has Meltdown or Spectre been abused in the wild?
A: We don't know.
Advice: don't study science. With your deep, keen insight you'll a be natural for sanitary management.
What's your estimate?
Those smart guys who were busy elongating the pipeline?
Not just instabilities, but lack of a mechanism to capture and feed the excess energy back into the device, which was not a goal of the experiment.
You are out of touch. Take a quick run around the comments section on any Intel vs AMD article and you will find Meltdown frequently cited. And Meltdown has gone mainstream. Even the business pages talk about it because it is affecting Intel's stock price.
See, it's like GMO, it may or may not affect you directly but it is always a concern and a source of endless debate, such as this. The only way out of this for Intel is to fix it definitively in hardware as opposed to papering over by minor circuit tweaks, costly microcode workarounds and disgusting OS hacks. That isn't going to happen until Cannon Lake.
The Meltdown deniers are just angry nerds like you.
I comprehend than you have a screw loose.
I hope you realize that javascript in tabs continues to run even when you're not looking at it. Are you as stupid as you seem?
Just curious, how did "multiple tabs" become "closed tabs" in your mind?
So you are lecturing others on not being an asshole, got it.
Did you really just type "watch videos in closed tabs"? You're losing it, go take your meds.