new scientific discoveries

[Nepenthe]

 

Astronomers detecting huge mysterious bursts of radio waves from outside the galaxy?

 

Reapers confirmed.

 

Ah nuts.

 

No, that was the Hawkmoths.

[Gfted1]

Navy drone X-47B lands on carrier deck in historic first.

[Tsuga C]

Navy drone X-47B lands on carrier deck in historic first.

Maverick and Goose, your days are numbered. 

Edited July 10, 2013 by Tsuga C

[Gfted1]

Aye. But think of the possibilities!

[Tsuga C]

Aye. But think of the possibilities!

Perhaps it's my fundamental conservatisim showing through, but what I foresee are the possibilities of overt hostilities becomming more likely as there won't be any pilots to lose (it's just a drone at risk, or a squadron of them) and hackers getting control over drones to cause them to self-destruct or attack their own forces (blue-on-blue). Manned aircraft might be more expensive and less able to withstand high-g manuvers (pilot physiology), but they don't go rogue because of a hack or malware.

[mkreku]

http://grist.org/list/crazy-living-rock-is-one-of-the-weirdest-creatures-weve-ever-seen/

 

I would eat it.

[Walsingham]

http://grist.org/list/crazy-living-rock-is-one-of-the-weirdest-creatures-weve-ever-seen/

 

I would eat it.

 

So would I. I don't mind the taste of iodine.

[pmp10]

Manned aircraft might be more expensive and less able to withstand high-g manuvers (pilot physiology), but they don't go rogue because of a hack or malware.

I wouldn't worry about that.

Even if encrypted communication was easy to crack AI piloting is only a couple of generations away.

[Walsingham]

The point is that once you stop caring so much about the contents of the 'plane, who cares?

 

But I share the discomfort at a notion of a war supposedly without human cost to one of the combatants. Throws the whole 20th century move towards pacifism into disarray.

[Gfted1]

Thank god you guys werent cavemen, you wouldn't make fire for fear of getting burned.

 

I agree that humans are both the biggest weakness and greatest strength but progress marches on and humans will be phased out of war fighting as soon as we figure out how to get machines to do it for us. Im just glad we have a giant head start!

[Keyrock]

Thank god you guys werent cavemen, you wouldn't make fire for fear of getting burned.

 

I agree that humans are both the biggest weakness and greatest strength but progress marches on and humans will be phased out of war fighting as soon as we figure out how to get machines to do it for us. Im just glad we have a giant head start!

Humans will eventually be phased out altogether.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Keyrock

[Walsingham]

I'm NOT looking forward to it. Once you remove humans from the delivery of force then what happens to human politics? Previously all dictatorships were inherently vulnerable to military dissent.

[Walsingham]

Supplemental: According to many books, including notably The Art of War in the Western World, democracy itself owes much to the tools of war. The ancient Greeks and Spartans only moved towards egality (non slaves) when they saw the potential of the hoplite. Every man has to be able to rely on the men next to him, or the power is crippled.

 

Arguably the same is true of conscription and the levee en masse.

[alanschu]

Until you have an AI society of machines that are building their own AI drones, the human component is never completely removed.

[pmp10]

Supplemental: According to many books, including notably The Art of War in the Western World, democracy itself owes much to the tools of war. The ancient Greeks and Spartans only moved towards egality (non slaves) when they saw the potential of the hoplite. Every man has to be able to rely on the men next to him, or the power is crippled.

 

Arguably the same is true of conscription and the levee en masse.

Hoplites and phalanax in Greece was a middle-class form of warware and it would not lead to democracy.

In fact Spartans were arguably the biggest slave-holder in ancient Greece (the subject Messinian hatred for them was said to be such that they would gladly eat them raw).

If anything the case made was that it was the fleet that made Athens a democracy as even the poorest male could serve as a rower.

 

And that interpretation brings uncomfortable questions as to our modern practice of democracy.

In a world of nuclear warheads, billion dollar stealth fighters what possible use is a citizen to his state? Especially since most of said citizens have long shirked any traditional duties and feel entitled to political rights by the virtue of their birth certificates.

[Walsingham]

Well, I'd respectfully disagree with your dismissal of the hoplite phalanx as an factor in democracy. 

 

Slaves don't matter in the equation because they didn't bear the brunt of fighting - even if helots did get used. Equally, war being middle class is exactly why politicians argued the people had to be allowed to own land and generally BE middle class*.  That's kind of the point.

