Your argument is rather stupid frankly. How something came about has nothing to do with it's functionality. How can you trust any machine then, since it was created by human beings which are flawed creatures? There are plenty of examples of things being created randomly yet working well and reliably, i point you to the volumes of research on genetic algorithms.(which to me are excellent examples of how evolution works) Genetic algortithms often write code which is far superior to human code, yet come about through randomness. I would also point out that networks use probability functions in many of thier algorithms, yet they work fine. If i choose to make a sandwich, by using two different methods one in which I carefully arrange the ingredients, the other where I randomly pile then together, it still doesn't change what the eventual outcome will be a sandwich. It's just that one method takes a lot longer than the other.
-Mishra
I think most of you are missing the point of what open courseware is trying to accomplish. In typical slashdot fashion you're looking at this through CS eyes. MIT however teaches much more than CS. Certification may be all well and good for programmers, but what about Aerospace engineers? As a recent graduate from the hell known as course 16 I can attest that my MIT education is not something you could get from simply reading. Almost all of my classes involved projects and getting my hands dirty in one way or another once I advanced beyond basic knowledge. MIT is publishing its course material as a guide, a primer as to what goes into making some of the best engineers in the world. In no way shape or form however is this inteneded to replace a university education.
Akira is about a theme that has been touched on by many Sci-Fi authors. That the ultimate form of evolution for human beings will be when we achive Pure energy. Humans will become a conciousness of unlimited power. In akira the government is performing expirements on children in attempts to tap into some of this power. Akira went to far fully transforming into an energy being an the power of his transformation destroyed the city. Tetsuo eventually becomes so powerful the same thing happens. meanwhile though as he's transforming he loses control of his body. Akira returns to help Tetsuo Transfrom, and together they use the energy realeased from Tetsuos Rebirth to create a new universe of which they are the gods, hence the whole Galaxies and Stuff at the end.
Of course this is by no means definative, this is just my take on the movie, that's what makes it so good, that it's open to interpretation.
Well the MIT Mirco Jet engines would probably do the job. These are gas turbine engines about the size of a postage stamp. They can be used for generating power or on small UAV's(unmannned aireal vehicles). These are one of the nano technology projects currently being developed at the school. While there's still a ways to go on the engines certainly part of that 50 million will help.
Prepare to be corrected. It's a common misconception that rockets simply explode for no good reason. while this can happen it's frankly rare on a flight tested vehicle. Usually when a rocket explodes it is detonated by controllers on the ground. The saftey mechanism on a nuclear rocket would most likely be designed to vaporized the uranium, thus sending it into the upper atmosphere where frankly it's not going to hurt anybody. It would take years for the stuff to come down, and would do so in such small amounts there probably wouldn't even be an increase in background radiation.
That is a very uninformed assumption. First of the trajectory of all launches is such that if anything bad ever did occur it would happen ver the ocean. Which is why no bits of challenger landed on people's houses. Second The nuclear power source in many of these designs is not very large your only talking a few Kg's of nuclear material, and That's a lot. Typically i's more like grams. Nuclear energy sources use the natural heat of the isotope, not the actual fision process, this requires much less material. Do the calculation, how much U-238 do you need so it's still around 10 years from now, not much.
The point isn't that your saving money on the fuel the point is which launch system you use. A nuclear rocket is not carrying as much mass in fuel as a chemical rocket. While launching a chemical rocket capable of interplanetary transfer may require a launch vehicle the size of an Arienne-5 a nuclear rocket which has less mass may require only a pegasus.
-Mishra
Slashdot Mirror
Your argument is rather stupid frankly. How something came about has nothing to do with it's functionality. How can you trust any machine then, since it was created by human beings which are flawed creatures? There are plenty of examples of things being created randomly yet working well and reliably, i point you to the volumes of research on genetic algorithms.(which to me are excellent examples of how evolution works) Genetic algortithms often write code which is far superior to human code, yet come about through randomness. I would also point out that networks use probability functions in many of thier algorithms, yet they work fine. If i choose to make a sandwich, by using two different methods one in which I carefully arrange the ingredients, the other where I randomly pile then together, it still doesn't change what the eventual outcome will be a sandwich. It's just that one method takes a lot longer than the other.
-Mishra
I think most of you are missing the point of what open courseware is trying to accomplish. In typical slashdot fashion you're looking at this through CS eyes. MIT however teaches much more than CS. Certification may be all well and good for programmers, but what about Aerospace engineers? As a recent graduate from the hell known as course 16 I can attest that my MIT education is not something you could get from simply reading. Almost all of my classes involved projects and getting my hands dirty in one way or another once I advanced beyond basic knowledge. MIT is publishing its course material as a guide, a primer as to what goes into making some of the best engineers in the world. In no way shape or form however is this inteneded to replace a university education.
-Mishra
Akira is about a theme that has been touched on by many Sci-Fi authors. That the ultimate form of evolution for human beings will be when we achive Pure energy. Humans will become a conciousness of unlimited power. In akira the government is performing expirements on children in attempts to tap into some of this power. Akira went to far fully transforming into an energy being an the power of his transformation destroyed the city. Tetsuo eventually becomes so powerful the same thing happens. meanwhile though as he's transforming he loses control of his body. Akira returns to help Tetsuo Transfrom, and together they use the energy realeased from Tetsuos Rebirth to create a new universe of which they are the gods, hence the whole Galaxies and Stuff at the end.
Of course this is by no means definative, this is just my take on the movie, that's what makes it so good, that it's open to interpretation.
-Mishra
Well the MIT Mirco Jet engines would probably do the job. These are gas turbine engines about the size of a postage stamp. They can be used for generating power or on small UAV's(unmannned aireal vehicles). These are one of the nano technology projects currently being developed at the school. While there's still a ways to go on the engines certainly part of that 50 million will help.
-Mishra
Prepare to be corrected. It's a common misconception that rockets simply explode for no good reason. while this can happen it's frankly rare on a flight tested vehicle. Usually when a rocket explodes it is detonated by controllers on the ground. The saftey mechanism on a nuclear rocket would most likely be designed to vaporized the uranium, thus sending it into the upper atmosphere where frankly it's not going to hurt anybody. It would take years for the stuff to come down, and would do so in such small amounts there probably wouldn't even be an increase in background radiation.
-Mishra
That is a very uninformed assumption. First of the trajectory of all launches is such that if anything bad ever did occur it would happen ver the ocean. Which is why no bits of challenger landed on people's houses. Second The nuclear power source in many of these designs is not very large your only talking a few Kg's of nuclear material, and That's a lot. Typically i's more like grams. Nuclear energy sources use the natural heat of the isotope, not the actual fision process, this requires much less material. Do the calculation, how much U-238 do you need so it's still around 10 years from now, not much.
-Mishra
The point isn't that your saving money on the fuel the point is which launch system you use. A nuclear rocket is not carrying as much mass in fuel as a chemical rocket. While launching a chemical rocket capable of interplanetary transfer may require a launch vehicle the size of an Arienne-5 a nuclear rocket which has less mass may require only a pegasus. -Mishra