Nuclear Transmutation

Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur

Isaac Arthur

Genetics, Artificial Intelligence, Sci Fi, Post Scarcity, Spacecraft, Energy Abundance, Scifi, Cybernetics, Technological Future, Space Megastructures, Space Station, Starship, Technology, Space Industry, Future Of Humanity, Science, Astronomy, Civilizaiton, Human Civilizaiton, Futurism, Megastructures, Transhumanism, Interstellar Travel, Engineering, Physics, Space Colonization, Future, Long Term Future, Spaceship, Space, Space Infrastructure, Future Philosophy

4.9 • 781 Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2022

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

All we are made of comes from dying stars, those rare supernovae and other cosmic death throes that forge those scarce heavier elements, but could we learn true alchemy and mass manufacture those materials ourselves, and even others not found in nature? Start Forging New Worlds: https://www.worldanvil.com/isaac-arthur Registration link for RAND US-Japan Space Conference: US-Japan Space Conference: https://www.rand.org/events/2022/03/7-8.html Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/IsaacArthur Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1583992725237264/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/IsaacArthur/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Isaac_A_Arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: https://discord.gg/53GAShE Credits: Nuclear Transmutation Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur Episode 332, March 3, 2022 Written, Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur Editors: Jason Burbank Mark Warburton Yamagishi Cover Art: Jakub Grygier https://www.artstation.com/jakub_grygier Graphics: Jeremy Jozwik https://www.artstation.com/zeuxis_of_losdiajana Ken York https://www.facebook.com/YDVisual/ Sergio Botero https://www.artstation.com/sboterod?fref=gc Udo Schroeter Music by: Markus Junnikkala, https://markusjunnikkala.com "Mobilize the Fleets" "We Roam the Stars" Stellardrone, https://stellardrone.bandcamp.com "The Earth is Blue" "A Moment of Stillness" Aerium, https://aeriumambient.bandcamp.com "Fifth Star of Aldebaran" Miguel Johnson, https://migueljohnson.bandcamp.com "Strange New World" See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, SFIA audio listeners. In this month's Nebula exclusive, big alien theory,
0:05.2	we're asking the reason alien civilizations might be rare is because most aliens are huge.
0:10.5	To hear it and every episode early and ad-free, plus hours of bonus content, check out
0:15.5	go.nebola.tv slash Isaac Arthur and use my code, Isaac Arthur.
0:20.1	This episode is brought to you by World Anvil.
0:23.9	Ancient alchemists dreamed of turning lead into gold, potentially creating tons of it, massive riches,
0:30.4	but here on SFIA, we would say that lacks ambition.
0:34.4	Why settle for tons of gold when you can make whole planets out of it?
0:40.3	So today's topic, nuclear transmutation is continuing our informal trilogy on useful things
0:50.8	you can do with nuclear explosions. that we began back in January with our
0:54.8	look at the Orion Project, a spaceship propelled by nuclear bombs, and then with nuclear
1:00.5	terraforming, seeing how bombs could be used to make places like Mars or Venus habitable to
1:05.6	humanity.
1:06.6	It's weird to think of nuclear weapons as useful tools, but just as anything might be
1:11.1	used as a weapon, any weapon tends to be useful in some other fashion too.
1:16.0	As it says in Isaiah, they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into
1:21.0	pruding hooks.
1:22.4	And while the usual post-Cold war notion is to dismantle nukes to use the fissile material for power generation,
1:29.3	or maybe to keep some back for emergency use against an asteroid or alien mothership, the
1:33.9	notion here is more that you might start mass producing them for peaceful ends instead.
1:39.9	If you're new to the show, welcome to SFIA, where nuclear bombs get the overdue praise
1:45.3	they deserve, and we regularly talk about devices that make them look like mere firecrackers.
	...

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