7 Comments

"Pragmatic optimism" is a good way to put it. I feel the same way about fusion power; for the first time in my life, it seems like the skepticism is starting to take a back seat. That's exciting!

I have no idea if we'll have room temp superconductors or boundless free energy in my lifetime, but after a few cynical decades, things are really beginning to look truly optimistic.

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Jul 28, 2023Liked by Packy McCormick

Great one!!!

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I love this weekly email. It’s the only article I ALWAYS read.

Any thoughts on a podcast version(s). Maybe a recap like this email or a deep dive on one or two optimistic stories?

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This is the best ever. Really great to keep up with what is going on in this world today and the new world tomorrow.

Thank you

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I'm new to the superconductor fan club too, but the rising popularity and importance of hardware/materials innovations feels like more than just a one-time thing! Ex: semiconductors, EV batteries, AR/VR hardware constraints... loving it.

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Absolutely love this newsletter, would love to see more of this instead of the thousands of AI gimmick newsletters. Would you be able to share a list of some twitter users / newsletters that you read often?

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Jul 28, 2023·edited Jul 28, 2023

Re: Anduril

The US can't make enough shells to supply Ukraine with even 1/3rd of Russia's artillery usage. There was exactly 1 gunpowder plant supplying the entire US military - and it blew up. Ditto bullets (burned down). There are 5 plants making artillery shells but they collectively constitute a single outfit because all 5 are making parts of each shell produced - and the US has ramped from 18000 to 30000 shells per month vs. Ukraine consuming 5K-6K per day vs. Russia's 20K per day. US warships cannot collectively fully load out on anti-ship missiles. Stinger production has been ended pretty much since 2002 - they're calling back 70 year olds to restart the production line.

So wiz-bang software is lovely, but it seems more basic block and tackling work is needed.

As for superconductors: there seems to be a massive retraction effort going on over the Rochester "superconductor". Another one of those situations where a real room temperature superconductor would be awesome but the most likely outcome is another perpetual motion scam.

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