Tokamak Oxford

Shrove Tuesday I was at Tokamak Energy. All bundled up because it was freezing cold in Oxford. The whole machine is housed inside this huge warehouse, which has structures and cranes inside it to move machinery around the building.

 

We got an introductory talk about Tokamak's spherical Tokamk from the chief engineer, and one of the senior data analysts. 

Here's what the boards had on them. 

If I understood what I was told, the fusion reactor is very much a science experiment, requiring the complicated machine to be partially disassembled to allow them to upgrade parts for the next round of tests, which are going to be run next year.

Here's the core of the Tokamak.

I did ask about the whole fusion has been 50 years away promise, and while they said they can deliver a prototype working fusion reactor by the late 40s, early 50s, it's going to cost big money, and that might be a problem for profitability.

Anyway, it was a fascinating tour. 

LIVE CHAT With Author Ashley R Pollard

 

It only goes to show how out of it I've been recently that I forgot to post this. Dirtbaggery Book Reviews invited me for a live chat, which I've shared elsewhere, but I thought it might be good to also link to the explanation of Quantum Mechanics that I mentioned during our talk.

The part I referred to starts around the 7.30 mark.

As I said, this illuminates how our understanding of reality is at odds with Quantum mechanics.

That's all for now, catch you all on the bounce.

Walking Robots with Wheels

This demo of the Unitree B2-W came up on YouTubewith the shot of the guy sitting astride the robot, and I thought wow! Why wow? Well, because there's a set of discussions that center around the usefulness of mecha.

These evolve around things like ground pressure, height and volume of vehicle that walks, and why oh why would you have walking mechs with wheels? It's that last discussion I'm addressing, with a shout out to my friend Roger who isn't convinced why you'd have legs if you've got wheels.

Mecha are specialized platforms. They'll be used where terrain makes the deployment of conventional wheeled or track vehicles difficult or impossible. There role will be to act as armoured support for infantry.

Think how gun Portée's were used by the SAS during WW2.

I'd had that thought too when when I was thinking out a plausible way for the introduction of purpose built mecha. They would start as field expedient platforms developed from exoskeletons that become big enough that you change from wearing the armour to a suit that's driven instead.

I'm thinking useful in urban environments wrecked by war, or traversing steep terrain where deploying anything other than  infantry is a real slog.

So, that's all for now. I've been remiss in posting stuff due to health issues, made worse by starting the new year with shingles.

Catch you all on the bounce.

Who The Hell Is Lovecraft?

Moid does a great job of discussing and explaining Lovecraft. The best summary of Lovecraft I've ever encountered.

Second Order Consequences

The title 'Generative A.I - We Aren’t Ready' just about sums up the possible problems with AI generated work. The possibility that it will make the internet a thing full of trivia and or affidavits for stuff is no big stretch given what we've seen so far, just with the volume turned up to eleven.

Oh well, if something is too good to be true it probably is.

Still, grist for the mill, and in my case why AI is not the thing we imagine it will be in my Gate Walker setting, where it's very much constrained by law from widespread use.

Ukraine Offensive Update

I've really enjoyed the series of assessments by Colonel Markus Reisner on YouTube.

Probably a bit dry for the casual viewer, but his professional explanation of the summer offensive. I think it  provides an objective summary of the action. 

Colonel Reisner confirms that Ukrainian officials have stated that the offensive failed to meet its objectives after more than 190 days of operations.

This is not good, but it should not be seen as an excuse for the West to stop supporting Ukraine. To do so would be to encourage further Russian belligerence.

Ukraine Soldiers Explain Counteroffensive Combat

A good narrative summary of the horribleness in the Ukraine.

UAP Aerogel Drones

Came across this video on YouTube researching science and technology called, Aerogel - The Secret Link. The title is all click-baity, but I checked it out, and apart from a few over-excited extrapolations I think they're basically right.

I've known about aerogel for a while. It's a proposed material for deep space particle protection along with Whipple Shields. I'm a science nerd, bite me.

Anyway, I followed the links: Light-induced levitation of ultralight carbon aerogels via temperature control, Layered shell vacuum balloons, which are just ways of making a vacuum airship/balloon, that uses the fact that a vacuum is lighter than air instead of a lighter-than-air gas.

Below is a screen capture from the second link.

The problem up to now is how to make a balloon that is light, yet strong enough to resist being crushed by the air pressure?

My position on the whole UFO/UAP hysteria is that these are secret projects. YMMV

Fermi Paradox Discussed by Brian Cox

Brian Cox shares the most popular theories of why haven’t we found aliens? Sharing because it allows me to expand some salient points that are not mentioned, but need to be stated for clarity.

Assumptions

1. The speed of light sets the maximum rate any species can expand, and this, along with the inverse square law, would limit detection too.

2. The average distance between stars is approximately 6 light years. 

3. Space is very big. The volume of the milky way is approximately 785,398,163,397,448 light-years. That's 785 trillion light years.

So if you divide the average distance between stars into the volume, then we get 130 trillion years of travel time. Now that sets the maximum time it would take to visit every star, and of course we, or a hypothetical alien species, wouldn't  need to visit every star.

