Hydrogen is only a medium for storing/transporting energy - it does not generate any more energy than used to produce it.... unless you have a working fusion reactor with an efficiency > 0.
1. Make hydrogen 2. Separate deuterium, use rest for fuel 3. ??? (the fusion reactor figures in here) 4. Energy !
And it's only ten years into the future. As usual.
It's not an effective way to store energy. Batteries are much better. Modern Lithium Ion batteries have energy density high enough to make all-electric vehicles more realistic.
Did they already figure out how to make Li-Ion batteries last longer than a few hundred recharge cycles ?
Announcements such as this one may cut "refueling" times of electric vehicles down to minutes, making them practical for long trips not just subarban commute.
Sorry, it's one thing to recharge a battery for a small portable electronic device in a few minutes. Recharging a battery that's supposed to hold several kWh poses another set of problems entirely.
If I ran a multinational company that was hit bad by this, I'd be in civil court suing the hell out of him right now. He deserves to be in jail, not reaping rewards for his behavior.
Sorry, but that's most likely the dumbass way to handle things.
1. Sue him. That puts the name of your company out in the open. Hello, we're the ones who give a shit about network security... your data's absolutely safe with us.
2. Sue him. Pay your lawyers big bucks. Win the case (maybe). Be awarded millions in damages. Will you ever see one cent ? Nope. Can't get water from a rock.
The least damaging way to handle things for the company is: Keep a low profile and do some major reorganization in your IT department.
Seems like NASA has missed the chance to answer this profound question raised by Sci-Fi enthusiast by not putting a microphone onboard the flyby probe.
Well, that's a different case. Since we've got the "loser pays" system over here, the "German guy" had to make sure that his cases had at least some legal foothold. He also did go to court in some cases and won. There are also some passages in trademark law over here that lend themselves very well to exploiting and extortion-like activities (basically, someone holding a trademark can ask a lawyer to send out letters to infringers of that trademark demanding that they stop and pay the lawyer's fee (usually XXXX ), _or_ go to court. Most people are cowed by this and pay, because they most likely thing they've infringed the trademark (for example, by mentioning the word on their web page) and think they will lose in court).
(And before a bunch of non-lawyers start demanding "loser pays", remember that "loser pays" just introduces other unfairnesses when the poor can't sue the rich.)
1. Isn't this already the case that the poor can't sure the rich ? 2. "Loser pays" means "only sue if you expect to win". It eliminates the possibility of draining your opponent of funds just by repeatedly suing them (and losing). 3. "Loser pays" works perfectly well in other parts of the civilized world (yes, they exist).
Actually, it is easy to verify that the appropriate body part is still attached to the living host body. Easy enough that it is simpler for an attacker to try and fool the system in a different way than by dismembering authorized users.
The much, much, much more interesting question is: What to do if the system has been compromised. Get new fingers/hands/eyeballs/DNA ?
Didn't happen, but not because of inaction. Communism was forced into bankruptcy, mainly through the arms race.
> - pesticides will kill all the animals in the world.
The process is still going on.
> - air pollution will make us all choke to death on sulphur and nitrogen oxides.
Also hasn't happened (yet), but not because of inaction. Sulphur content of gasoline has been reduced, catalytic converters have been made mandatory, etc. Still, the process has been slowed down. There are more than enough people dying from pollutants each year (maybe not by choking spectaculary, but by quietly wasting away from lung cancer and the like).
> - fluoridated water will turn us all into brain washed zombies.... at least we'll have good teeth. Seriously, though, whoever suggested that must be claiming that vaccinations cause autism today.
> - acid rain will kill all lakes and rivers.
The process is still ongoing, but has been slowed down. Oh, and acid rain kills forests, too.
- - the human population is growing uncontrolled, increasing exponentially. We'll have 12 Billion people on earth by 2020 AD and we'll be reduced to feeding on krill, algae and Soylent Green.... that was before the effects of AIDS became apparent. Wait, that's one prophecy of doom replacing another...
Besides, if we Americans could build a machine to manipulate global climate, we would also be building the ultimate terror weapon.
They already manipulate global climat... oh, wait, you meant "in a controlled manner", right ?
Or, what if we could build a machine to dramatically lower the CO2 content in the air?
It is already possible to do that (CO2 sequestration), but you need energy to do it (and how do you get that energy without releasing additional CO2 ?) and a place to store all the CO2 you extract from the air. Also, the relative CO2 content of air isn't very high (less than 1% afaik).
The trick would probably be to place the whole thing a bit farther away from the earth and use it as a giant solar sail to maintain its position relative to sun and earth.
I'd rate it right up there with nuclear-powered cars and the use of nuclear explosives in large-scale construction projects.
Whoever thought of this probably never considered the potential side-effects (most life on this planet depends on light) or that the main reason for global warming is not too much energy input by sunlight, but too much heat retention by the atmosphere.
Slashdot Mirror
Hydrogen is only a medium for storing/transporting energy - it does not generate any more energy than used to produce it. ... unless you have a working fusion reactor with an efficiency > 0.
1. Make hydrogen
2. Separate deuterium, use rest for fuel
3. ??? (the fusion reactor figures in here)
4. Energy !
And it's only ten years into the future. As usual.
