Room-temperature superconductors and nuclear fusion will need a ChatGPT moment

Tue, 08/08/2023 - 05:18

The National Ignition Facility’s preamplifier module increases the laser energy as it travels to the Target Chamber — US government scientists reportedly produced an energy gain during a fusion reaction for the second time ever, in a possible breakthrough.
Damien Jemison/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Humanity could be on the brink of making major progress in multiple areas of science.
These are artificial intelligence, room-temperature semiconductors, and nuclear fusion.
A lesson from ChatGPT: people get excited by progress when they understand what it means.

Exactly a decade ago at the Milken Institute's annual jamboree in 2013, a discussion among some of Silicon Valley's most powerful figures weighed up a critical question: Where's the good stuff?