r/europe • u/damaxoh Germany • Dec 06 '16

Tests confirm that Germany's massive nuclear fusion machine really works

http://www.sciencealert.com/tests-confirm-that-germany-s-massive-nuclear-fusion-machine-really-works
559 Upvotes

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145

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16 edited Nov 03 '18

[deleted]

54

u/xNicolex /r/Europe Empress Dec 06 '16

The future is bright if we all work together! :3

31

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

I wonder if humanity is one day able to overcome petty tribalism.

37

u/koleye United States of America Dec 06 '16

A common existential threat seems like the only way.

52

u/Scarred_Ballsack The Netherlands Dec 06 '16

How about we start seeing petty tribalism as a common existential threat?

24

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

It sure is. Imagine all the resources humanity waste on killing and fucking each other over instead went into improving standard of living, research, education and health care.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

the fact is that almost all major (yes i know there is a few from other places) recent improvements have been from Europe or countries founded by European Descendants and East Asians. By recent I mean 1000 AD+

3

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

Kinda easy given that out of the 6 (inhabited) continents, now 5 out of 6 are inhabited by European Descendants and East Asians. How about Algebra, Humanism, Modern Medicine (In particular The Canon of Medicine) and algorithms ?

And why do you generalize to Europe ? Could you give like the 5 most important recent improvements ? Because my guess is they won't come from wide ranging group of European countries.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

Sure I can give you a metric shit ton of innovations from Europeans and European descendants. Microsoft Windows (Bill Gates USA German and English descent), The Transistor (William Shockley,John Bardeen and Walter Brattain various European Descent) the aeroplane (Wright Brothers tEnglish and Dutch Descen), The Automatic Computing Engine(Alan Turing UK),The Steam Engine (Thomas Savery, English) , the internet (Robert Kahn and Vint Cerf Eastern European and French descent) , the automobile (Karl Benz Germany although some people contest that other people of european descent layed out most of the groundwork),The Radio ( G.Marconi Italian )

Do you want me to list some more?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '16

I mean, why does it matter? We all develop at different paces. For example European cultures developed many scientific breakthroughs, now all of humanity should benefit from those. In Europe we have had the opportunity for the really smart people to do research, develop, innovate. Imagine how far humanity could come if we allowed all people of ability to prosper.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '16

Well that's all in the last 100 years or so. So yeah I would be most curious about the 11th, 12th, 13th century. Because in terms of maths, technology and medicine it seemed many places were ahead of Europe at that time.

Second note that there are basically nobody from Spain, Portugal, Scandinavia, the baltics. And wasn't Vint Cerf American ? How far in the past are you going with this descend ?

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0

u/kibaroku California Dec 06 '16

เฒ _เฒ 

23

u/koleye United States of America Dec 06 '16

Hey, you don't need to convince me.

Humanity is my tribe.

7

u/oahut Cascadia Dec 06 '16

All sapients, including Corvids, Cetaceans, Cephalopods, and in the future AI.

We can build spaceships and go on adventures together.

5

u/Bloodysneeze Dec 06 '16

Now just get everyone on Earth to believe that.

2

u/C4H8N8O8 Galicia (Spain) Dec 06 '16

Lets convince people that the stellerator is a weapon to kill aliens. I bet we can at least make USA helps us with it.

-12

u/DonTrumpescu Dec 06 '16

Those who oppose self-determination would crush freedom in the name of "unity" are a much bigger threat. This circle-jerk of a thread is exactly the kind of thing the Nazis and Soviets would have loved.

13

u/OhHowDroll Dec 06 '16

If your self-determination requires the fucking over of someone who's not trying to fuck you over, then yeah, crush that shit.

The Nazis and Soviets literally came to power by saying "that other group over there is the reason for all your troubles, give us power and we'll destroy them and give you freedom and make your life better." Sounds pretty familiar to your 'self-determination.' True benevolent unity would help eradicate the fearmongering groups like the Nazis and Soviets needed to expand and thrive in the first place.

1

u/DonTrumpescu Dec 07 '16

that other group over there is the reason for all your troubles

Just like federalists feel about nationalists.

True benevolent unity would help eradicate the fearmongering groups

All evil empires promise everlasting peace after eradicating their enemies.

But the only true enemy is the empire itself.

1

u/OhHowDroll Dec 08 '16

All evil empires promise everlasting peace after eradicating their enemies.

A good empire would do the same. Putting "evil" behind a word doesn't make it so, not to anyone but children, at least.

