undefined | Better HN

0 pointsf38zf5vdt3y ago0 comments

How many times have you or literally anyone you know achieved a state of the art breakthrough in the production of energy from a nuclear fusion reactor? Is this just another Monday to you?

0 comments

7 comments · 2 top-level

scottLobster3y ago· 5 in thread

For most people, yes it's just another Monday. Same way the observation of the Higgs Boson was just another day. Maybe worth an hour or two of curious investigation, but of no immediate consequence. Question is, are we watching the first Wright Brothers' flight, or are we watching one of the marginal glider improvements in the 19th century that would eventually contribute to the first Wright Brothers' flight 40 years later?

whimsicalism3y ago

For the vast majority of people, the Wright Brothers' flight was also "just another Monday [or whatever day it happened to be]".

It's a bad criterion for judging something noteworthy.

scottLobster3y ago

The potential for powered flight was clear to those who observed and didn't think they were lying. The Wright Brothers sold their improved designs to the US Army in 1908, just six years after their initial flight. 15 years after said initial flight you have massive formations of planes Dogfighting over France, conducting reconnaissance and dropping bombs.

15 years after whatever this breakthrough is will anything have changed outside of the lab? That remains to be seen, but I'll believe it when we see the data.

adamsb63y ago

In the case of the Wright Brothers, most people didn't even believe it. One factor at work was that they'd been primed by years of Respected Scientists saying that it was physically impossible.

The newspapers didn't cover it until random people started asking why the feats they'd seen with their own eyes weren't being written about.

https://www.wright-brothers.org/History_Wing/Aviations_Attic...

1 more reply

anyfoo3y ago

Like the ARPANET? That was even less of a notable Monday to the general populace, because I doubt any significant part of the public had a great interest in some universities being able to connect their at least fridge-size, expensive computers together similarly to how they were already able to do before, but now using "packets".

scottLobster3y ago

ARPANET was established in 1969, the internet as we know it started gaining traction in the 90s. So you're saying this "breakthrough" means we're 30 years away from the nuclear fusion equivalent of the dot-com boom? If that's true then I'm incredibly hyped, show me the data

1 more reply

Aeolun3y ago

How many times have you read yet another article on the most recent fantastic fusion breakthrough?

It certainly sounds like just another Monday to me.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

7 comments · 2 top-level

scottLobster3y ago· 5 in thread

whimsicalism3y ago

For the vast majority of people, the Wright Brothers' flight was also "just another Monday [or whatever day it happened to be]".

It's a bad criterion for judging something noteworthy.

scottLobster3y ago

15 years after whatever this breakthrough is will anything have changed outside of the lab? That remains to be seen, but I'll believe it when we see the data.

adamsb63y ago

In the case of the Wright Brothers, most people didn't even believe it. One factor at work was that they'd been primed by years of Respected Scientists saying that it was physically impossible.

The newspapers didn't cover it until random people started asking why the feats they'd seen with their own eyes weren't being written about.

https://www.wright-brothers.org/History_Wing/Aviations_Attic...

1 more reply

anyfoo3y ago

scottLobster3y ago

1 more reply

Aeolun3y ago

How many times have you read yet another article on the most recent fantastic fusion breakthrough?

It certainly sounds like just another Monday to me.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse