Friday, March 11, 2011

An Open Mind Doesn't Mean Letting Your Brains Leak Out

The greatest thing about being able to stand back and look objectively at things is you learn a lot! Sticking with a single ideology is really boring. My greatest strength as a manager was actually listening to the people that worked for me. Even though many had much lower educational backgrounds, they all had things to teach. It didn't take long for me to realize that everyone has a little Einstein and a little Dilbert in them. Of course, some had an affinity for their Dilbert, but I directed them to other career paths where I am sure their opportunities to get in touch with their inner Einstein were expanded.

I have even known liberals that were capable of rational thought. The problem is that the Einstein/Dilbert ratio fluctuates in a pseudo-noise encrypted pattern. Since some of you may have forgotten your spread spectrum communications systems primers, Pseudo-noise is a sequence of information intended to appear completely incoherent, like noise. If you know the sequence you can decipher the message concealed in the sequence. Actress Heddi Lamar is credited with the concept and design of spread spectrum communications systems. Her first system was called frequency hopping. A message was divided between a number of different radio frequencies so that if you knew the sequence of frequencies to be used, you could hear the entire message by jumping at the right time to the next frequency.

The reasons I propose that Einstein/Dilbert fluctuates in Psuedo-noise patterns rather than truly random patterns, is that a pattern appears to exist. This is fairly obvious if you discuss any meaningful but controversial subject. Knowing the person's ideological tenancies, you can anticipate, to a point, Einstein/Dilbert responses to elements of the topic. By synchronizing your Einstein/Dilbert with the other person's Einstein/Dilbert, a coherent conversation can take place. As the Einstein/Dilbert ratio approaches infinity the quality of the conversation approaches perfection. An Einstein/Dilbert ratio greater than or equal to 1 is the minimum required for normal understanding.

Improving communication of information on blogs for example requires adjusting the Einstein/Dilbert responses, interjecting or removing Dilberts as required will maintain a reasonable level of conversation. The advantage of removing Dilberts is obvious, eliminate the Dilberts and there are only Einsteins. The advantage of interjecting Dilberts requires the understanding of Pseudo-noise encrypted communications theory in a chaotic communications environment and the law of biased ideological phraseology. As Einsteins are limited to a small percentage of population and Dilberts are unbounded, pure Einsteinian conversation is only theoretical.

In our next installment we will discuss the basics of Ideological Phraseology.

6 comments:

Brian H said...

Hm. What you got against Dilbert? He's the only sane one in his environment.
Edit nag:
Despite your insistent repetition, "psuedo" is not correct. It's "pseudo". :) Honest Injun!

As for hydrogen: it's an energy storage or "battery" option. Generating, distributing, and containing it are toughies, though.

My bets are on fusion: see LPPhysics.com for a project that may transform the world this decade. How does power without waste at <0.5¢/kwh sound to you?

Here's a copy of an email I sent to someone asking about it recently:

There's a small outfit that's been getting by on strictly private financing for years, and got enough of a boost in late '08 to build an "experimental cell", basically a small research structure. It's working on a kind of mini-fusion generator, using the principle of micro-bursts of magnetically self-constrained plasma "implosions".

It is far closer to "break even" / "unity" (equal energy produced to energy input) than any other program (as far as is known; some of the projects are very secretive). In fact, had it not been for having to do their own upgrades to the ultra-fast power switches they purchased and which actually performed only about half as well as promised, they'd probably have succeeded last year. But things are starting to pop, now.

The firm is Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, and the process is Focus Fusion (links below). The generator built around the tiny (size/shape of your palm with fingers upstretched) fusion core will be about that of a suburban garage, including "walk-around" service space, able to be packaged prefab in a standard shipping container and sent anywhere. It's projected output to begin is about 5MW; as cooling technology improves over time, that may rise as high as 20-25MW.

