Object Zero

Civilisation's Thermodynamic Corridor Below is the full series of articles, very happy to post this on a Friday. There are 5 parts: The Arena The Machine The Trajectory The Viability Problem The Implications This is a framework for how to survive and grow a civilisation living on the thermodynamic gradient between a stellar object and deep space (where we live). It is based on first principle axioms of physics, such as the laws of thermodynamics. It is grounded in geometric algebra and mathematical rigour. This is not sci-fi, this is the actual human condition. It is utterly fascinating when view through this framework. There is also a results register which I will attach below. Executive Summary x.com/Object_Zero_/s… Nomenclature x.com/Object_Zero_/s… Part 1 - The Arena 1.1 The Cosmological Reference Frame x.com/Object_Zero_/s… 1.2 System Boundaries x.com/Object_Zero_/s… Part 2 - The Machine 2.1 Civilisation as Assembled Matter x.com/Object_Zero_/s… 2.2 The Maintenance Requirement x.com/Object_Zero_/s… 2.3 The Waste Heat Ceiling x.com/Object_Zero_/s… 2.4 Information Entropy and the Landauer Floor x.com/Object_Zero_/s… Part 3 - The Trajectory 3.1 Maximum Power and the Evolutionary Ratchet x.com/Object_Zero_/s… 3.2 Inertia and the Integral x.com/Object_Zero_/s… 3.3 The Amplifiers: Money, Debt, and Governance x.com/Object_Zero_/s… Part 4 - The Viability Problem 4.1 The Temporal Hierarchy of Constraints x.com/Object_Zero_/s… 4.2 Viability Theory x.com/Object_Zero_/s… 4.3 Competitive Viability x.com/Object_Zero_/s… Part 5 - Implications 5.1 Fermi's Paradox and the Great Filter x.com/Object_Zero_/s… 5.2 The Problem in Manifold Space x.com/Object_Zero_/s… 5.3 The Choice x.com/Object_Zero_/s… 5.4 Our Corridor Out x.com/Object_Zero_/s…

@a16z Really enjoying the research visuals.

Data center construction jobs are in hot demand More charts: a16z.news/p/charts-of-th…

@RokoMijic The absolute number of people alive who were born in the UK peaked in 2002.

The world already ended in 1914 and we are living in the aftermath

@ret_ward Repeatedly over the last 45 years, a 2% change in supply is the difference between $100 oil and $40 oil. Sensible people would consider -60% to +150% to be quite a substantial difference.

At its peak, Rosebank would be producing each day the equivalent of less than 2% of current U.K. North Sea daily production of natural gas. It would not make any difference to consumer bills.

@Iynjurldient I have since posted this, see pinned post for a list of all the articles/chapters.

@Object_Zero_ I'm doing the same heavy lifting with an Autonomous Economy. I just designed a thermo-computer.

OK, been promising this for 3 weeks now. It’s become a thermodynamic framework for a civilisation living under a star. I think I have maybe [21] articles here. Will post them with full LaTeX formulations, fully cited axioms, theorems, definitions, postulations, etc. Full logic graph. This will be a challenging read for most people, feel free to use your preferred LLM to bounce it off. Probably I should publish Part 1->5, then the wrapper content (exec summary, nomenclature, bibliography, etc). I’m not sure how easy it will be to follow on X. I’ll make a pdf or markdown available to some people soon after, if you’re interested. Any pointers at this point welcome.

@TypeForVictory This hits a nail on the head. An offshore wind strategy should be coupled with deep gas storage. Offshore wind + shallow gas stock = volatility

Britain is unusually exposed to gas spot prices because we have high reliance on wind, which requires gas backup with highly unreliable demand, and low gas storage. The combo makes it much harder to buy gas far in advance, which a more stable system could do.

@JosephSomsel I said they would get more expensive //as they deplete//, you suggest this is disproven by historical market action. But they haven’t depleted yet. Depletion is some future scenario.

"I think you’re conflating parameters." ?????? "Oil reserves" is a business decision. One has to spend money for exploration to credit "oil reserves." Ergo, this 40 to 60 year is more of a function of the industry's exploration budget than "oil in the ground." I hear complaints about uranium reserves all the time.

Energy Policy Outlook Renewables don’t really compete with oil, but they do compete with gas. Gas is not priced internationally, it’s priced locally. Transporting it far destroys a large fraction of it, so it’s only shipped when large arbitrage exists. Oil is priced internationally and is easy to transport huge volumes in a stable manner. Energy is a complex space, which is why there are so many conspiracies and poor understanding of the basics. Lots of complexity and nuance for strong hyperlocalised opinions to form and stick. Many countries have laypeople with strong political opinions on the matter, and in democratic countries that introduces policies that are usually counterproductive to the economy and the environment. The best energy policy is to have some sort of social cost enforced to represent the environmental cost to wider society, where environmental burdens exist, and then to have a free and open market on top of that. Pretty standard regulated market stuff. The challenge is that it has so far been too difficult for the international community to reach any sort of mutually enforced environmental cost structure, consensus is necessary as the environmental sink for this industry is not local but is the shared atmosphere of Earth. Anyone adopting such a cost structure locally/unilaterally quickly destroys their own competitiveness and fades their economy toward irrelevance. It’s a prisoner’s dilemma. Humanity is very unlikely to reach a collaborative outcome, so the optimal strategy for any sovereign entity is to outcompete everyone else in a race condition. This is what is happening in the world. Lots of countries who can’t do strategy are doing random, bad, self defeating unilateral things, and a few strategic sovereigns are racing away. Pretty obvious who is who. What the world needs isn’t a political or market solution, those have already failed. China escaped. What we need is a technology solution, and that’s going to be a residential fabric of PV + BESS and high density industrial node of deep nuclear concentration. Oil and gas will only get more expensive as they deplete, the solution is to race the 21st century technologies to the cross over point as fast as possible, so that the switch is economic (competitive) and not political (collaborative). This is the system strategy approach that is going to unfold. But it’s not what is currently underway.

