title: Weekly Dose of Optimism #184
author: Packy McCormick
content_type: article
publication: Not Boring by Packy McCormick
published: 2026-03-13T12:54:26+00:00
source_url: https://www.notboring.co/p/weekly-dose-of-optimism-184
word_count: 2285
Weekly Dose of Optimism #184
Brief
Packy McCormick’s Weekly Dose of Optimism (#184, Mar 13, 2026) highlights major developments across solar, space, neuroscience, vacuum‑energy theory, and AI tooling. Key energy items: Swift Solar bought Meyer Burger to scale silicon‑perovskite tandem production (Swift cites ~28% module efficiency today; Longi recently reported 34.8%) aiming for much higher theoretical efficiencies and system‑level cost cuts. Reflect Orbital built deployable space mirrors to concentrate and redirect sunlight to ground assets. In neuroscience, Eon Systems mapped an adult Drosophila connectome (≈140k neurons, ~50M synapses) to a physics‑simulated body to reproduce multi‑behavioral responses. The issue also covers Sonny White’s Casimir work on vacuum structure and Replit’s Agent 4 launch after a $9B valuation.
Why it matters
Swift Solar acquired the core assets of German manufacturer Meyer Burger (announced Mar 2026) to build a vertically integrated, gigawatt-scale US solar factory; Swift reports silicon‑perovskite tandem modules at ~28% efficiency (vs. commercial silicon ~22%, silicon lab record 26.8%), targeting a theoretical tandem limit ≈45% and citing 30–40% efficiency modules could cut system costs 20–40% while doubling power density.
Key details
- Reflect Orbital demonstrated a space‑based solar mirror system—large deployable mirrors on satellites intended to redirect sunlight to earth (for concerts, agriculture, or to illuminate solar farms) to extend effective solar production beyond the 4–6 peak sun hours.
- Eon Systems produced a multi‑behavior "brain upload": a virtual fruit fly driven by a modeled Drosophila connectome (≈140,000 neurons, ~50 million synapses) interfaced with a physics‑simulated body reconstructed from X‑ray scans, producing goal‑directed behaviors like navigation, feeding, and grooming.
- Harold "Sonny" White et al. published a paper in APS Physical Review Research (Casimir) arguing the quantum vacuum can exhibit structured waves/dispersion (emergent quantization) that might be tapped for energy; and Replit raised at a $9B valuation and launched Agent 4, an AI‑native multi‑agent coding workspace.