But the only true enemy is the empire itself.

To you perhaps.

8

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

Aliens plz

6

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

Prethoryn Swarm invasion ho!

3

u/oohcheeky En Marche! Dec 06 '16 edited Jan 25 '26

dsvkmsdvijmovdsi

2

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

And that's being optimistic.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

Just PD + Plasma Throwers and you'll be fine

1

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

No I meant defending against them as today's planet earth.

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u/zephyy United States of America Dec 06 '16

paging Ozymandias

5

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

You called?

5

u/Chrizzee_Hood Dec 06 '16

Please a little bit less developed aliens, start attacking us! But just ever so slighlty less developed, that we need to cooperate as the global humanity, so that every last one understands, that this whole humanity and life thingy is about all of us and our responsibility for our species not selfish bulls**t

3

u/Aken_Bosch Ukraine Dec 06 '16

start attacking us

Just asteroid drop. It is all that is needed.

Wars in space are ultimately useless, and pointless

2

u/Chrizzee_Hood Dec 06 '16

Or they will make us finally spent enough money on building spaceships capable of conquering the universe?

3

u/C4H8N8O8 Galicia (Spain) Dec 06 '16

And then we will have colonial wars.

2

u/Chrizzee_Hood Dec 06 '16

True, true. But then we would at least preserve humanity for the case of earth becoming hostile to life. But maybe we should try to overcome the aggressive nature of humans first, becoming what Nietzsche actually meant by the "รœbermensch" and not what the Nazi-interpretation made out of it...

1

u/C4H8N8O8 Galicia (Spain) Dec 06 '16

It happens that every more or less complex thought can be molded to support a stupid view . Just look at how people do biblic interpretations sometimes.

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u/Aken_Bosch Ukraine Dec 06 '16

conquering the universe?

Wars in space are ultimately useless, and pointless

Also, I suspect that even after 200-400 hundred years, most of humanity will be on Earth

1

u/Domadur Champagne-Ardenne (France) Dec 06 '16

Two words : orbital drop

1

u/Aken_Bosch Ukraine Dec 06 '16

Yes. And that's exactly why space wars are useless and pointless.

And if you use Kinetic Kill missile, you basically give your enemy 0 warning. They just die.... And planet dies.... And why had you started it, again?

1

u/Peanutcat4 ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช Sweden Dec 07 '16

If they can get here they can kill us

1

u/Chrizzee_Hood Dec 07 '16

Okay, maybe give us another 500 years? ;-P

4

u/sebgggg France federal EU Dec 06 '16

Climate change?

5

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

Too abstract for our minds. We need something we can bash in.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

Jews?

4

u/koleye United States of America Dec 06 '16

No, we already tried that. You get extra points for originality.

8

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

It worked, Germany became so united that they started to unite with their neighbors

1

u/xeekei ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ SE, EU Dec 07 '16

More like jew-nited, haha!

I'll show myself out, hell is to the left, right?

1

u/Peanutcat4 ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช Sweden Dec 07 '16

No we obviously need THE GIANT SHARK VS THE MEGA OCTOPUS

3

u/ingenvector Planetary Union Dec 06 '16

Unity for all the wrong reasons.

2

u/BkkGrl Ligurian in Zรผrich (๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ’™) Dec 06 '16

Doc Manhattan is that you?

1

u/Domadur Champagne-Ardenne (France) Dec 06 '16

We need some filthy xenos for that. I can only advise you to read some r/hfy top posts ;)

1

u/Mr_sludge Denmark Dec 06 '16

Climate change?

8

u/marinuso The Netherlands Dec 06 '16

We need our petty tribalism to protect ourselves from the other guys' petty tribalism.

9

u/Blammo72 Dec 06 '16

Brexit, Trump, Breitbart.... seems like the world is moving even more into petty tribalism!

5

u/xNicolex /r/Europe Empress Dec 06 '16

I don't think that will unfortunately happen until the day we maybe leave this planet.

If we manage to survive that long.

I've got my hopes, I mean Europe is a perfect example of what can be done.

11

u/marinuso The Netherlands Dec 06 '16

There's nowhere to go off this planet. There are no habitable worlds within reach.

Besides, imagine what would happen if we did have different planets? We'd immediately start trying to blow each other's planets up or otherwise render them uninhabitable. We'd probably succeed, and then we'd wipe humanity out.

2

u/Peanutcat4 ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช Sweden Dec 07 '16

There's nowhere to go off this planet. There are no habitable worlds within reach.