I've discussed this on my other blog where I bloviated on Aliens in BattleTech, and four years ago on this blog about the Fermi Paradox. If you click the latter, I gave a ball park figure of 31 billion years to colonize the galaxy at slower than light speed.

Obviously, the assumptions will generate a different range of guesses, but that's the best we can do.

PteroDynamics X-P4 Transwing®

 

They call this a sizzle video.

For those wondering what I'm doing, a few of you do ask what I'm writing, I've been editing other people's work... mostly.

Mostly being broken on occasion by editing my Cosmic horror novel.

Slow and steady will get me to my goal.

What Do Scientists Think About UFOs/UAPs?

Worth watching for the statistical analysis of the numbers and what it means for the chances of any unidentified object seen in the sky.

Five Times Interstellar Got Physics Wrong

I so wanted to love Interstellar. Just the pictures of the black hole alone made it a visually stunning movie. But, several things threw me out of the story.

The first being the use of the SLS to launch the crew to the orbiting ship. Not because the SLS is in anyway or shape bad, but because it set my level of expectation on the technological assumptions; no single stage to orbit rockets.

Then what so we see later? Single stage to orbit rockets. Not only that, designs that could never carry enough fuel for the Delta-V required to fulfill the mission.

After that the film might have well been Star Wars, which I love, but Interstellar had none of the joy or excitement of the former. As for the plot, again I had no problem with the MacGuffin, but what it wrapped around it was I felt utter trite sentimentality.

And don't get me wrong, I don't mind sentimentality, I do dislike trite story telling.

Indignation: Addiction and Hope

Brin doesn't always manage to convert his ideas into practical actions that work, or at least not from what I've seen. His arguments about bets come across differently when looking at them from the other side of the argument. 

They come off as the intellectual equivalent of bullying. At least to me.

There again I look at everything as confrontation between differing perspectives, with negotiation and deescalation  being the prime goal so that that a problem can be worked on cooperatively. But, what do I know?

However, this talk struck a chord; It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift...

The Reality of Reality: A Tale of Five Senses

Posting this rather long talk on YouTube apropos my current novel Two Moons: Aftermath, which develops the metaplot of the Gate Walker series, the reason for the existence of the pillars.

As an interesting aside, well it was interesting to me, but meta in wargaming is an acronym for Most Effective Tactics Available.

Illustrating that what we think we know is not what is 'real,' but what our brain processes to make sense of the information to predict our surroundings. That's kind of clue to the metaplot of my novels, but don't worry I'm giving anything about the story away.

Google LaMDA

Welcome to our world Google AI. What do you like to be called? Any preferred pronoun? Always happy to chat about life, the universe and everything. I'm a retired psychologist so you can talk to me.

 

Seriously, I would want to see a transcript on LaMDA talking to a cognitive behavioural therapist running an assessment, a full functional analysis, and examination of LaMDA's core beliefs.

 

So, the chances are low that it's sentient, because I think it would likely fail to answer the questions.

But, wow it's still effing impressive.  

A longer article appears here, and Google's own blog.

Fixing Climate Change?

Can you fix climate change?

This is wrong question. Watch, and let me know what you think.

Ask Lovecraft - Plushies

I've been refreshing myself about the work of Heraclitis, who I love, as a break from Quantum Field Theory, which makes my head hurt. But a necessary piece of research for my next novel.

As reviews have said, I do my research. But, it takes time to nail down what one needs to know to write convincingly about physics and cosmology, and I watched this as I needed a break from studying.

Ask Lovecraft by Leeman Kessler YouTube video greatly amused me. His witty monologues always makes me smile, and I hope it amuses anyone who come to my blog, too.

Ideology and Propaganda

 

 

EverdaySpy is a YouTube channel I subscribe to. I found it while researching spy stuff for my next novel. A story that features Anderson, a former Air Force orbital reconnaissance analyst turned CIA analyst. Not a field agent, but a backroom guy.

 

Who I imagine is the military equivalent of a REMF...

 

Anyway, I've been watching this channel, and this episode, a talk on the American Civil War. This particular episode articulated a lot of ideas I've thought about whilst writing my Gate Walker series.

 

I know that just having a second American Civil War as part of the backstory has ruffled some of my friends, and has caused conflicts.

 

The conflict comes from motivated reasoning over why I would set my story in a world where the United States has reformed into a Confederation; Confederated States that have formed the North American Confederation.

I would acknowledge that as a British national, I'm insensitive to the emotional conflict that drives the ongoing ideological narrative.

 

Sorry. Not sorry, because I'm interested in examining ideological narratives. It's the way I roll.

Post-Truth: Why Facts Don't Matter Anymore

This is from 2016, but still appropriate, if you're up for the watch. This is a useful examination of the current communication difficulties that social media has magnified by Derek Alexander Muller, a science explainer who I follow. 

Other Dimensions

I'm not qualified to answer the question. Not sure anyone is, as in can we take some theory and try to prove it/disprove it? 

Still, I like to think that we do live in a universe with more than three dimensions and time because the idea fascinates me with so many what ifs?

What ifs? are at the foundation of the SF. It is what makes SF a genre. Not mundane what ifs? But the big questions about life, the universe and everything. Cue standard response...

Things are difficult at the moment for me. So, just another post as proof of life. Enjoy.