Orienting Toward Wizard Power

6 jstanley 2 5/9/2025, 5:48:56 PM lesswrong.com ↗

Comments (2)

RetroTechie · 21h ago
Personal dream: in-your-attic IC factory. Along the lines of what people like Jeri Ellsworth or Sam Zeloof have been doing. But cheap-ish (and hopefully, small) enough that almost anyone could have one.

Or even more generic: some device to assemble atom-sized structures to your liking. Like what has been demonstrated with scanning tunneling microscopes: pick up an atom here, deposit over there.

Quick enough to produce, say a ~1M+ transistor IC in a week or so. That would be like a 3D printer on steroids.

Or a chemical variety: have a few mg. of life-saving medicine produced in your attic. That could do away with the power of Big Pharma overnight.

Unlike say, faster-than-light travel, none of these things conflict with (known) laws of nature; it's technology, miniturization & software for the most part.

MountainMan1312 · 1d ago
> for years, my dream dwelling was a warehouse filled with whatever equipment one could possibly need to make things and run experiments in a dozen different domains

I've always wanted this too. My bedroom is a much-scaled-down version of this. Never cared about "nice", I want useful.

I, too, want a useful pair of pants instead of these modern useless pieces of nothing that fall apart within a week. I heave sheets of metal around all day. I've even thought of a bunch of useful features to add to the pants. I want extra-tough cuffs around the bottom of the legs and on the thigh. I want extra tough material on the edge of the right pocket so my tape measure doesn't destroy the pocket. I want bachelor buttons because belts are for idiots who hate their self and their body and just WANT to feel pain all the time.

I want an office chair that actually feels good to sit in and does all the things an office chair should do. Can't stand all these chairs that dump me out in the floor because you can't adjust the seat far enough. Mesh chair. Separate adjustments for legs and buttcheeks. Separate adjustments for lower, middle, upper back, neck and head. Armwrests with built-in keyboards, which can also rotate to be out of the way.

I'd love to see what the world would be like if it was totally void of consumerism or whatever it is that makes everything in the whole world mediocre and basically useless.