Not true - Germany developed and used the first chemical weapons in WW1.
Nice try, but still not the first use of a WMD. Diseases have been used as such for centuries.
It's not an effective way to store energy. Batteries are much better. Modern Lithium Ion batteries have energy density high enough to make all-electric vehicles more realistic.
Did they already figure out how to make Li-Ion batteries last longer than a few hundred recharge cycles ?
Announcements such as this one may cut "refueling" times of electric vehicles down to minutes, making them practical for long trips not just subarban commute.
Sorry, it's one thing to recharge a battery for a small portable electronic device in a few minutes. Recharging a battery that's supposed to hold several kWh poses another set of problems entirely.
If I ran a multinational company that was hit bad by this, I'd be in civil court suing the hell out of him right now. He deserves to be in jail, not reaping rewards for his behavior.
... your data's absolutely safe with us.
Sorry, but that's most likely the dumbass way to handle things.
1. Sue him. That puts the name of your company out in the open. Hello, we're the ones who give a shit about network security
2. Sue him. Pay your lawyers big bucks. Win the case (maybe). Be awarded millions in damages. Will you ever see one cent ? Nope. Can't get water from a rock.
The least damaging way to handle things for the company is: Keep a low profile and do some major reorganization in your IT department.
... what did the explosion sound like.
Seems like NASA has missed the chance to answer this profound question raised by Sci-Fi enthusiast by not putting a microphone onboard the flyby probe.
Well, that's a different case. Since we've got the "loser pays" system over here, the "German guy" had to make sure that his cases had at least some legal foothold. He also did go to court in some cases and won. There are also some passages in trademark law over here that lend themselves very well to exploiting and extortion-like activities (basically, someone holding a trademark can ask a lawyer to send out letters to infringers of that trademark demanding that they stop and pay the lawyer's fee (usually XXXX ), _or_ go to court. Most people are cowed by this and pay, because they most likely thing they've infringed the trademark (for example, by mentioning the word on their web page) and think they will lose in court).
(And before a bunch of non-lawyers start demanding "loser pays", remember that "loser pays" just introduces other unfairnesses when the poor can't sue the rich.)
1. Isn't this already the case that the poor can't sure the rich ?
2. "Loser pays" means "only sue if you expect to win". It eliminates the possibility of draining your opponent of funds just by repeatedly suing them (and losing).
3. "Loser pays" works perfectly well in other parts of the civilized world (yes, they exist).
Yes, it works, and no, most people do not fish with explosives, for a variety of reasons (legal/safety/ethics/...)
... fish eat you.
.. better, stronger, faster.
Actually, it is easy to verify that the appropriate body part is still attached to the living host body. Easy enough that it is simpler for an attacker to try and fool the system in a different way than by dismembering authorized users.
The much, much, much more interesting question is: What to do if the system has been compromised. Get new fingers/hands/eyeballs/DNA ?
300% isn't even close to an order of magnitude.
> - Communists will enslave everyone on Earth.
... at least we'll have good teeth. Seriously, though, whoever suggested that must be claiming that vaccinations cause autism today.
... that was before the effects of AIDS became apparent. Wait, that's one prophecy of doom replacing another ...
Didn't happen, but not because of inaction. Communism was forced into bankruptcy, mainly through the arms race.
> - pesticides will kill all the animals in the world.
The process is still going on.
> - air pollution will make us all choke to death on sulphur and nitrogen oxides.
Also hasn't happened (yet), but not because of inaction. Sulphur content of gasoline has been reduced, catalytic converters have been made mandatory, etc. Still, the process has been slowed down.
There are more than enough people dying from pollutants each year (maybe not by choking spectaculary, but by quietly wasting away from lung cancer and the like).
> - fluoridated water will turn us all into brain washed zombies.
> - acid rain will kill all lakes and rivers.
The process is still ongoing, but has been slowed down. Oh, and acid rain kills forests, too.
- - the human population is growing uncontrolled, increasing exponentially. We'll have 12 Billion people on earth by 2020 AD and we'll be reduced to feeding on krill, algae and Soylent Green.
Besides, if we Americans could build a machine to manipulate global climate, we would also be building the ultimate terror weapon.
... oh, wait, you meant "in a controlled manner", right ?
They already manipulate global climat
Or, what if we could build a machine to dramatically lower the CO2 content in the air?
It is already possible to do that (CO2 sequestration), but you need energy to do it (and how do you get that energy without releasing additional CO2 ?) and a place to store all the CO2 you extract from the air. Also, the relative CO2 content of air isn't very high (less than 1% afaik).
The trick would probably be to place the whole thing a bit farther away from the earth and use it as a giant solar sail to maintain its position relative to sun and earth.
Now, whoever had control of this contraption could also use it as the perfect weapon. You don't agree with us ? Fine, it's lights out for you then.
I'd rate it right up there with nuclear-powered cars and the use of nuclear explosives in large-scale construction projects. Whoever thought of this probably never considered the potential side-effects (most life on this planet depends on light) or that the main reason for global warming is not too much energy input by sunlight, but too much heat retention by the atmosphere.