I mean, in principle, it is theoretically possible to build a literal trans-Atlantic physical bridge. Hell, in theory, you could build a bridge that would let you walk all the way to Mars if you really wanted to. The laws of physics allow such things, without impossible materials.
The key difference on the materials is that you can use the materials endlessly with solar. With fossil fuels or even with fission, you have to constantly burn fuel. Sure, the actual fuel rods used in a reactor has a small volume. But those are made from enriched uranium, made from uranium oxide, made from uranium ore. The volume of waste generated is far larger than just the volume of the reactor core itself. But with solar? You only ever have to extract the materials once. Sure, the panels degrade over time. But after they degrade beyond usefulness, the material is still there. It’s like a lead-acid battery. They wear out after awhile, but they can be recycled. You eventually reach a point where you no longer have to mine any new materials to make new panels, or you only mine new materials as you want your electricity supply to grow. With any fuel-based power source, including fission, you have to keep extracting those fuels forever.
And don’t ignore the huge material requirement to build a reactor. You have to build a giant concrete dome around the damn things. Those domes are one of the few structures on Earth actually designed to survive a 9/11-style terrorist attack. They’re built to resist the impact of large jet aircraft. Plus the vast labyrinth of piping, heat exchangers, turbines, etc. All of this is of immense material cost. All-in, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the mass of a GW of nuclear power plant is a lot more than the mass of a GW of solar plant. Nuclear power plants are hulking leviathans.
The US can provide for far more than its total electricity usage, with just the land area we currently use to grow corn for ethanol. You can put solar panels on parking lots, over roads, on train tracks, on rooftops, etc. You can even use the same land for both solar panels and growing certain crops. It’s called agrivoltaics. And that’s before you even get into panels in deserts, floating on water, etc.
There simply isn’t a shortage of land for solar. Unless you’re talking about tiny city-states, there just is no shortage of land needed for electric purposes. Land usage just isn’t a significant factor. Yes, land footprint is an advantage nuclear has, but it’s an advantage that really doesn’t matter much in the real world.
Here’s an idea. If ICE walks across the border, shoot them. They’re a hostile foreign invader.
We’re honestly almost past that at this point. Solar is devouring the world. Total global electricity production capacity is about 10 TW. China is currently producing 1 TW of panels annually. And the panels are still getting better and the prices are still dropping. We will quickly reach the point where the vast majority of global electricity production is solar, and everything else is a rounding error.
There just isn’t going to be any reason to build fusion plants. Maybe in the distant future colonies in the outer solar system and beyond will use them. But for anything inward of Mars, solar is the way to go. Solar+batteries is already, in 2026, the cheapest form of baseload power available. Material limitations are not a problem with modern battery chemistries. Daily swings in power demand will be solved by batteries. And we simply won’t have to worry about seasonal power swings. We’ll build enough solar panels to meet all our winter needs. We’ll build enough to power our cities during the coldest, cloudiest months. And then the rest of they year we’ll have super-abundant dirt cheap power.
The future is one of vast energy abundance. We’re going to find all sorts of ways to use energy that we’ve never even dreamed of before - mostly to take advantage of the abundance of dirt cheap energy we’ll have during all but the coldest months.
The days the steam engine are numbered. With the exception of remote polar outposts, everything’s going solar. It’s simply the cheapest most abundant form of energy we’ve ever discovered. Nothing can match it.
You know, that’s probably how I’m going to end up going out…banished by hot air balloon.
And you know what? I’m think I’m OK with this. What a whimsical way to be executed.
“Universally accessible” is not a synonym for “accessible.”
There’s always a compromise between security and accessibility. Signal is nice in that it’s pretty secure while also being acceptable. More secure options aren’t very accessible to the average person.
This comic is designed under a sane ethical framework, which places responsibility for the success or failure of a party on the people who actually hold power within the party. It’s told from the framework of party leaders, holding them accountable for their failures. It’s punching up rather than punching down. What options were available at the ballot box, as we’re not talking about voters, we’re talking about leaders here. Don’t try and cover up for corrupt leaders by blaming the voters.
We should pass a constitutional amendment requiring every diplomat visiting the US to French kiss the sitting president at first meeting. You want to meet with Trump? You have to kiss him square on the lips.
Seriously. It’s criminal to not include a summary in a case like that.
Nah, that’s bogus. It’s a private company, they can do what they want. They could have absolutely given OP the 5/5 rating, and just had them sign something saying that they were content with the bonus appropriate to a 4/5 rating. No one would have had to receive a penny less.
Maybe St. Nick half-assed the sign of the cross. So when the traveling clerics were resurrected, they got resurrected in fun sized.
Are you asking leading questions?
After rebuilding it, you drive your new 30k EV out of its refit garage. Pulling out into the road, you immediately get hit by someone using their cell phone, totalling your car.
The insurance company offers you $5k for your vehicle, as they value it as a twenty year old used car on a rebuilt title.
These things are never that simple.
The cheaper and tackier the better!
I vote “novelty vacuum sealer.”
Now I just need to find a 3D artist willing to make my vision for a Charlie Kirk fountain a reality…
You don’t know orbital mechanics as well as you think you do! Look up concepts like the orbital ring and launch loops, structures built on the interplay of orbital momentum rather than static material strength. I’m dubious whether there would ever be an economic reason to build a train track all the way to Mars. But from a pure physics perspective, it’s entirely possible.
There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.