@JosephSomsel I think you’re conflating parameters. Oil reserves haven’t depleted during the timeframe you mention.

"Oil and gas will only get more expensive as they deplete" I've been hearing this doomsday rhetoric since the early 70s. Prices have had their ups and downs, for political, market, and technological reasons. Inflation by government actors has caused far more price increases than the direct providers. "Peak Oil" predictions were solidly debunked.

@RokoMijic The contemporary UK is far more communist than the USSR was at its height in the 1960s, as the numbers (and references) clearly show…

The British state is massively dysgenic and essentially runs full communism now

@lfg_uk If British people didn’t want to be poor they would behave differently to what we observe.

Is this acceptable? Since 1990, Spain has built nearly 7,000 miles of motorway. So ... what about the UK? We have built 422 miles of motorway in 35 years. 35 years – 422 miles. Thats only twelve miles every year. Why have we stopped building?

@OrenTirosh Cheese is also a totally different product.

@Object_Zero_ Piped gas and LNG are totally different products/markets. LNG is priced more or less internationally.

@denalijeff Gas flares are quite common around the world, because it’s often cheaper and easier to destroy gas rather than transport it and sell it. This is not true of oil.

@Object_Zero_ Methane is treated as a waste product in Texas. Wastefully burned away 24/7

@PassCombo Because of the liquefaction, refrigeration and regassification processes. Oil is stable at high density at ambient pressure and temperature, gas is not.

@Object_Zero_ Please explain why transporting gas destroy it? You mean the cost gets too big to make sense?

@LEGS223 @BenGrahamUK @Lalcmac Yes, people turn a blind eye whenever their pockets are picked like this. They’re OK with it. Most people here don’t actually want any savings or wealth, it’s too complicated to think about so they would rather be robbed via these sophisticated schemes.

@Object_Zero_ @BenGrahamUK @Lalcmac Its absolutely encouraged, the system works for itself we can agree there. I just don't think the public are largely aware of it or give a shit. Most just vote red or blue whatever.

Most people don’t realise where the £180 million actually went at the A303 Stonehenge tunnel project. It wasn’t construction. It was years of: • Environmental impact assessments • Heritage & archaeological studies • Legal challenges and consultations • Design, engineering and traffic modelling • Public inquiries and revisions All before a single shovel hit the ground. This is the real problem in Britain: We don’t just waste money, we build systems that guarantee it. £180 million to build nothing.

@LEGS223 @BenGrahamUK @Lalcmac If they didn’t like it they wouldn’t pay for it. They would try to prosecute someone, or at the bare minimum have someone sacked and forced to change job, maybe spending a month or two looking for work. But no. Nothing. It’s actually encouraged to gouge the system.

@Object_Zero_ @BenGrahamUK @Lalcmac Surely its a minority of public sector, contracters, gov agencies, and lawyers. Working people don't like this,

@janrosenow @UKERCHQ There is no math? Is this energy policy for Theatre Kids?

Every time there’s a fuel price shock, the same calls emerge: drill the North Sea. New @UKERCHQ analysis cuts through the noise and explains why this argument doesn’t hold up. ukerc.ac.uk/news/drilling-…

@ajcdeane British people are poorer as a result of this fake project, and that is what they want. Once you realise that a lot of Brits want to be poor, and want their neighbours to be poor too… then British politics suddenly makes a lot of sense. It’s actually a very effective system.

We have spent £180m on plans for a tunnel under Stonehenge. The project is now scrapped. You can be for a tunnel & think spending is a good idea (even if you think the cost of planning is silly). You can be against a tunnel & think spending is a bad idea. But *nobody* can be for spending on this scale with zero result. And yet that is a peculiarly British outcome. Nobody will be reprimanded. Nobody will see their career affected. But that’s £180m of taxpayer money just wazzed up the wall. Totally without repercussions. Multiply this by airport expansions & train route plans and Thames crossings and power stations and other examples you can think of yourself, and… soon you’re talking serious money.

@MattLoszak Well done Matt.

Today, we unveiled our completed Critical Test Reactor facility. We will be turning this reactor on (a “zero power criticality”) well before July 4th! This is a commercial-scale system with enough fuel to produce 10 MW of electricity, and will someday soon power a co-located data center from one of our partners. Here’s what people saw today at our ribbon cutting: ✅ Reactor vessel ✅ Graphite as moderator ✅ Instrumentation and control ✅ Concrete shielding ✅ Building with crane ✅ Control room All designed and built by Aalo. And the nuclear fuel will be arriving any day now. One last step remains: the final DOE approval to turn the reactor on, which we expect to receive soon. DOE has been an incredible partner in this 2.5 year journey, working hard to support a number of companies pushing to advance US nuclear energy. Follow us to be the first to know when we turn this reactor on!