That’s a first-rate hunker.

In 2003 Liftport forecast they would build the first space elevator by 2018. Since then, nobody has been able to solve the problem of catalysts gradually degrading, and other issues that limit the length of carbon nanotubes to about half a meter. So research has mostly given up on trying to make really long nanotubes tubes and is focused on weaving shorter ones together into a “yarn”. But the yarn has only 1 or 2% of the tensile strength of individual nanotubes - too weak to be a tether material.

So it’s not like there’s a steady stream of progress. The field seems to be waiting for a new revolutionary nanotube making process that avoids the original problems. Recent forecasts I’ve seen don’t expect the tech to get here until near the end of this century. With climate change becoming a more pressing issue (finally) my bet is more like well into the next century. That’s what makes me think better, cheaper rocket propulsion will come along sooner.

Actually tho, that’s the exact way uppity assholes operate.

I learned the same general thing through doing theatre. I reframe the interview so it’s not an interview at all - I already work there and it’s my first day back from some kind of sabbatical. I’m really looking forward to seeing the old group again. We get along great and our manager is awesome. Can’t wait! So when I walk in I’m in that character and feel genuinely glad to be there and happy to see everybody. Cultural fit kicks in right away. I feel like I belong there and so do they. Works great.

When I can’t find something in the house after searching for a few minutes, I make a conscious decision to give up and take another approach - go buy the missing tool again, use a different material, whatever. The point is to decide it doesn’t matter where the thing is. Most of the time I immediately look right at whatever I was looking for - as in within a few seconds. Family members are used to hearing me say out loud, “I’m just gonna go to Tru-Value and get another - Oh, here it is!” It works that fast and is very reliable.

My theory about this is that part of my brain knows where the item is all along, but enjoys the treasure hunt and won’t let the information come to the conscious level. But once I sincerely decide to give up the search - it has to be a genuine decision, there’s no faking it - that part of my brain knows the game is over and reveals where the thing is. But who knows, I’m no psychologist.

No big mystery if that’s AI’s real network room.

TBF it’s not “already under investigation” as if something bad already happened. It and other robo-cabs are being evaluated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for conformance to new safety standards designed to accommodate self-driving cars - such as not requiring them to have steering wheels or brake pedals.

I was young when the Voyagers were launched. It’s really freaky to me that I’m retired now and they’re barely out of the solar system. Also that their puny computers, which my phone outperforms by many orders of magnitude, are not only still working but updatable after all this time.

while maintaining normal earth gravity or slightly more

…or so much more that it breaks your arms so you can’t reach the controls to get home. Ooopsie!

Space elevators. I used to be a huge fan but I’ve lost faith in the concept. For one thing, there’s been little progress toward creating the unfathomably long carbon fiber tether - about 35,000 km (22000 mi). Then there’s the tether’s vulnerability to damage or destruction - a fixed target in an unstable world. A break means total failure. We also have no idea how the material would degrade over time. Not that the technology is impossible, I just expect space travel to become cheap enough to make space elevators obsolete long before the tech is there to build them.

I wouldn’t call you a hypocrite, let alone a massive fucking one, but definitely self-absorbed and guilty of overgeneralizing one person to a whole generation - which is not only grossly inaccurate but I think is more significant than being annoyed by throwaway words, which is more of a little pet peeve. Do you srsly categorize your friends as “my GenZ friend” or “the boomer guy I work with” etc? That’s kinda fucked up, and I say “kinda” because it’s not like you burned down an orphanage or anything.

IMO if it was a baseball when you launched it, you used a baseball.

That’s okay, an overestimate provides a bracket. If the cannon turns out to be way too much, we know the right speed is somewhere between human-thrown and cannon-fired. Then it’s a matter of reducing the parameters until they’re barely enough to work.

That might be okay though. The ball doesn’t necessarily have to be intact when it hits the pitcher - if it becomes a stream of smaller particles they still might be energetic enough to do the job.

asking for a friend

It means most things hardline conservatives are angry or paranoid about are misperceptions, not realities. For example, most people who are different from you aren’t out to get you.

I’m a devoted user of blocking. Happy to converse with people who take issue with my comments, but if they shift into angry insult mode, or all they’re doing is arguing against their own weird extrapolations of something, that’s when they get blocked. There are plenty of people in the world who are able to act civil when they don’t agree with somebody. There’s really no need to bother with the ones who can’t.

No, blocking confirms freedom to ignore.

You can always “block” (i.e. not use) forums and platforms that don’t work the way you like.

There are fewer right-wingers in academia, and they tend to work at schools with right-wing orientations. Turns out reality has a liberal bias.