Background:
Over the past several years my friends and I would get together for music nights where we share albums and songs we've been listening to. We also have a projector in case we want to showcase music videos.
Eventually, I made us a music visualizer that analyzes real-time microphone input and draws various geometries on to the screen, giving us something to engage our eyes. I built it using the Processing library for Java.
I had to track my physical inputs and outputs for a week for medical reasons and I used a google form. I placed a shortcut on my phone and it immediately opened the form for simple and easy tracking. Everything was then saved to a spreadsheet, which I could analyze once my week was done.
I can't think of physical processes that could go from macro -> micro. The examples I can think of stem from Yuval Harari's human fictions affecting the world. For example, a nation state or a corporation or a story could set the stage for the macro affecting the micro. If we look at a story, it communicates an idea that changes the behaviors of humans, which in turn causes those humans to interact with the micro and the macro.
As I'm writing this out and thinking about it, where would fictional objects fit on the micro <--> macro axis?
Fictions are encoded in the brain's microstates and drive its behaviour, comparable to how gate charge on transistors drives a computer state. But that is an interesting thought, because all of those microstates and their evolution are counterfactually described by a computer program, and much like math, perhaps a computer program in some sense has a platonic existence that isn't reducible to physical states. I probably wouldn't go in that direction, but some philosophers have made this case for math.
I think far less efficiently than propelling a light sail - asteroids being not very reflective. There would be some momentum imparted by the photons impacting and more by ablation of the surface though (if the laser is powerful enough).
Enough to deflect? A kiss from a kitten is enough to deflect if you do it far enough in advance…
I imagine that tracking an asteroid and continuously pointing the laser array at a specific portion of it, will be harder than tracking a shiny light sail that’s continuously illuminated by the laser array—but as a whole, I think shooting a laser at an asteroid is one of our best bets, so having that array would be a good tool of planetary defense
Interesting, I was thinking of them for another use as well: dumping surplus photovoltaic/wind collected energy into space as a thermostat of sorts to help control global average temperatures and buy more time to handle CO2 emissions. Not sure but maybe its cheaper than using batteries for time-shifting that energy to reduce fossil fuels during the transitionary period.
Aluminum forms a passivating oxide layer, but generally this layer is conductive enough that you can still use aluminum as an electrode, except in conditions with extreme pH.
To have more time to experience more of the world, learn new skills, spend time with friends and family, start (and finish!) more side projects, etc.
I'm not entirely sure how 'more time' would be accomplished. It could be living longer, not requiring sleep, not needing a salary to pay for basic needs (which would free up existing time).
I may or may not be building a shed in my spare time for the past 5 years, but I'm positive I'm not making a cake. With prototyping and user feedback it feels like I'm not building a shed, but the effort many times feels like I'm building a shed. That said, the shed definition could be clearer because there are parts of my passion project that makes it feel like I'm building a shed (i.e. marketing).
