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January 1928: Dirac equation unifies quantum mechanics and special relativity

(www.aps.org)
28 points thunderbong | 2 comments | 21 Nov 24 02:17 UTC | HN request time: 0.449s | source
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hdivider ◴[21 Nov 24 05:09 UTC] No.42201327[source]▶
If our society were sane, rational, advanced, the headlines would be all about scientific and technological progress. The fusion power breakthrough of 2022 by Lawrence Livermore National Lab would still dominate the news. Large corporations would compete to create the first Star Trek replicator (at least for organic matter, food, etc) by advancements in nanofabrication. Politicians would debate R&D topics and strategy, figuring out which path leads to greater broad-sector economic progress.

One can dream. :) Instead, we have a society almost entirely dependent on many kinds of technology, and yet very few understand any of it, nor care to. Wonder how long this trend can persist until some sort of phase transition appears on the horizon.

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1. jojobas ◴[21 Nov 24 07:26 UTC] No.42201946[source]▶
NIF is first and foremost a thermonuclear weapons research facility. The "breakthrough" you're talking about doesn't bring us an inch closer to fusion power.
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2. 8bitsrule ◴[21 Nov 24 08:14 UTC] No.42202179[source]▶
I think that a 'breakthrough' would be to realize that harnessing fusion outside of a solar environment is a hopeless dream that, carefully fed, is very good at provoking research grants.