Having things be complex and messy is hardly ideal, but I think Neil deGrasse Tyson's sentiment is important to keep in mind: The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.
But as cshimmin mentioned, we already unified electricity and magnetism. I am reasonably confident we'll find something equally nice and elegant for the rest. Maybe not tomorrow, or in a hundred years, but it'll happen. If only because we're too stubborn a species to let it be.
What does 'post human' mean? Unless we go extinct, we will always be humans, regardless of what species we evolve into. Our current species is "Homo Sapiens Sapiens", not "Human". Ergo, if we evolve into amorphous blobs of space goo, we will still be Human but not "Homo Sapiens Sapiens". Which means it is physically impossible for us to ever reach a "post-human" stage.
As a fellow, certified autist (High Functioning Autism diagnosis since 2009), this article resonates with me on many points.
Since the diagnosis, my life has improved 100 fold. Not so much because I got go to some courses and group meetings about the subject, but because I was finally able to understand who I was and why. All the weird and inexplicable things I saw in my past, suddenly fit. Like a giant puzzle you've been trying to solve for 30 years and in a matter of weeks, every piece just falls into place.
And more importantly, being able to explain to others who I am and not feeling the need to try to 'fit in'. I learned it is perfectly OK to be me and this almost solely improved my mood, energy and ability to function in daily life.
For those interested, I've also written up a few articles on my experiences in various daily things:
They do in my (marginal) experience. I have found it to be a very common idiom to keep word definitions in these languages as short as possible. Probably for this very reason.
You define new words for the sole purpose of keeping things short and to the point. This holds true for most languages (At least if you want readable and maintainable code), but a language like Factor, this becomes an absolute necessity.
I would not be surprised if this is the reason Factor is called Factor. Specifically when related to factoring in Algebra where you do much the same thing: "splitting" an expression into a multiplication of simpler expressions.
As a completely non-technically-inclined person, can someone explain how this is intended to yield electricity as output?
From what little I do understand, the enormous surface area of the crushed gravel acts as a very efficient heat transfer mechanism, so it can cool(or heat) the Argon, depending on which chamber one is looking at.
The pistons are there to cycle the Argon between high and low pressure.. Presumably to keep the gas flow going. But can't this be done with just the pistons and without the pressure gradient? (edit: nvm this part; the heat energy is obviously generated by this pressure gradient).
Then comes the time to get the heat energy out for actual use. The article mentions that the gas flow can be reversed. So presumably the gravel that was previously being cooled, will now be heated. Isn't this just exchanging the heat between the gravel and gas? How does this yield net energy output?
But as cshimmin mentioned, we already unified electricity and magnetism. I am reasonably confident we'll find something equally nice and elegant for the rest. Maybe not tomorrow, or in a hundred years, but it'll happen. If only because we're too stubborn a species to let it be.