Unmasking Elon Musk

[pritch]

Musk is exhibiting enthusiasm for his new role. Unfortunately his enthusiasm is matched only by his ignorance. He has tweeted, “Defund the ACLU.” He apparently does not like civil liberties, well not for other people anyway.

It will evidently come as news to Musk but the American Civil Liberties Union does not receive government funding. It is an independent body. No savings to be made there.

[SaferRides]

So Elon's vision of a Tesla future of robotaxis and humanoid robots has wiped nearly 10% off the share value. He thinks that Tesla will be making 2 seat autonomous cars for under US $30k by 2026, although did admit that could be optimistic!

It appears some investors agreed.

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[pritch]

So Elon's vision of a Tesla future of robotaxis and humanoid robots has wiped nearly 10% off the share value. He thinks that Tesla will be making 2 seat autonomous cars for under US $30k by 2026, although did admit that could be optimistic!

It appears some investors agreed.

General Motors seem to agree. They have canned their robot taxi plans.

https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/11/cr...otaxi-program/

[SaferRides]

Until we have developed true AI, not just machine learning, I doubt that autonomous vehicles that are not geofenced will happen. Also, the cost of a single failure, as GM found with Cruise, can be extremely high.

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[nerrrd]

How many nuclear power stations is that going to take I wonder?

Meta joins the nuclear-powered AI fray

[R650R]

How many nuclear power stations is that going to take I wonder?

Meta joins the nuclear-powered AI fray

Bill gates has already signed a deal with owners of 3 Mile island. Getting restarted for his ai projects net the locals are thrilled.

Seriously though nuclear power has come a long way. It’s time for NZ to get over itself and go nuclear to save jobs and provide cheap power to our aging population. We can’t compete with rest of world if we don’t have reliable affordable power.
Our aging hydro stations will reach their end of life before we’ve decided what to replace them with, god help us if one of the bigger ones suffers any major mechanical failures in meantime.

[SaferRides]

Seriously though nuclear power has come a long way. It’s time for NZ to get over itself and go nuclear to save jobs and provide cheap power to our aging population. We can’t compete with rest of world if we don’t have reliable affordable power.
Our aging hydro stations will reach their end of life before we’ve decided what to replace them with, god help us if one of the bigger ones suffers any major mechanical failures in meantime.

The economics alone suggest that nuclear is not a viable option for NZ with current technology. It doesn't even stack up for Australia, which has a far higher power demand than NZ.

Hydro stations don't fail if they are constructed properly and well maintained. One thing you don't need to worry about in NZ, although there have some spectacular disasters in other countries as can be seen on YouTube!






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[pritch]

Bill gates has already signed a deal with owners of 3 Mile island. Getting restarted for his ai projects net the locals are thrilled.

Seriously though nuclear power has come a long way. It’s time for NZ to get over itself and go nuclear to save jobs and provide cheap power to our aging population. We can’t compete with rest of world if we don’t have reliable affordable power.
Our aging hydro stations will reach their end of life before we’ve decided what to replace them with, god help us if one of the bigger ones suffers any major mechanical failures in meantime.

That's OK, but you won't have any insurance in the event of a nuclear accident. Insurance companies won't cover that. There may also be draconian laws introduced to deal with the threat of terrorists. In the US nuclear interests wanted the right to torture people suspected of nuclear terrorism. What are we going to do with the waste? It's rather more complicated than it appears.

[R650R]

That's OK, but you won't have any insurance in the event of a nuclear accident. Insurance companies won't cover that. There may also be draconian laws introduced to deal with the threat of terrorists. In the US nuclear interests wanted the right to torture people suspected of nuclear terrorism. What are we going to do with the waste? It's rather more complicated than it appears.

That may be a good thing, terrorism is using violence to force your ideology on someone else. After what we just saw in Middle East I doubt anyone has sympathy for any form of terrorist. Just like any current laws only a problem for those who choose not to obey.
Experts say our waste would be very small, we could subcontract that out, minor issue. There are newer designs that can completely burn up the fuels energy. We only have waste now as current reactors were designed primarily to produce weapons grade by products (after further processing).
In thousands of years time people will look back and wonder why we took so long to adopt such easy supply of energy. We will be looked on in same way as the anti cellphone tower people.

[R650R]

The economics alone suggest that nuclear is not a viable option for NZ with current technology. It doesn't even stack up for Australia, which has a far higher power demand than NZ.

Hydro stations don't fail if they are constructed properly and well maintained. One thing you don't need to worry about in NZ, although there have some spectacular disasters in other countries as can be seen on YouTube!

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Hopefully our ancestors used right mix and didn’t do it on the cheap to hurry up and get the job done. Time will tell I guess. But the infrastructure is aging and we are only adding somewhat unreliable wind and solar which have quite clearly proven short lifespans for the money spent.

[nerrrd]

…Experts say our waste would be very small, we could subcontract that out, minor issue. There are newer designs that can completely burn up the fuels energy. We only have waste now as current reactors were designed primarily to produce weapons grade by products (after further processing).

I don’t think it’s quite as straightforward as that yet, there are new designs out there but they’re still in the yet-to-be-proven-safe-and-reliable stage.

And google reckons a new standard facility would cost something like 8 billion US dollars to build…we can’t even manage a quarter of that for a couple of ferries.

[R650R]

I don’t think it’s quite as straightforward as that yet, there are new designs out there but they’re still in the yet-to-be-proven-safe-and-reliable stage.

And google reckons a new standard facility would cost something like 8 billion US dollars to build…we can’t even manage a quarter of that for a couple of ferries.

8 billion is only 7 and a half months of welfare payments in this country. We’re already subsidising the wind and solar industries, they’re not feasible business propositions without them.
We’re competing with low wage economies who don’t face the barriers we do.
The longer we wait the more jobs we lose and the poorer future we leave for next generations.

[nerrrd]

8 billion is only 7 and a half months of welfare payments in this country. We’re already subsidising the wind and solar industries, they’re not feasible business propositions without them.
We’re competing with low wage economies who don’t face the barriers we do.
The longer we wait the more jobs we lose and the poorer future we leave for next generations.

8 billion US, so 14 billion in NZ pesos (plus all the extra costs associated with being a tiny country in the middle of nowhere…)

[husaberg]

8 billion is only 7 and a half months of welfare payments in this country. We’re already subsidising the wind and solar industries, they’re not feasible business propositions without them.
We’re competing with low wage economies who don’t face the barriers we do.
The longer we wait the more jobs we lose and the poorer future we leave for next generations.

Us south islanders are all for you aucklanders building yourselves a nuclear power plant in Auckland.
Right on top of a series of volcanoes.

[nerrrd]

Us south islanders are all for you aucklanders building yourselves a nuclear power plant in Auckland.
Right on top of a series of volcanoes.

One of them’s even a supervolcano.

Small, cheap(er), modular nuclear power generators might be a reasonable option if they ever turn up.