I think you make a good case for making energy production a public utility. Private ownership of essential services is ethically bankrupt.
The fact that a company can fail and leave people without core services, is disgusting in my opinion.
Even more disgusting is that they almost always seek public funds to bail them out.
You misunderstood. The government requires that the company invest plenty of extra money into funding in case the company fails. I think this is a bond but I don't remember.
For instance, the TMI (three mile island) decommission started in 2019 and will be finished by 2079. There has been multiple changes in ownership but the current company is using the leftover cleanup funds to slowly decommission the site.
Wow what a success story. I'll trust that everything works out great by 2079.
the current company is using the leftover cleanup funds
So the current company didn't have plenty of extra funds in funding? It's just taking a cut of the "leftover" cleanup funds? Sounds extremely effective and responsible.
There are regulations in place, and nuclear power plants do not leave toxic waste around them? They aren't like coal plants that simply dump the waste into the air.
Unfortunately made and destroyed by policitians you can legally buy in the USA... They are cheap too, $10k gets you tons of access, for $100k you can make them dance like monkeys
Got any sources for that happening in that domain? I doubt there are many politicians of the old guard that are comfortable relaxing nuclear power regulations.
I appreciate the link, it's hard to trust what people say nowadays as their hate for societal structures makes them all regurgitate the same sentences without regard for context or nuance.
Your source however didn't touch on regulations being breached or removed by corrupt politicians. They only spoke about attempts of siphoning money from the public.
You are right, this corruption case was not about regulations but, imo, that's just a matter or price and time.
A long time ago I read about some horrible explosion in a sugar refinery and was amazed how so many industries have had lethal cases like that which can be traced directly to greed (not negligence, not an accident, not a bad mix of circumstances, just greed)
Since then I have all but convinced myself that every industry out there have had a similar example (usually more than one) which is why I have zero tolerance for the notion that industry can regulate itself. Every single time a politician talks about deregulation for efficiency or job creation, what they really mean is they are taking "donations" and couldn't care less that people get hurt
I do believe nuclear power will always stay a unique exception to this, it's extremely tightly regulated on an international level due to the fear of nuclear bombs. It's far safer and better for the environment than coal plants or natural gas, which do poison the environment without much corruption needed to enable it.
The nuclear power industry is a whole different beast than what the California tech bros are used to.
So he named his company after the world's only natural nuclear reactor in Oklo
Am I the only one who gets tired of having search results (which are already terrible) get even worse when capitalists take names for their products and companies from native languages and locations, making it harder to find information about the pre-existing stuff?
I'm interested in Gabon's natural nuclear reactor, not in some stupid saltman company.
I do not trust this man to do anything in my best interest. He is a disingenuous and untrustworthy messenger, and if allowed to continue unchecked will end up the overlord of a new hyper-capitalist dystopian nightmare. I’m genuinely afraid of this guy and people like him.
I’ll remind folks that this is a man with such appalling hubris that he thinks he should be able to raise trillions of dollars to make his own fantasies come true.
He can't be worse than the ones that are already our overlords. At least he could theoretically free us from slaving our lives away. Probably won't, but could...
Yeah I hear you, but I think that’s actually a big part of the problem. We the plebs want AI to free us from slaving away our lives. But Altman and those like him will never have the same motivations as us, so I’ll never trust them to develop the technology in a responsible way that actually benefits the majority of people, not just the tippy top of the absurdly wealthy.
That's kind of like defending monarchy because "surely the future king can't be worse than the current one". They are the same breed. He is them. It's a somewhat systematic problem with these super rich technocrats.
Are you serious? AI is about lowering the cost of labor for office workers by not needing junior talent. None of these billionaires are going to free you from slaving your life away.
His crypto scheme was already raising eyebrows. When OpenAI board attempted a coup and he clawed back to his seat, it seemed like he had gained complete control over the place.
I would never trust someone who surrounds themselves with the people Altman surrounds himself with. I always got bad vibes from Musk because he was close to people like Peter Thiel and it's the same with Altman.
And an outspoken apocalypse doomsday prepper. Definitely the kind of ideals we want in unilateral control of nuclear power plants. This guy can't fuck off sooner and any entity that would back his enterprise is either fucking stupid or blinded by greed.
Yeah, cuz that's totally worth it. Nuclear reactors that mostly power laziness, porn addictions or malicious actors. Why don't you work on making the power requirements LESS instead, Sam?
Laziness, porn addiction and maliciousness have been powered by worse energy sources for over a century. But I do agree that power efficiency should be the focus before we go to the "insanely fast scale-up" phase.