 

(Which I thought your last observation was consistent with. )

 

 

*There's quite a long discussion of this in Persian Fire by Tom Holland.

[pmp10]

Slaves don't matter in the equation because they didn't bear the brunt of fighting - even if helots did get used. Equally, war being middle class is exactly why politicians argued the people had to be allowed to own land and generally BE middle class*.  That's kind of the point.

The slaves matter not because they would sometimes be deployed into battles but because they enabled Sparta to field a massive fully professional army.

Every other city-state had to put their men-folk into agriculture and would suffered greatly with prolonged hostilities.

That's also why Spartans feared slave-revolts so much.

They were a direct challenge to the foundation of their power. 

 

That class/military service argument originally ran much further.

The theory put forward was that building massive fleets must naturally lead to democracy as it's not possible to keep lower classes fighting otherwise.

But then in the Polynesian war Sparta won by building multiple massive fleets and it didn't democratize a single bit.

[Walsingham]

Interesting point. But really it seems to me you're saying the slaves are the logistical support, not the fighting arm.

 

We already have robots doing logistical support.

[Zoraptor]

But then in the Polynesian war Sparta won by building multiple massive fleets and it didn't democratize a single bit.

 

Autocorrect amuses me, and gives Spike TV ideas for its low budget infotainment shows.

[Gorth]

Sparta vs. Samoa... waiting for the outcome

 

There are entire websites dedicated to amusing auto-correct results

[pmp10]

Interesting point. But really it seems to me you're saying the slaves are the logistical support, not the fighting arm.

 

We already have robots doing logistical support.

Slaves were not the logistical support but the cornerstone of their entire economy.

States like ancient Rome/Sparta or more recently southern US states pre-civil war have become utterly dependent on slave labor and were unable to let it go.

 

And to get back on topic:

Fracking apparently causes earthquakes.

[Walsingham]

And to get back on topic:

Fracking apparently causes earthquakes.

 

 

I don't care. Britain recently found out we have a squintilion tonnes of gas under us. It's in the hard to break rock but the upside is it's more stable.

 

Yay! Energy security!

[Tsuga C]

Yay! Energy security!

Until the eco-freaks start screaming about an endangered wort living above the gas deposit and use the courts to render access to said deposit fiscally marginal because of all of the safeguards and regulatory excrement, Walsingham. Don't doubt me on this. Some people just seem to hate prosperity.

[Walsingham]

 

Yay! Energy security!

Until the eco-freaks start screaming about an endangered wort living above the gas deposit and use the courts to render access to said deposit fiscally marginal because of all of the safeguards and regulatory excrement, Walsingham. Don't doubt me on this. Some people just seem to hate prosperity.

 

 

What's the term? Watermelons?

[Raithe]

 

 

BBC News - Nasa tests 3D-printed rocket engine fuel injector

 

Nasa has announced it has successfully tested a 3D-printed rocket engine part.

 

The US space agency said that the injector component could be made more quickly and cheaply using the technique.

 

The part is used to deliver liquid oxygen and hydrogen gas to an engine's combustion chamber.

 

The news follows General Electric's revelation that it planned to use 3D printing technology to make fuel nozzles for its jet engines.

 

Nasa said that California-based Aerojet Rocketdyne had made the injector using a method called selective laser melting (SLM).

 

The technique involves turning a computer-designed object into a real-world part by controlling a high-powered laser beam which melts and fuses thin layers of metallic powders into the preordained shape.

 

The test part was smaller than would be used in a full-size rocket, but large enough to test it could withstand the heat and pressure involved.

 

Nasa said the component would normally have taken a year to make because of the exact measurements involved, but by using SLM the manufacturing time was cut to less than four months and the price reduced by more than 70%.

 

"Nasa recognises that on Earth and potentially in space, additive manufacturing can be game-changing for new mission opportunities, significantly reducing production time and cost by 'printing' tools, engine parts or even entire spacecraft," said Michael Gazarik, Nasa's associate administrator for space technology.

 

SLM is not the only unusual manufacturing technique being explored by Nasa.

 

The agency has also asked researchers at Washington State University to see whether it would be possible to 3D-print objects out of powder made from lunar rocks.

 

It is also testing a process called electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF3) which uses a computer-controlled electron beam gun placed in a vacuum that welds metal wires into complex shapes and patterns.

 

It has suggested the process could be used by astronauts to make spare parts in space.