The Pomp Podcast #1326 Augustus Doricko | Bitcoiner Wants To Control The Weather
Mar 13, 2024
Augustus Doricko, CEO of Rainmaker Technology, discusses controlling weather with precision drones, critics, US role, tech needed, China, private companies, and more. Exploring cloud seeding with drones, ethics of weather modification, El Segundo tech scene, infrastructure projects, and vision for an abundant future.
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How Precipitation Enhancement Works
- Precipitation enhancement means seeding clouds with nucleating crystals to turn supercooled liquid into falling ice and rain.
- Rainmaker uses precision drones to seed clouds over farms and ski resorts to increase local rainfall or snowfall.
Practical Precision And The Path To Better Targeting
- Current practical precision covers roughly a 90-mile radius, with reliable targeting down to about 10,000 acres.
- Improving mesoscale modeling and ML could tighten precision and increase yields over time.
Environmental Footprint Of Silver Iodide
- Silver iodide is the conventional nucleating agent and adds vanishingly small amounts to watersheds (≈80 ppt per operation).
- Environmental risk appears low compared with natural background silver, but Rainmaker researches even safer alternatives.