453500+ entries in 1.083s
mircea_popescu: what is sailing ? and why has
the same
tech done different
things for
the dutch,
the english,
the spanish, and
the latins ?
decimation: yeah, but which alchemy
turned lead
to gold?
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform alchemy was not fundamentally
the same
thing for chinese and italians.
assbot: Logged on 25-06-2015 03:49:51; asciilifeform: because
there is no way
to effectively amortize
the astronomical costs without running a scam of one kind or another.
decimation: the 'two parties'
thing kinda became a convenient foil
to distract
the masses while
the bureaucracy runs
things
assbot: Logged on 25-06-2015 03:55:27; asciilifeform:
this is why i believe
that
the discovery of integrated circuit was a serious 'degutenbergization' from which we have not even begun
to recover.
mircea_popescu: the reason
the us has
two parties may have more
to do with
the indolent stolidity of
the usians minds
than any rule of nature.
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform let me just point out
that
the
theory of "unavoidable monopoly" has issues. for instance, cabs in buenos aires are still un=united.
decimation: yeah, it sounds like
the
turkish government
mircea_popescu: da fuckiung world we live in. viasat has been doing satellites forever. google is a newcomer in
the field. spacex is a newcomer in general. yet
the viasat ceo has
to explain why he,
the expert, is doing what he's doing.
the newb schmucks aren't expected
to explain
themselves.
mircea_popescu: why,
they're cute. everyone watches
their "journals" like kitten pics.
mircea_popescu: if we know
this is
the case,
the blocks change
to briock
their mining gear.
decimation: and if you want
to put a
txn on
the block, gotta meet
their
terms
decimation: what's going
to prevent
the situation where only
two or
three miners remain
decimation: as
the asic investment gets more expensive, it becomes more centralized and oliogopical
decimation: what about
the pile of asics
they gotta buy and feed?
decimation: seems like
they are 'commanders of capital' in
the classic robber-baron sense
assbot: Logged on 25-06-2015 04:39:01; decimation: but it would be nice for
the miner
to send a polite rejection 'add yer fee'
decimation: and of course, in retrospect everything looks like a good deal: "You should ask
the people who actually got
to pay for
the projects and got
to pay
the extra sums, whether
they are happy about it. Of course, later generations are happy about a project, because
they get it for free ride. "
mircea_popescu: nevertheless,
the actual behaviour works in nature. and has its own context.
this lacks both
those factors.
mircea_popescu: im unconvinced
this is stotting. i don't dispute it could be called
that, but
then again anything could.
mircea_popescu: what, it keeps
the muslims orderly in line
to raping
the spanish hos v 2.0 ?
assbot: Logged on 25-06-2015 04:36:15; asciilifeform: i will confess
that i've always found
the whole 'mempool'
thing
to be a dodge
decimation: what if one fortune
teller is amazingly accurate?
mircea_popescu: afaik
the entire
thing';s rubbishj, and if you're going
to hire fortune
tellers, always hire
the cheapest.
decimation: "That means
that we don't have any other buildings. It's equivalent
to
taking Frank Gehry, who is considered
the world's most famous architect by now and who is considered
to be in
the same league as Jørn Utzon regarding doing magic aesthetics and magic buildings. ...
That's
the cost of
the Sydney Opera House. It was not a success; it was a huge failure, in
those
terms. "
decimation: the megaprojects guy describes
the failure of
the sydney opera house: "The cost overrun was 1400%. And as always when cost overruns happen,
the architect was blamed, and his work situation became so uncomfortable, he found
that he actually left
the project in
the middle, with his family, and flew out of Australia, never
to return."
☟︎ decimation: he points out
that
the new guggenheim museum in bilbao spain delievered
decimation: well, for megaprojects ( > $1 bils)
the answer is almost none
mircea_popescu: what's
the project
that was on
time on budget and delivered ?
decimation:
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2015/05/bent_flyvbjerg.html > re: megaprojects: " Guest: No, it's actually worse
than
that. Nine out of
ten have costs
that are underestimated. Nine out of 10 have benefits
that are overestimated, and 9 out of 10 have schedules
that are underestimated. So, when you combine
those, it's actually a very small fraction of projects
that both are done
to budgets,
to schedule, and deliver
the promised benefit
decimation: asciilifeform: or
the 'drop nukes behind steel shell' method
mircea_popescu: we want 1k+ launch events each day, and we want a
total of 100
tons shipped upstairs a day.
decimation: it's probably more realistic
to launch small chemical rockets factory-style
mircea_popescu: but
the rail gun is more substantial
than most shit getting funded.
mircea_popescu: the rail gun is
the necessary next step after
the cern
decimation: for one
thing you would need a massive capacitor bank
decimation: the 'why not' is
the massive acceleration you have
to give with reasonable sized guns
decimation: yeah
the oneweb
thing is about an order of magnitude bigger at
trying
to do something
that has failed every
time it has been
tried
decimation: asciilifeform: aye,
that's why you also need
to align
mircea_popescu: anyway, nioce contract
to have. basically, it's a "build
this many launchers and fire
them continuously forever"
decimation: but
this isn't a simple matter either, obviously
decimation: no
they have magnets
to orient
themselves with earth's magnetic field
mircea_popescu: just give
them a little assymetry allow
them some limited self-righting
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform i would suspect
they'd have a minimal sail or something
decimation: and each satellite needs
to maintain its orbit, etc