whether it is suppressed or not, over the long term, if it works then someone will reproduce the results ( and given the basic research is available in the journals it will be easier for someone to rebuild a working system from basic principles ).
Basically what it comes down to, is that if this works, the cat is out of the bag.
what really is key, is whether the energy expended to produce the fusion is more or less than the energy produced. If there is an overall 'profit' in energy then its worthy, no matter how inefficient the extraction method.
This thing produces a flood of neutrons - ionising radiation. if these can be directed they can be focused on a flow of neutral atoms or molecules, ionising them and thus producing a flow of ions. flow of ions = flow of current which can be extracted by induction methods.
please feel free to berate me if i have got this wrong?
Re:Spaceflight as a religious endeavour
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The Wrong Stuff
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· Score: 1
With our current understanding of genetics, we probably could continue with just a few hundred. as long as care is taken about choosing them, to maximise genetic variation - and possibly a little germline gene therapy to accelerate mutation to provide additional variation, we should be able to survive.
Troops using these would probably be best used for fast strikes in rough or urban terrain - imagine somewhere ( eg what was yugoslavia ) where the terrain isnt exactly appropriate for tanks. Thes units would move in quickly, would be too tough for regular infantry to take out ( mount antipersonnel fragmentation grenade launchers for all-round defence ) destroy key enemy weapons and supplies and get out again - thus destroying key enemy resources in a single strike. And because of the size of the armour, it is not limited by the terrain or buildings.
Equip the pilot with quick-connect points wired between sensors in the body and his nerves to give some sort of sensory feedback from the exoskeletons outer surface ( appropriate research has already been done to enable people with artificial limbs to have a basic sense of touch ). Build a neural network in to the motor control system that learns the reactions of its user. This will mean that if anyone else uses that pilots exoskeleton it will not react as well, but it will get better and better the more a particular pilot uses it. ( actually, by using different profiles for different pilots, it would simply be a matter of 'logging on ' as the appropriate profile ). Actuators I'm not sure of, but I seem to remember some recent research on 'polymer muscles' - I'm sure someone can come up with a reference.
For the Armour, how about a skin made up of layers of woven buckmisterfullerine wire - this stuff is tough.
IMHO Whats needed is to get some real expertise in man-machine interfaces involved - I am sure there are a great number in the academic community ( psychology / human perception / cybernetics graduates and lecturers ) who I believe would be more than happy to give their input on taking the GUI in a whole new direction, and try and get away from the Desktop interface model entirely. The model in itself is/was good - but is limited when the information being used is no longer local or centralised, but distributed. An example of one of my favourite non - 2D / Desktop/Folder interfaces is the PLUMBDESIGN THESAURUS. It would be nice to see something more intuitive at a basic level than the desktop. Klik
What would that feel like? for your conciousness to slowly move in to a virtual form, your old mind slowly blinking out of existence, but simultaneously continuing in the computer?
take a look at the cyberlink at http://www.brainfingers.com If that could be integrated with the wearable, you could have a 3D interface - no need for a keyboard, you have a software 'widget' that displays a virtual keyboard, and you think the cursor to the characters you need. Also, if good head position tracking is available, you could have a transparent version of the visor, that could overlay information on to the environment around you ( exact position relative to the data on your environment could be done with gps and some form of inertial tracking - calculating how fast you are moving in what direction from a known point of reference, which could be updated when you are not moving by multiple checks and averages against gps data). I think a situation like an engineer being able to look at a complex circuit or mechanism, and have an overlay of things such as known points of failure on a circuit, or metal fatigue data on a mechanism would be a pretty killer app for this. Also, attach a camera to it, and whenever you meet someone, it could compare the persons image to a history of contacts, identify the individual and display details as an overlay to what you see. A definite case of 'enhanced reality'. Klik Don't fear the future. Build It.
You could probably power these things by taking advantage of the kinetic energy in the environment they are in, or take advantage of free radicals if they were used in a biological system.
You could get the smarts by making them capable of communicating with each other, and acting as a neural network . I'm not sure how the specifics of this would work, but instead of building relatively complicated processing ability on, you make each nanite a node on a neural network.
Slashdot Mirror
small round balls that scream... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114367/
if the bonobos still exist. there has been a distinct lack of them in the wild - the locals hunt them for bushmeat.
hmmm.
