Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.
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The Strange History of Fusion
and the Science of Wishful Thinking
by Charles Seife
The Sun seems to do it way easier.
For four decades, I’ve been hearing that fusion power is just 15 years away. I stopped believing that long ago, just like I stopped believing that democrats are misguided but mean well.
4-5 billion ain’t nothing compared to the money spent pacifying the migrant filth from islam invading the EU.
Just do it and tell the islam filth to die young.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJZYdlBwgCU&index=8&list=PL7YSGatJathvcOIBtgqKQkPN5P_ZLQ_Zy
When I was an undergraduate physics student 45 years ago (1967 to 1971), the claim was controlled nuclear fusion would provide cheap and abundant energy after some pretty high R&D and then construction costs by 1980 or about ten years into the future. I scoffed at those predictions based upon how little we really knew about how to control nuclear fusion.
Today we are again being told that controlled nuclear fusion will provide cheap and abundant energy after some even more hefty R&D and then construction costs in 2030 or about 15 years into the future. (Note that “first plasma” in 2025 is not the same as first production of useable energy.)
I scoff at these predictions because we really do not know nearly enough about how to control nuclear fusion in such a way as to produce useable energy.
This article does seem to get one thing right—this is a huge construction project which will benefit the construction trades. I doubt I will live long enough to see this facility produce the amount of energy consumed to build it.
There is a Dairy Queen commercial here in Texas where scientists ponder how to put fudge into a center of a Blizzard (one of their ice cream products). They ponder all sort of ways to do it. A Dairy Queen employee announces she just put the fudge into the ice cream machine and that put the fudge into the Blizzard. The people in the white coats all hold up a Dairy Queen cup and shout, “Science!”
Beware of people willing to shout, “Science!” for several tens of billions of dollars. Especially when those people are the same people pushing pseudo-scientific policies.
I will guess that international R&D on fusion reactors has gone well past $100 billion.
Since I’m a lifelong supporter of basic research in physics, I’m reluctant to say we should end it.
But, man, that is a lot of money, plus 60 years of research, for no major commercial applications!
How is that E-Cat doing?
Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.
The Strange History of Fusion
and the Science of Wishful Thinking
by Charles Seife
