LESSWRONG
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All of Mike Robbins's Comments + Replies

Mike Robbins30

Interesting, thanks.

One metacognitive behavior which I think you’re pointing to but I want to call out explicitly is something like, “I default-assume I should finish thinking the thought I’m thinking now. I should get to the end of the sentence.” (And then, before you know it, the next sentence begins…) Thinking is one example, but could apply to other verbs, reading/watching/doings as well.

Instead, it seems useful to experientially see that “stopping” can be “practiced” at any point, even before you get to the end of whatever it is. There is no need to finish the

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5StartAtTheEnd
That reminds me of how people get songs stuck on their heads. This is mostly due to the "loop" aspect of songs, whereas the thought problem you're pointing to seems more like a markov-chain which doesn't terminate, or a thought process which generates more questions than answers, and thus keeps going. When I read the last bit of your post, my brain doesn't like it, and it tries to autocomplete it. Two more processes which might be relevant are: 1: OCD, in which the brain gets stuck on certain thoughts, and doesn't break away again easily. 2: The Tetris effect. If I talk with people all day, then I will hear people talking as I try to sleep. But this is the brain rapidly training itself on the training data that it collected doing the day, which becomes noisy at night since your consciousness and subconsciousness get closer as you approach a dream-state. These all relate in the same way: The brain likes to process things until they're resolved/finished properly.
Forecasting Fusion Power
Mike Robbins80

Beryllium acts as a neutron multiplier: .

The consumable Be is supplied either as a solid metal layer, or as part of the molten salt (such as FLiBe) coolant, or both. The right amount of Be in the path of D-T neutrons theoretically allows the fusion reactor to have a Tritium Breeding Ratio (TBR) greater than one. That's the good news!

Speaking practically, this hasn't been shown to work yet, and my understanding is that it is a must-have for commercial D-T fusion. Recycling tritium within an operating D-T fusion plant (and... (read more)

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1Lone Pine
Does the Beryllium convert one fast neutron into two thermal neutrons? I assume we're not getting money for nothing. Tritium has a half life of twelve years, so perhaps we could wait to disassemble the blanket, no rush to extract the tritium. There is a plasma physicist on YouTube who made a video explaining why, in his opinion, fusion power is far away. Tritium was one of the issues he raised.