But its advantages are immense:
-- no waste (output material is standard Helium-4)
-- no radioactivity (even during operation, about the same as a classroom full of kids!)
-- unlimited fuel (boron/hydrogen); on-planet supplies estimated to be adequate for a couple of billion years at 10X current total global electric output)
-- Costs of construction/installation and of operation/fueling are estimated to be around 1/20 - 1/10 of the very best North American retail now in use. (It could make money billing power at about ¼¢/kwh or so). An individual generator would be about $250,000-$300,000 FOB factory door. Maybe even dropping substantially in mass production!

--Cont

Brian H said...

--Cont

The intention is to have a production-grade prototype engineered in about 2-4 years, at which point licenses will be made readily and very reasonably available to manufacturers anywhere in the world. Those outfits would distribute and sell etc. to local markets according to their own circumstances, opportunities, regulations, and so on.

The consequence of that strategy is that no jurisdiction, region, state or country will be in a position to either hold off or block deployment; the economic disadvantage of continuing to use expensive power when others were not would be ruinous.

So, with regards to CO2 and warming, etc., the issue goes away. No carbon in or out. For some applications, liquid fuels etc. will continue to be used, but that will be a mere fraction of current levels.

The applications are staggering. Very cheap desalination, pumping, irrigation etc. anywhere. Plasma-torch reduction of waste streams and existing dumped material etc. to basic valuable elements. Huge reductions in manufacturing costs (aluminum etc. will be much cheaper) across the board, resulting in a large de facto increase in individual purchasing power, for everyone -- massive "wealth" enhancement. Cost of agriculture, and of innovative new food sources like vertical "high-rise" farms, will drop significantly.

As the units will need brief servicing only 2-6 times a year, they can be installed even in isolated areas and monitored/controlled in bunches remotely. (No danger of runaway or breakdowns, etc. Any such would just cause the unit to stop working.) The "grid overload" problem vanishes, because generation can be sited close to use, also resulting in huge savings in transmission losses currently suffered.

All the hyper-expensive "renewables" boondoggles are instant economic roadkill. A booming business recycling wind turbines' and solar cells' metals and rare elements develops. (See plasma torch, above.)

International trade booms, as fusion-powered shipping becomes much cheaper. Electric cars gain another huge boost in cost/mile advantage. Electric trains or fusion-powered locomotives become very cost-effective.

And so on.

Track the project at LPPhysics.com and focusfusion.org .
Here're links to some recent monthly updates, etc:
http://focusfusion.org/index.php/site/category/C73/
http://focusfusion.org/index.php/site/category/C30/
(The Feb. report/update is expected shortly.)

Speaking of which, LPP is absolutely unparalleled in their openness about the design, process, and progress. Other initiatives are either behind government secrecy walls, or proprietary commercial ones.

Any questions, comments, etc., please get back to me (or get involved in the forums on the FF site.)

brianfh@yahoo.ca

Brian H said...

Correction to text email addy above:
brianfh01@yahoo.ca
The name-linked version is correct.

Brian H said...

Hm. Looks like the second part of my post got cut out because of live links. Here it is with the liveness eliminated:
--Cont

The intention is to have a production-grade prototype engineered in about 2-4 years, at which point licenses will be made readily and very reasonably available to manufacturers anywhere in the world. Those outfits would distribute and sell etc. to local markets according to their own circumstances, opportunities, regulations, and so on.

The consequence of that strategy is that no jurisdiction, region, state or country will be in a position to either hold off or block deployment; the economic disadvantage of continuing to use expensive power when others were not would be ruinous.

So, with regards to CO2 and warming, etc., the issue goes away. No carbon in or out. For some applications, liquid fuels etc. will continue to be used, but that will be a mere fraction of current levels.

The applications are staggering. Very cheap desalination, pumping, irrigation etc. anywhere. Plasma-torch reduction of waste streams and existing dumped material etc. to basic valuable elements. Huge reductions in manufacturing costs (aluminum etc. will be much cheaper) across the board, resulting in a large de facto increase in individual purchasing power, for everyone -- massive "wealth" enhancement. Cost of agriculture, and of innovative new food sources like vertical "high-rise" farms, will drop significantly.

