502800+ entries in 0.299s
mircea_popescu: people who casually do not realise
the importance of peak copper in limiting human history are invited
to read up on ww2 economic history
decimation: ^
toy jets don't have millisecond adjustable
thrust either
decimation: yeah but both piston &
turboprops/jets need golden
toilet metallurgy and production
mircea_popescu: whereas peak copper allows only
this much capacity ever being deployed.
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform peak oil vs peak copper. except peak oil allows an infinity of capacity
to be deployed as long as
the sum consumption is under X
mircea_popescu: but
then we're back
to rockets, and sure, "tile of rockets", consider
the mechanical problem
that got brushed asiude above
mircea_popescu: decimation
tiny
turboprop or jet works better
than
tiny engine yea
mircea_popescu: what if
the only reason electric seems cheap now is
that we don't use it.
mircea_popescu: or maybe
the only reason you
think so atm is because you're looking at
the dynamic equilibrium of proces as if it were static
mircea_popescu: and even
this 2 cc combustion engine will beat
the shit out of your electrical 10 watt engine
mircea_popescu: making a 2 cc combustion engine is more expensive
than 1/50 of making a 1000 cc one.
mircea_popescu: look, a combustion engine works from about half liter
to about five.
that's what it does.
decimation: actually one could imagine some copters joining
the swarm with horizontal attachment
mircea_popescu: if you look at
the relative size of a plane when it moves from
two
to four it's abundantly clear what
the sweetspot is like
mircea_popescu: decimation yes but
there's a reason
they have bipropellers and quad propellers, rather
than
thousandprops
decimation 's schooling failed
to include Norse myth
mircea_popescu: some very simple math : cheapo chinese copter
toy = $100. cessna, $100k. cessna powerplant = 100kW. chinese copter
toy = 10W
decimation: but ultimately fell
to USSR & USA's Levée en masse
decimation: Freiherr Hammerstein-Equord's 'method' (if
true) built one of
the greatest professional land armies
the world has every seen
decimation: "As King put it: "Winston Churchill once famously observed
that Americans will always do
the right
thing, only after
they have
tried everything else.""
decimation: re: Freiherr Hammerstein-Equord's quote < Yes, USG specializes in promoting
the stupid and industrious
decimation: and part of
the reason why he couldn't advance was because
the ministry's reforms of
the army
tended
to favor derpy nobles over young
talent
decimation: well according
to
the history
to which I have been listening, he was fustrated by his inability
to advance beyond a junior officer
mircea_popescu: what was
to recognise/promote ? guy was iirc a military officer with interests in mechanics.
decimation: except
the Carnot cycle guy was his son, I was mistaken
decimation: re: carnot < one of
the mistakes louis xvi made was not recognizing and promoting him
mircea_popescu: the golden standard (carnot cycle) is
too big generally, rather
than
too small.
mircea_popescu: the problem is
tho :
the electric machines suck specifically for being electric.
this isn't fixed by assembling more of
them.
mircea_popescu: seems exactly
the sort of
thing
to get freak compounding nonsense in.
decimation: they would need some kind of rods
to form a web
decimation: I wonder if
there is some kind of diminishing returns with having so many rotors in
the same area
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform a simple exercise : given each element applies a force F on a random vector, calculate
the shear force - probability function for a string of 100 such.
decimation: ah I see you want
them
to physically connect
together
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform it's also much harder
than it sounds, because of all sorts of scale effwects
BingoBoingo: <mircea_popescu> just my impression. << Seems right for an unexplained workweek long disappearance without warning, right after getting
things
to do
mircea_popescu: three hours with
the fucking ram because apparently no fucking blacksmith existed anymore.
assbot: Logged on 30-03-2015 17:41:02; nubbins`: did i mention
that i saw a cop help someone break into a house earlier?
mircea_popescu: at
the
time,
the united states was like, a world leader.