Terrestrial space elevators are unfeasible with known materials. A lunar elevator works with Kevlar. (No claims made for the validity of the article’s $2bn figure.)

You'd still need to climb the tether. How will you do that, with what kind of energy source? Rocket motors?

> How will you do that, with what kind of energy source? Rocket motors?

The idea of an elevator is you only have to go up. With a rocket, you have to go both up and over.

Rockets would work. Solar power would be better—the 2 kW array (~100 sq ft) needed [1]is more than doable; you could use a smaller panel with batteries, too. Surface nuclear of the kind we’re already developing [2] might also make sense, though now you need lasers.

[1] https://www.niac.usra.edu/files/studies/final_report/1032Pea...

[2] https://www.space.com/nasa-moon-nuclear-reactor-project-firs...

Solar cells, either on the ‘car’ riding up the tether or on the ground or in orbit, either beaming up/down power or with a ‘third rail’ on the tether.

Space cable car? It is only a marginal increase in costs to pull a second cable.

Microwave ion beam from the array of solar panels.

Isaac Arthur not being linked in any Futurology thread may be a criminal disservice in its own way, he is too valuable a light to not share with others.

He is the XKCD of all things in the Future.

Space Elevators & Orbital Tethers : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc8_AuzeYKE

Lunar Space Elevators : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g4TZbG2WsU

At least we know humans wrote the paper. AI wouldn’t make such trivial mistakes.

The first drum computer with "real" drum sounds was the LinnDrum (OK, the LM-1 was earlier but it was short-lived and far too expensive). Could it replace human drummers? Well, when it was launched in the 80's I read about it in a magazine where the need for a "RHS" button (which supposedly stands for "real human shitty" or something similar) which introduces slight deviations from the mechanical precision which is inherent to digital machinery. Drum machines are simply too precise, they never miss the mark, always are exactly in time and with that lack "character". See that button as the opposite of a "quantise" function, something to introduce "character".

Nothing is keeping anyone from introducing a "RHS" switch for generative AI. Tune it to the way your favourite editor or writer messes up things and voilà, a paper written by a very non-human generative model which fools the reader into thinking it was written by one to whom errare humanum est comes natural.

The dial is called "swing" on modern drum machines, the LM-1 has "shuffle" but it is essentially the same thing: https://www.attackmagazine.com/technique/passing-notes/daw-d...

All caps disables spell check in Word as it might be an acronym. Best practice is to actually type normally then apply formatting later. Can display/print in all-caps using font formatting (font options "all caps").

I like to use Draft view for drafting (funnily enough) with formatting disabled ("use draft font in draft and outline views")

somebody set up us the bomb

All your base

are belong to us

What you say!