:
The United Kindom has a word for that role
Lord Protector.
look it up.
whether it is suppressed or not, over the long term, if it works then someone will reproduce the results ( and given the basic research is available in the journals it will be easier for someone to rebuild a working system from basic principles ).
Basically what it comes down to, is that if this works, the cat is out of the bag.
what really is key, is whether the energy expended to produce the fusion is more or less than the energy produced. If there is an overall 'profit' in energy then its worthy, no matter how inefficient the extraction method.
This thing produces a flood of neutrons - ionising radiation. if these can be directed they can be focused on a flow of neutral atoms or molecules, ionising them and thus producing a flow of ions. flow of ions = flow of current which can be extracted by induction methods.
please feel free to berate me if i have got this wrong?
With our current understanding of genetics, we probably could continue with just a few hundred. as long as care is taken about choosing them, to maximise genetic variation - and possibly a little germline gene therapy to accelerate mutation to provide additional variation, we should be able to survive.
Troops using these would probably be best used for fast strikes in rough or urban terrain - imagine somewhere ( eg what was yugoslavia ) where the terrain isnt exactly appropriate for tanks. Thes units would move in quickly, would be too tough for regular infantry to take out ( mount antipersonnel fragmentation grenade launchers for all-round defence ) destroy key enemy weapons and supplies and get out again - thus destroying key enemy resources in a single strike. And because of the size of the armour, it is not limited by the terrain or buildings.
There are options that may work.
Equip the pilot with quick-connect points wired between sensors in the body and his nerves to give some sort of sensory feedback from the exoskeletons outer surface ( appropriate research has already been done to enable people with artificial limbs to have a basic sense of touch ).
Build a neural network in to the motor control system that learns the reactions of its user. This will mean that if anyone else uses that pilots exoskeleton it will not react as well, but it will get better and better the more a particular pilot uses it. ( actually, by using different profiles for different pilots, it would simply be a matter of 'logging on ' as the appropriate profile ). Actuators I'm not sure of, but I seem to remember some recent research on 'polymer muscles' - I'm sure someone can come up with a reference.
For the Armour, how about a skin made up of layers of woven buckmisterfullerine wire - this stuff is tough.
And so it begins...
IMHO Whats needed is to get some real expertise in man-machine interfaces involved - I am sure there are a great number in the academic community ( psychology / human perception / cybernetics graduates and lecturers ) who I believe would be more than happy to give their input on taking the GUI in a whole new direction, and try and get away from the Desktop interface model entirely. The model in itself is/was good - but is limited when the information being used is no longer local or centralised, but distributed. An example of one of my favourite non - 2D / Desktop/Folder interfaces is the PLUMBDESIGN THESAURUS. It would be nice to see something more intuitive at a basic level than the desktop. Klik
What would that feel like? for your conciousness to slowly move in to a virtual form, your old mind slowly blinking out of existence, but simultaneously continuing in the computer?
take a look at the cyberlink at http://www.brainfingers.com If that could be integrated with the wearable, you could have a 3D interface - no need for a keyboard, you have a software 'widget' that displays a virtual keyboard, and you think the cursor to the characters you need. Also, if good head position tracking is available, you could have a transparent version of the visor, that could overlay information on to the environment around you ( exact position relative to the data on your environment could be done with gps and some form of inertial tracking - calculating how fast you are moving in what direction from a known point of reference, which could be updated when you are not moving by multiple checks and averages against gps data). I think a situation like an engineer being able to look at a complex circuit or mechanism, and have an overlay of things such as known points of failure on a circuit, or metal fatigue data on a mechanism would be a pretty killer app for this. Also, attach a camera to it, and whenever you meet someone, it could compare the persons image to a history of contacts, identify the individual and display details as an overlay to what you see. A definite case of 'enhanced reality'. Klik Don't fear the future. Build It.
You could probably power these things by taking advantage of the kinetic energy in the environment they are in, or take advantage of free radicals if they were used in a biological system.
You could get the smarts by making them capable of communicating with each other, and acting as a neural network . I'm not sure how the specifics of this would work, but instead of building relatively complicated processing ability on, you make each nanite a node on a neural network.
...when somebody says somethings impossible, don't believe them...
KLIK