As the units will need brief servicing only 2-6 times a year, they can be installed even in isolated areas and monitored/controlled in bunches remotely. (No danger of runaway or breakdowns, etc. Any such would just cause the unit to stop working.) The "grid overload" problem vanishes, because generation can be sited close to use, also resulting in huge savings in transmission losses currently suffered.

All the hyper-expensive "renewables" boondoggles are instant economic roadkill. A booming business recycling wind turbines' and solar cells' metals and rare elements develops. (See plasma torch, above.)

International trade booms, as fusion-powered shipping becomes much cheaper. Electric cars gain another huge boost in cost/mile advantage. Electric trains or fusion-powered locomotives become very cost-effective.

And so on.

Track the project at LPPhysics.com and focusfusion.org .
Here're links to some recent monthly updates, etc:
focusfusion.org/index.php/site/category/C73/
focusfusion.org/index.php/site/category/C30/
(The Feb. report/update is expected shortly.)

Speaking of which, LPP is absolutely unparalleled in their openness about the design, process, and progress. Other initiatives are either behind government secrecy walls, or proprietary commercial ones.

Any questions, comments, etc., please get back to me (or get involved in the forums on the FF site.)

brianfh01-at-yahoo.ca

Brian H said...

Another attempt at the "continued"; blogger is having a problem (I guess) with links, even "dead" ones:
--Cont
The intention is to have a production-grade prototype engineered in about 2-4 years, at which point licenses will be made readily and very reasonably available to manufacturers anywhere in the world. Those outfits would distribute and sell etc. to local markets according to their own circumstances, opportunities, regulations, and so on.

The consequence of that strategy is that no jurisdiction, region, state or country will be in a position to either hold off or block deployment; the economic disadvantage of continuing to use expensive power when others were not would be ruinous.

So, with regards to CO2 and warming, etc., the issue goes away. No carbon in or out. For some applications, liquid fuels etc. will continue to be used, but that will be a mere fraction of current levels.

The applications are staggering. Very cheap desalination, pumping, irrigation etc. anywhere. Plasma-torch reduction of waste streams and existing dumped material etc. to basic valuable elements. Huge reductions in manufacturing costs (aluminum etc. will be much cheaper) across the board, resulting in a large de facto increase in individual purchasing power, for everyone -- massive "wealth" enhancement. Cost of agriculture, and of innovative new food sources like vertical "high-rise" farms, will drop significantly.

As the units will need brief servicing only 2-6 times a year, they can be installed even in isolated areas and monitored/controlled in bunches remotely. (No danger of runaway or breakdowns, etc. Any such would just cause the unit to stop working.) The "grid overload" problem vanishes, because generation can be sited close to use, also resulting in huge savings in transmission losses currently suffered.

All the hyper-expensive "renewables" boondoggles are instant economic roadkill. A booming business recycling wind turbines' and solar cells' metals and rare elements develops. (See plasma torch, above.)

International trade booms, as fusion-powered shipping becomes much cheaper. Electric cars gain another huge boost in cost/mile advantage. Electric trains or fusion-powered locomotives become very cost-effective.

And so on.

Track the project at LPPhysics.com and focusfusion.org .
Here're links to some recent monthly updates, etc:
focusfusion-dot-org/index-dot-php/site/category/C73/
focusfusion-dot-org/index-dot-php/site/category/C30/
(The Feb. report/update is expected shortly.)
[replace above, -dot- with . ]

Speaking of which, LPP is absolutely unparalleled in their openness about the design, process, and progress. Other initiatives are either behind government secrecy walls, or proprietary commercial ones.

Any questions, comments, etc., please get back to me (or get involved in the forums on the FF site.)

brianfh01-at-yahoo.ca

Recovering in the Florida Keys said...

Hey, thanks for catching pseudo, my brain was leaking out. I mention ever where that hydrogen is a storage not an energy source, missed it this post.

Fusion would be nice. I am afraid that the real timing 'til practical is too far out at this point.

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