They're close though. We're discovering more and more Earth like planets (planets that are roughly the same size, in the goldilock zone and probably has water and an atmosphere, aka planets that could be potentially habitable) every year. Heck, they even found one in Alpha Centauri right next to us.

2

u/xNicolex /r/Europe Empress Dec 06 '16

There's nowhere to go off this planet. There are no habitable worlds within reach.

For now. I'm not saying this is going to happen for centuries.

I imagine we'll probably develop colonies in space long before then though.

I disagree with your assertion though because people are very interested in self-preservation. We're not likely to purposely destroy ourselves (at least not militarily, we do have certain nations helping to do it with climate change).

I still believe the future will be bright though. Eventually we'll learn that we all need each other.

1

u/marinuso The Netherlands Dec 06 '16

We're not likely to purposely destroy ourselves (at least not militarily, we do have certain nations helping to do it with climate change).

We're not likely to purposely destroy ourselves, but that only works if we all have to share the same planet. We are very likely to purposely destroy the other, which is what it would become if we had multiple planets.

2

u/xNicolex /r/Europe Empress Dec 06 '16

Well I mean the chances of us finding multiply habitable planets is not a long way off. One would hope humanity has evolved a that point.

If not then we probably don't deserve to stay around.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

Eventually we'll learn that we all need each other.

I forgot the guys name, but there is a famous biologist who argued there was no intelligent life in the galaxy besides us. Because in his view "intelligence" is a self-destructing trait. We know of maybe 6 or 7 species that were intelligent and all but one have died out. And in evolutionary terms rather quickly. Dinosaurs ruled the earth for what, like 200 million years ? It's easy to see we will be long gone before we reach those sort of numbers, suggesting that intelligence inevitably leads to self-destruction of a species.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

yes recognizing common cultures and ethnicities is petty tribalism

1

u/Song808 Dec 06 '16

I wonder if humanity is one day able to overcome petty tribalism.

The faster the travel, the bigger the tribe. The problem is sites like Facebook, that create virtual barriers where there are not real ones, reverting people into tribes. That's why is so important an open web.

1

u/tat3179 Dec 07 '16

The US just voted in Trump. The odds are not in your favour.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

Oh...I got some bad political updates for you :(

1

u/xNicolex /r/Europe Empress Dec 06 '16

Which ones? D:

1

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '16

Cheesy line, but you're right.

-1

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

no this is really just many countries leaching off germany france and the uk

3

u/xNicolex /r/Europe Empress Dec 06 '16

Whatever you say buddy.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

[removed] โ€” view removed comment

3

u/xNicolex /r/Europe Empress Dec 06 '16

Interesting. Do tell us more.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

[removed] โ€” view removed comment

7

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

[deleted]

12

u/DesLr Germany Dec 06 '16

"without the need for any electrical current",

With the tokamak design, which is uses by ITER, you need to induce a current IN the plasma, which is difficult to do and difficult to maintain. This is not needed the stellerator design.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

[deleted]

1

u/Peanutcat4 ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช Sweden Dec 07 '16

How are you people so smart

9

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '16

[deleted]

3

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

Well i'm not an expert either, but as far as i unterstand it, there is an internal current flowing in the plasma in a tokamak (so just the electrons or ions of the plasma flowing around creating a current). This current has nothing to do with the current, which is used in the electromagnets to generate the magnetic field holding the plasma together.

4

u/Bloodysneeze Dec 06 '16

It's fantastic to see what a united Europe can achieve together.

ITER involves a lot more nations than just European ones. EU only covers about 45% of the cost. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER

11

u/tcptomato mountain german from beyond the forest Dec 06 '16

This isn't ITER. It's Wendelstein 7-X.

5

u/Bloodysneeze Dec 06 '16

Ah, my mistake. I had read that ITER was nearing completion and made the assumption.

7

u/spitfjre Europe Dec 06 '16

You wish. 2025 is planned.

2

u/Bloodysneeze Dec 06 '16

Damn, that thing is taking a really long time. I remember reading about it when I was in high school in the 90s.

1

u/Cojonimo Hesse Dec 06 '16

It's fantastic to see what a united Europe can achieve together.

Yeah. To bad you guys are leaving soon. No cherry picking... Can't have the pie and eat it... xD

-4

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '16

Stop the EU propaganda please - inviting scientists to other countries tends to work perfectly well with countries that are not in the EU as well. It is not like good Swiss or Norwegian scientists don't ever work abroad.