OT: solution to our water problems?

[outtamojo]

Lockheed says makes breakthrough on fusion energy project http://news.yahoo.com/lockheed-says-makes-breakthrough-fusion-energy-project-123840986–finance.html

Power has always held desalination back. If they can do this cheaply tesla is going to be huuuuge. Changes in our lives are gonna be huuuuge.
If ebola doesn’t get us first (just kidding).

Or is this just pie in the sky again?

[The-Shoveler]

I don’t think this is pie in the sky, if skunkworks says they can do it, I believe them.
Yep we are about to enter the age of abundance.

This will transform everything.

[outtamojo]

“Yep we are about to enter the age of abundance”

Say hello to heart disease and liposuction – I hope I’m still around to see us driving hovercrafts to work.

[The-Shoveler]

I really think this and other developments (U.S. Oil production etc…) are what’s behind a lot of what is occurring in the mid-east and Russia,
Nations that rely on Oil production as their economic drivers are about to be made irrelevant and they know it.

[outtamojo]

A link with more detail http://sploid.gizmodo.com/lockheed-martins-new-fusion-reactor-design-can-change-h-1646578094

I’ve been accused of being too pollyannaish before but if this works it would behoove us to share with the world.

[FlyerInHi]

A nationwide pipeline.

[The-Shoveler]

It just needs to feed into lake powell.

but you have to admit the fusion thing is cool !!

We (the U.S.A.) are sitting really good right now IMO.

never mind the naysayers.

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=The-Shoveler]

We (the U.S.A.) are sitting really good right now IMO.

never mind the naysayers.[/quote]

Yes, we’re looking good. We have the demographics and the resources.

Also flexible immigration policies allow us to adjust as necessary to maximize economic growth (as compared to the rest of the developed world).

I’m pretty upbeat on the future.
Did you see 3D printing building technology?
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/video/2014/apr/29/3d-printer-builds-houses-china-video

[spdrun]

We shouldn’t maximize growth for the sake of growth — we should maximize human happiness.

The fusion reactor would be awesome if it works, but I’ll believe it when I see a working prototype that exceeds breakeven by a sizable margin. We’ve been five years away for the past twenty-five years.

However, we were given a free fusion reactor up in the sky whose fuel will last a few billion years more. We should be doing more to harness its power. With a worldwide superconducting power grid to smooth out variations in sunlight, we could do pretty darn well with existing technology.

We should also be working on portable fusion reactors, but I see them as being more useful for things like long-term space travel. (There’s also the question of output – will they produce undesired radioisotopes?)

[FlyerInHi]

I don’t think that we can maximize human happiness because everyone’s definition is different.

Just maximize purchasing power and let people find their own happiness.

Let’s take housing… in USA, we can still buy a lot of house for our money, more than the rest of the developed world.

[spdrun]

But why FORCE people to maximize their purchasing power? There should be more of a place for people who want to take it slow, and say work two 30-35 hour a day jobs between a married couple (thus having approx the same # of working hours per week as a couple did in the 70s). No stigma should be attached to that.

And things like health insurance and retirement benefits should be 100% divorced from employment in order to minimize fixed costs of hiring. And thus the cost difference between three people working 35 hours a week and two working 52.5 each. If that’s socialism, then I’m proudly a socialist in this respect.

[CA renter]

Hate to break it to you, spdrun, but you’re a socialist. 😉

And I agree with everything you’ve said here.

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