Brownstone research

Welcome to our weekly mailbag edition of The Bleeding Edge.  All week, you
submitted your questions about the biggest trends in technology. 

Today, I’ll do my best to answer them.

If you have a question you’d like answered next week, be sure you submit it right
here.

But before we turn to our questions…

It pains me to say it, but Europe and the U.S. are swinging back to full panic mode
right now with regard to COVID-19. No number of lockdowns has been able to
stop the spread in Europe.

The panic is caused by the media and even parts of the medical establishment
that are maniacally focused on cases, which is very misleading.

Belgium locked down completely twice, and it is still experiencing a spike in both
new cases and deaths. Yet Sweden stands in remarkably good condition with the
complete absence of any lockdowns or mask requirements, for that matter.

And here in the U.S., four weeks before the election, polymerase chain reaction
(PCR) testing for COVID-19 spiked well above one million tests per day, and it has
risen from there. Yesterday, almost 1.5 million of the tests were recorded in a
single day.

But as we know, these are producing a false positive rate somewhere between
60–90%. The PCR machines are set to sensitivity levels that are simply too high.
They identify old fragments of RNA from when a subject may have had COVID-19
or even influenza many months ago.

Even the antigen tests, which identify if COVID-19-specific antigens are present in
our bodies, are grossly inaccurate.

I got a kick out of a tweet from Elon Musk yesterday. He said, “Something
extremely bogus is going on. Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests
came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same
nurse.”
Yet we are setting policy on such horribly inaccurate testing data.

And let’s look at the decisions being made…

Chicago’s mayor issued a 30-day, stay-at-home advisory and told her

constituents that they “must cancel the normal Thanksgiving plans.”

New York City is just champing at the bit to shut down its schools entirely once
COVID-19 positive tests hit 3%. This is despite the fact that the COVID-19 daily
deaths have been at extremely low levels since June.

New York City looks better than Sweden right now. Yet it is preparing to shut
down… again!

Two days ago, Philadelphia announced that it is reversing its reopening plans
and will continue with e-learning “until further notice.”

I could go on and on…

But there is one place we can go to escape COVID-19 and the lunacy here on
Earth… the International Space Station (ISS).

SpaceX is getting ready for its first official mission to the ISS with its Crew-1
mission. SpaceX received formal certification from NASA after its successful
Crew Dragon mission earlier this year. It was the first time in nearly 40 years that
a spacecraft has been certified by NASA for regular flights.

The mission is scheduled for tomorrow evening and will take four astronauts to
the ISS for about 180 days. We’ll wish the crew and SpaceX a successful journey.

And just for the record, I am absolutely going to have Thanksgiving as normal.

Now let’s turn to our questions…

The energy of the future…

Let’s begin with a question on nuclear power…

You come across as against fission nuclear power. I understand that fusion will
be more efficient, eliminate radioactive waste, and replace fission power, but
overall, the waste (if properly controlled and managed) is actually fairly small for
a fission nuclear power plant. Also, spent fuel is being reused at a high rate, so
the waste from spent uranium is also incredibly lower than it was decades ago.

Risk to humans is also low. A typical navy nuclear operator receives a lower dose
of radiation doing their job than the average person does from the Sun living a
normal life. When fusion comes online, that will be incredible.

Do you consider fission nuclear power worse than fossil fuels? Do you have any
concerns for the environment and habitats surrounding massive solar farms or
wind farms? Keep up the great work. I’m greatly enjoying The Bleeding Edge and
looking forward to the technological revolutions that are ahead of us.

 – Anthony S.

Hi, Anthony, and thanks for writing in with this question. Energy production is a
hot topic, and you’ve touched on a few interesting points.

As a quick refresher for new readers, nuclear fusion is very different from

nuclear fission technology. In short, nuclear fission produces energy by splitting
the nucleus of an atom into two – or several – smaller nuclei. When most people
refer to nuclear power, this is what they mean.

Of course, this has trade-offs. Fission creates nuclear waste that – without
proper storage – can poison our environment.

And history buffs know about high-profile nuclear meltdowns from fission
reactors. This is a topic near and dear to me, as I was living and working in Tokyo
at the time of the three nuclear meltdowns of fission reactors in Fukushima. I
sent my family to the southern part of Japan to be safe while I led my company
through months of crisis management.

So it might be a surprise, given my personal experience, that I am not against

nuclear fission. Nuclear fission is one of the few technologies that could get the
world off fossil fuels, reduce carbon emissions, and still provide all the power our
electrical grids need to function 24/7.
Third-generation fission reactor technology has been around since the ’90s.
These designs are far safer and even more efficient than the reactors the U.S.
currently has online. 

But where are these third-generation reactors being built? Mainly in India and
China.

And there are even fourth-generation fission reactor designs that are more
economical and even safer than the third-generation reactors. Technologies like
sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs), gas-cooled fast reactors (GFRs), very high
temperature reactors (VHTRs), and molten salt reactors (MSRs) all show great
promise.