zlacker

>>g-mork+(OP)
> it is possible to put 500 to 1000 TW/year of AI satellites into deep space, meaningfully ascend the Kardashev scale and harness a non-trivial percentage of the Sun’s power

We currently make around 1 TW of photovoltaic cells per year, globally. The proposal here is to launch that much to space every 9 hours, complete with attached computers, continuously, from the moon.

edit: Also, this would capture a very trivial percentage of the Sun's power. A few trillionths per year.

>>gok+h4
You're not considering some important multipliers. In space you're already getting a substantial immediate boost due to greater solar irradiance - no atmosphere or anything getting in the way of those juicy photons. You can also get 24 hour coverage in space. And finally they mention "deep space" - it's unclear what that means but solar irradiance increases on an inverse square law - get half way to the sun and you're getting another 4x boost in power. I'm sure there's other factors I'm not considering as well - space and solar just go quite well together.