Re:The Singularity Will Occur on a Tuesday
by PaulHoule on Tuesday February 10, 2026 @08:21PM
(#46969557)
Also those old open hearth furnaces are long gone, see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHnJp0oyOxs
There are people making top quality steel in the US today by modern methods but it wasn't like the new replaced the old, the old mostly disappeared and we got a little bit of the new.
Re:The Singularity Will Occur on a Tuesday
by jacquesm on Tuesday February 10, 2026 @09:07PM
(#46969887)
Yes, I should have been more clear there: they could catch up in volume but it will require a different mindset if they want to become a net exporter of such items.
Re:The Singularity Will Occur on a Tuesday
by gsf_emergency_6 on Tuesday February 10, 2026 @09:57PM
(#46970196)
To add a meta contribution to yours using anecdotes:
US pipeline for metallurgical R&D broken (by financial/cultural incentives)
This guy studied metallurgy in Carleton U, Canada, switched to CS, founded YC, emotionalized the decision
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39600555
Who knows, he might have become John Carmack's John Carmack, building rockets better than Carmack or Elon
I really wonder what you're comparing with.
Try some quality surgical steel from Sweden, Japan or Germany and you'll come away impressed. China is still not quite there but they are improving rapidly, Korea is already there and poised to improve further.
Metal buyers all over the globe are turning away from the US because of the effects of the silly tariffs but they were not going there because the quality, but because of the price.
The US could easily catch up if they wanted to but the domestic market just isn't large enough.
And as for actual metallurgy knowledge I think russia still has an edge, they always were good when it came down to materials science, though they're sacrificing all of that now for very little gain.