The Woodstock of Physics 20 Years Later
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 6.07
We so often hear about advances right around the corner like hydrogen, cellulosic ethanol and carbon sequestration. A sobering tale of the pace of science from the New York Times:
By the time they got to New York they were two thousand strong, scientists gathering to hear the big news about a breakthrough class of materials called high-temperature superconductors, which promised amazing new technologies like magnetically levitated trains. K. Alex Müller and J. Georg Bednorz at the Zurich laboratory of I.B.M first created a ceramic superconductor that worked at -400 degrees F, and by 1987 others were pushing the envelope to a balmy -300 degrees.
From the Times:“I remember there was a crowd of 2,000 people outside the doors,” Dr. Schwartz said. “When the doors opened, it was a riot.”
The seats filled. So did the floor space in the aisles. Others watched video monitors set up around the hotel. Each speaker tried to wow the crowd with yet another discovery. “It was like the Texas chili cook-off or the Iowa State Fair apple pie bake-off,” Dr. Schewe said. “What’s your secret ingredient? That’s what it seemed like.” Fifty-one talks later, the session ended at 3:15 a.m. People lingered in the halls until almost sunrise. The session quickly became known as the “Woodstock of Physics.”
The Times continues: But today the heady early promises have not yet been fully filled. High-temperature superconductors can be found in some trial high-capacity power cables, but they have not made any trains levitate. The rise in transition temperatures has stalled again, well below room temperature. Theorists have yet to find a convincing explanation for why high-temperature superconductors superconduct at all. ::New York Times
There are many advancements in physics that have been amazingly useful, but not as well noticed. Semiconductors, for example. Because they get smaller, they get faster, and because of those two things, they draw less power, and the side effect is they do more. All from a penny's worth of sand and graphite.
Sometimes the effect is unexpected but it's still there. How many plane trips don't have to be made because we have video conferencing? How much more efficient are our products because they're computer desinged and optimized? Now instead of one big newspaper, millions of people publish their own. I wouldn't trade that for a flying car or an undersea dome.
We expect our inventions to change the world, but instead they change our concept of the good life.
Very good point there Rob, but you focus on the electronic advancements. Fantastic indeed, but apart from the CAD optimization you mention most of the improvements are in intellectual fields. They don't feed, clothe or shelter us.
Some of the plans you hear for improvements in transport, heating, agriculture etc. seem to imagine we will get similar levels of technology improvement as the electronic sector. While at the same time designers hide and disguise the physics going on in 2.5 ton cars and heating huge homes. So the user is not really aware of the energy density of something like petrol, and what a great deal they are getting.
As you say, they can change our concept of the good life, but for the basics of life, it seems the numbers are increasingly against us.