Of course if everyone told the truth about what they were thinking unfiltered then most marriages would fail and the murder rate would skyrocket. Clearly there is evolutionary advantage in lying

Well that will be the end of diplomacy and diplomatic careers, then, won’t it?

Isn’t diplomacy the art of lying through your teeth, politely (so as not to cause offense)?

Good grief! Everyone may as well start telling the bald truth, then?

Chemistry may formally be a sub-set of physics, since it deals with atoms and molecules, but it a sub-set so rich that it has broken through the boundaries suggested by the term ’sub-set’.

I’ll try to be polite. The physicists have an exact science they call quantum physics. When you start learning about this science, it becomes apparent that it has enormous difficulty with Helium [He]. It goes OK on Hydrogen, H (one proton, one electron). Has trouble with Helium (one nucleus, 2 electrons): it’s the old “3 body problem”. Just as with 3 bodies and gravitation {think Sun, Earth, Moon} the calculations get difficult….. It’s not just that Quantum ideas are bizarre.

OK, so this exact theory is well and good but can only deal with two of about a hundred elements.

No wonder chemists have developed their own methods, experiments, classifications, theories, descriptions. I mean, a {H, He} world is OK inside the Sun, but on Earth……..

Similarly for Engineering: it’s applied physics, applied maths, but SO MUCH more in addition.

Engineers are specialist physicists also.

Engineering also encompasses a good deal of economics, operations research, and management methodology. Characterising it as a sub-branch of physics misses out a huge fraction of what engineers do.

IFMIF is the sister project, working hand in hand with ITER to delevelop the best materials and (just as important) handling processes.

Essentially they are developing and trialing all the practical issues that are needed to be overcome to produce a commercial reactor.

An analogy of this would be (say) Rollys Royce’s test engine setup. Where they try out different materials, fan designs, etc, on test bed engines under simulated operational conditions. Running them and testing their performance, reliability, et al, dropping things that don’t work and incorporating those that do into future engine designs.

Cutting edge plasma, matrial, etc, applied science and engineering sure. But an experiment in the classic sense, no more than RR or any comparible very high tech development processes.

I’m not criticising engineering, by the way – I think it’s science’s essential twin and sometimes doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. Chookie has an excellent point about its scope and importance.

You’ve made a fundamental error here, Robert.

Engineering and science aren’t twins or complements or anything vaguely resembling that. They’re the same thing.

What’s the difference between physics and chemistry? Physicists might argue that all science is physics, and in a sense they’d be correct. Chemistry is a subset of
physics, but it’s not possible to argue that chemists aren’t physicists. Chemists are specialist phyicists.

Engineers are specialist physicists also.

It’s not that long ago that physicists were lumped in with philosophers.

Do you imagine that there’s something called “applied science” that’s different to something like “pure science”?

I’m not criticising engineering, by the way – I think it’s science’s essential twin and sometimes doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. Chookie has an excellent point about its scope and importance.

The best batteries we have can store about 150 watt hours per kilogram, petrol has around 13,000 wh/kg.

So all you need is a battery about 100 times better than anything existing (and will be recharable, and deliver high current at a constant voltage, and…). But in one hit you have, voila, electric cars, no unsightly power lines, solar (et, al) becoming useful when it is at night (or the winds are low, etc)…..

Just make sure your patent is watertight though.

There are 3 projects planned:
(1) ITER
(2) International Fusion Material Irradiation Facility
(3) DEMO

ITER (see its website or wiki for a summary at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER) is a prototype fusion ractor, basically an alpha test to work the engineering issues out for practical operations.

The Materials project is to develop materials (and handling) for fusion reactors.

DEMO will be a full working prototype fusion reactor that will be a template for commerical reactors.

These projects will overlap (e.g. DEMO will start before ITER finishes) to create concurrent development.

Some comments: “On November 21, 2006, the seven participants formally agreed to fund the project.[1] The program is anticipated to last for 30 years — 10 for construction, and 20 of operation — and cost approximately €10 billion (US$14.6 billion), which would make it one of the most expensive modern technoscientific megaprojects. It will be based in Cadarache, France. It is technically ready to start construction and the first plasma operation is expected in 2016.

ITER will be designed to produce approximately 500 MW of fusion power sustained for up to 400 seconds (compared to JET’s peak of 16 MW for less than a second) by the fusion of about 0.5 g of deuterium/tritium mixture in its approximately 840 m3 reactor chamber. Although ITER is expected to produce net power in the form of heat, the generated heat will not be used to generate any electricity (DEMO will).”

Construction will start this year.

You mean my dream of an eye fillet wedding cake may yet come true?

The story you are thinking of is The Food of the Gods. It’s a most excellent example of the form.

However, there’s a hilariously disturbing Arthur C. Clarke short story about a world where such a development occurs. Let’s just say that it involves what should, by its very nature, be the perfect food for humanity…