birch

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• Commented on The impotence of the long-distance trillionaire
  I find it bizarre how many people think the megarich got that way solely through talent. Imagine this thought experiment - we'll do some magical SF cloning of a member of the megarich - Bezos, or Gates, or Musk. They'll...
• Commented on Bad news day
  I wonder about the effectiveness of the Russian army at this point. Imagine being a younger conscript. It's 2022, and information is harder to control. Some information is reaching the Russian troops about the fierce resistance. There has to be...
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Labyrinth Index
  The only thing that really stood out about Labyrinth Index is the homes with the "To Let" signs. Not something you'd normally see in America....
• Commented on Central Banking on Mars!
  As far as I understand things, Bitcoin would make a poor hedge against Tesla, since one would imagine the demand for cryptocurrencies and the demand for new electronic vehicles would both be driven by a good economy and thus show...
• Commented on Covid on Mars
  @847: Anyone know what the available bandwidth possibilities are Mars to Earth - at a reasonable cost? And what do you do for that few week period around every 2 years when solar conjunction happens that interrupts Mars - Earth...
• Commented on Covid on Mars
  I'm lost down the mental rabbit hole of the Martian economy. Each Martian requires a huge amount of resources, due to living in a hostile environment. At the same time, there's earth, which, in 50 years or so, is still...
• Commented on So you say you want a revolution
  Another potential problem for the UK: Turns out China is stimulating its pandemic economy with infrastructure. Which means a demand for steel. But steel production is down, driving up the cost of steal and thus scrap steel. It also turns...
• Commented on Dead Lies Dreaming: Spoilers
  It seems to me that if one takes multiple civilizations that developed in different regions, one will find common elements. Then by filtering out common elements that aren't plausible prerequisites, then the only elements left are plausibly-sounding prerequisites. Because of...
• Commented on So you think you can be a reality TV producer
  Had to think about this for a few days. I managed to come up with a reality TV show that can have both a US and a UK version, for a wider market. Working title: "Shoulders of government". Contestants play...