someone should replace the audio from this dyson video with the audio from this: http://videosift.com/video/Mr-Show-Cockring-Warehouse

Now they only need to apply that tech to a Dyson!

Personally, I think Kurzweil's theories are the answer to why the sky isn't full of Dyson spheres. There's just no point in building such a large structure just to harness the power of a naturally occuring star.

When your entire civilization exists as information bouncing around inside a computer, you hardly need any real energy at all, because everything is so extremely efficient.

As for why SETI can't find anything, I'm pretty sure it's because we're looking for radio signals, which are probably just a transitional technology -- they're fine for a civilization limited to a single planet, but even a civilization spread throughout a solar system would really want something that could cheat the light speed limit.

Or maybe we're really God's chosen people, and the only sentient beings around, which makes our reckless abuse of our only home planet seem all the more depressing.

>> ^alizarin:
He makes allot of assuming that using all possible resources is the basis of everything. Our population is going to top out - our technologically advanced cultures already have negative population growth when you subtract immigration. And maybe we'll choose not to create a megalomaniacal AI. What else are we going to need the energy from a Dyson sphere for?


>> ^alizarin:
He makes allot of assuming that using all possible resources is the basis of everything. Our population is going to top out - our technologically advanced cultures already have negative population growth when you subtract immigration. And maybe we'll choose not to create a megalomaniacal AI. What else are we going to need the energy from a Dyson sphere for?


There's really not a lot of assuming here. Our current society practically worships the complete use of a resource as wastefully as possible. The conversion from crude oil to refined is only around 90% efficient. And yes, you are correct, most industrialized nations see a negative population growth. However, we are about 5 billion people over populated for our planet so that's not really a bad thing.

What will we need energy for? Who knows. Then again, 200 years ago did people think we'd need energy for tv's, electric cars, laptop computers, mobile phones, etc? Who knows what's next! We could need energy for bio-mechanical suits or propulsion of space ships. Maybe the power we need to create stable wormholes is the equivalent of all the energy we produce on earth today. Hell, the replicators you see on Star Trek TNG would require tremendous amounts of power without a storeroom of atoms to build from. With enough energy, we can just build our own atoms. Teleportation would require tremendous amounts of energy if possible.

Basically, we don't know what we'll need energy for, all we know is we'll need more of it. All we can say is following current trends that in 100 or 200 or more years we'll need a LOT more power than we need today.

He makes allot of assuming that using all possible resources is the basis of everything. Our population is going to top out - our technologically advanced cultures already have negative population growth when you subtract immigration. And maybe we'll choose not to create a megalomaniacal AI. What else are we going to need the energy from a Dyson sphere for?

I'm still waiting for Dyson Spheres. Everything else is just decoration.

"I remember the first time I sore an apple product because I realized IM ABOUT TO BE RIPPED OFF "

apple keyboards are cold to the touch and uncomfortable to use . the default mouse is frustrating im afrade 4 buttons are better than 1 (harder to learn but faster once mastered). I ohnistly don't think you can produce stuff faster on an apple pc than you can on a custom pc , also the custom pc will afford the user far more comfort and hardware speed for a far cheaper price.

the majority of the time apple design is like what dyson hovers have become its design for design sake all part of there marketing kind of like how many clothing brands operate. granted every now and then they do come up with valid and usfull design that benefits usability and function but then they try to transfer that to other products or aspects of the company it simply dose not apply to.

But most of all I Hate the anal superior attitude that the company enjoys to perpetuate and many of its users seem to enjoy. I don't mind it if a user is enjoying a good product and merly stating the facts for example I pods , imac laptops , can be very good devices for specific types of user but its when people blindly follow the entire company and all of its products. its like console fan boys or people that blindly follow AMD over lintel.

apple often end up making what I would consider to be fundamental product flaws in the pursuit of visual design. As i said the 1 button mouse is just plain stupid , the shiny back on ipods that gets scratched up, the lack of screen protectoin on ipods forcing users to put them in a case if they want the screen to remain visable , the ipod nano easy breakable scree, The lack of connectivity on the laptops. having the pc in the same unit as the screen forces the user to replace both costly devices when one brakes or malfunctions.

I do wish whoever that more companies used brushed aluminium to encase gadgets if apple are good at anything its sturdy laptop cases.

>> ^notarobot:
Uh... It's cool (and I want one) but I still don't fully understand it.


SILENCE!

The arrows need no explanation.

I agree. It's a fascinating but mostly useless innovation that'll for the foreseeable future (until the ~$300 price tag drops by about 90%) remain nothing more than a luxury/novelty item.

You gotta admire this Dyson bloke, though. He invents some very cool stuff.

>> ^kronosposeidon:
So how does it work? Is there a fan in the base that blows air up into the ring which then "multiplies" it, or is the ring oscillating in some way that moves air? I demand answers!


Here you go, answers. Well sort of...:

Tags for this video have been changed from 'bladeless fan, dyson, air multiplier, crunchgear' to 'bladeless fan, dyson, air multiplier, crunchgear, 300 freaking dollars' - edited by therealblankman

So -this- is what Dyson was spamming me about. They sent a link to some BS video clip of people going "what is that?" and "Cool!" All with not a word or view of the object itself. Apparently they plan to unveil it Oct 15th. Personally, I can't stand these "buzz" type ad campaigns.

Given the wondrousness of my Dyson vacuum, I'm willing to wager that they've got some really creative process here...they -are- masters of vortexes, after all. I'd also guess that it's going to be hella expensive.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'bladeless fan' to 'bladeless fan, dyson, air multiplier, crunchgear' - edited by kronosposeidon

Yes, a really nice guy. His talk was quite 'out there' by most standards, but a man of his stature most definitely has the right to go out on a limb with ideas that challenge the establishment and help foster alternative ways of thinking. If you check the twitter for 'exoplanetology.org', they have a pretty good running commentary on what was discussed Friday/Saturday during the crossroads conference at Harvard.

I also met Prof David Charbonneau, one of the leading astronomers in the search for exoplanets. Really nice guy as well. I got some pointers on how I could contribute to the search. Being an amateur astronomer/astrophotographer, I wanted to try to get more involved and help provide observations/data. Of course I suspect I have a bit of a learning curve to climb, but that is half the fun.

They have a month of science in Cambridge/Harvard every year. With events, talks and the like. I suspect they'll try to put together another such event next year. Search for the harvard smithsonian center for astrophysics. A person by the name of Christine Pulliam has a mailing list for sponsored events.. from talks by scientists, to SciFi B-Movie night. Quite funny. Sometimes these talks are webcast, so for certain events you don't have to be local!


In reply to this comment by budzos:
Really? You met Freeman Dyson? That's fucking awesome! He's one of my heroes!

In reply to this comment by honkeytonk73:
VERY nice clip. Surprised to see Professor Freeman Dyson there. I just met the man just a days ago. We were both heading to the same place, and accompanied him to a talk near Harvard College. He was among a few other amazing speakers. They discussed the future of mankind, the search for exoplanets, detecting live elsewhere and the like.

Really? You met Freeman Dyson? That's fucking awesome! He's one of my heroes!

In reply to this comment by honkeytonk73:
VERY nice clip. Surprised to see Professor Freeman Dyson there. I just met the man just a days ago. We were both heading to the same place, and accompanied him to a talk near Harvard College. He was among a few other amazing speakers. They discussed the future of mankind, the search for exoplanets, detecting live elsewhere and the like.