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How to Build a $20 Billion Semiconductor Fab
For the last several decades, one avenue of technological progress has towered over nearly everything else: semiconductors.
May 3, 2024
•
Brian Potter
400
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How to Build a $20 Billion Semiconductor Fab
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43
How to Build 300,000 Airplanes in Five Years
It’s no secret that the Allies won World War II on the back of the U.S.’s enormous industrial output.
May 23, 2024
•
Brian Potter
334
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How to Build 300,000 Airplanes in Five Years
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56
Why it's so hard to build a jet engine
Civilization's toughest technical challenges are those that require extraordinary (and constantly improving) performance to be delivered at a low cost.
Feb 28
•
Brian Potter
300
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Why it's so hard to build a jet engine
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57
Energy Cheat Sheet
Building an intuition about energy
Dec 20, 2024
•
Brian Potter
582
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Energy Cheat Sheet
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77
Why Skyscrapers Became Glass Boxes
Everything put into the building that is unnecessary, every cubic foot that is used for purely ornamental purposes beyond that needed to express its use…
Jan 13
•
Brian Potter
307
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Why Skyscrapers Became Glass Boxes
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48
How to Build an AI Data Center
This piece is the first in a new series from the Institute for Progress (IFP), called Compute in America: Building the Next Generation of AI…
Jun 10, 2024
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Brian Potter
365
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How to Build an AI Data Center
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30
Will We Ever Get Fusion Power?
“Every one of the stars in the sky uses fusion to generate enormous amounts of energy. Why shouldn’t we?”
Jun 26, 2024
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Brian Potter
290
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Will We Ever Get Fusion Power?
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88
Why Can't the U.S. Build Ships?
This post is cross-posted at Noahpinion.
Sep 5, 2024
•
Brian Potter
304
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Why Can't the U.S. Build Ships?
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39
Why Is It So Hard to Build an Airport?
Airports are a critical piece of modern infrastructure.
Mar 4, 2024
•
Brian Potter
141
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Why Is It So Hard to Build an Airport?
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35
The Story of Titanium
The earth contains a lot of titanium - it’s the ninth most abundant element in the earth’s crust.
Jul 7, 2023
•
Brian Potter
173
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The Story of Titanium
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21
How Good Are American Roads?
We’re in an era where US infrastructure is getting a lot of attention.
Nov 20, 2024
•
Brian Potter
137
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How Good Are American Roads?
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45
How to Build a 50,000 Ton Forging Press
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, a revolution took place in American military aircraft design.
Aug 21, 2024
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Brian Potter
238
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How to Build a 50,000 Ton Forging Press
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