I've had various levels of interest, optimism and investment in crypto from 2011 (quite a lot) to now (zero). Much of its promise has been undelivered and yet it has prospered. The people that I speak to who are involved have changed from developers/entrepreneurs/tech-savvy financiers into almost exclusively deadlegs, hustlers and grifters.
At the same time, I feel like it's a race as to whether Bitcoin comes tumbling down before it's revealed that a significant amount (most?) physical cash is being printed by adversaries, and the national mints merely act as a top-up/shredding service.
I actually hope this becomes real vehicle, although it seems, and my comment perhaps amplified it, that there’s a sentiment reflecting doubts about the feasibility of the technology at all.
Maybe it works for large lakes and hot seas at all.
Great question! A lot of absolute shite in the comments here. If you dream about building a factory then here's my thoughts:
Read
- Read "Faster, Better, Cheaper in the History of Manufacturing" by Christoph Roser - it's an expensive book but gives a great overview of how we got to where we are in manufacturing. From stone tools through bronze casting, Venetian shipbuilders, Josiah Wedgwood, the Portsmouth Block Mill [0] and so on.
- Simon Winchester's "Precision" is a great book too - more concentrated on the emergence of machine tools which will be your BREAD AND BUTTER in a factory.
Steam engines are irrelevant to you but the tools they drove - the lathe, shaper, milling machine are still pretty much exactly the same. Big difference is instead of a man operating them they are CNC.
To know how to make stuff, you need to be able to look at anything and have a rough idea how it's made. What materials, what processes, and then you can figure out why it's done that way. You won't find a piece of solid wood wider than about 3" at Ikea. Why? Because wider wood is massively more expensive than narrow wood.
- Materials: metals, plastics. Wood and glass are a bit niche really.
- Essential machines: the bandsaw, angle grinder, drill press, the lathe, milling machine, angle grinder, tube bender, sheet metal brake.
- Joining metal: Welding, riveting, rivnuts, taps and dies.
- Casting and foundry work, blacksmithing (surprisingly accessible)
I'd say woodworking is a terrible entry into manufacturing. I went that way because it's useful for renovations. But working the wood is a craft, and I wish I'd started with fabrication and machining.
Likewise, very little is 3D printed at scale. It's great for prototyping and looking at things - that's about it. People will argue, but go to any big-box retailer and try to find something that's been 3D printed...
Electronics: You can now build a massive amount of useful consumer electronics without needing to design PCBs. I've built central heating thermostats, wifi-controlled extractor fans, infrared break beams etc. ESP32, ESP8266 platforms are great for playing with. ESPHome is software that makes programming these devices really easy: here's an example of what you can make https://esphome.io/guides/diy - they have a list of devices they support, that's basically a list of industry standard electronics building blocks for you: https://esphome.io/index.html#sensor-components . You'll quickly realise that a lot of electronics is just the same stuff.
I'm out of time so I'm just going to throw references your way:
How interesting that you're on HN. We regularly travel up and down the ship canal to/from Manchester. Give me a shout if you're ever in Manchester again, I think we'd enjoy a beer.
It depends on the level of comfort you want. If you're willing to shit in a bucket and shower once a fortnight then you can do it very cheaply and it'll be acceptable. Try that in a house and there will be concerns for your welfare. If you want a bathtub, on-demand central heating, a big fridge-freezer, bow thrusters, macerator toilets and a permanent mooring with mains electricity then you'll pay much more than you would for a house. Horses for courses. But doing things on boats is fun, and inventing solutions is great.
Edit: You wanted a figure - for the sort of boat you'll find on a canal in the UK. Bottom end: buy a small fibreglass boat for £5k, pay £1k a year for your licence (many at this end don't bother. Another £1k a year for maintenance and fuel )
Top end: Buy a big boat for £300k, £2k a year licence, £6k mooring, £1k insurance, £5-10k a year in maintenance.
Also factor in that boats mostly depreciate (though the last couple of years have been an exception). If you spend £100k on a boat today, you won't be able to sell it in 10 years get that £100k back. If you fail to keep on top of maintenance a boat will rapidly lose value.
Fellow boater here - I live on a Dutch Barge. Also awake at 0530 with creaking lines in this storm. Lovely lifestyle. We registered our new baby’s address as the boat on a birth certificate last week and had no problems. Good luck to any future researcher geocoding that! I expected a postcode to be required but it wasn’t :)
Ah I love a Dutch barge, does yours have functioning leeboards? Very surprised you didn't need a postcode for the address on the birth certificate - although I suppose if it's 'place of birth', it could be anywhere really and that place might not have a postcode.
No leeboards I'm afraid - mine is a replica Luxemotor built in 2011. I have a friend with leeboards and they are beautiful but without sails they are just ornamental and one more thing to sand and varnish!
Yes - it feels like a lot of words around a shallow amount of knowledge. I was hoodwinked there - interesting topic, unsatisfying article. I also thought the image at the top looks AI generated.
