It certainly WILL be the "next big thing" in physics, once this generation of skeptopaths dies off. These are totally new and not understood quantum mechanically driven phenomena. Radioactivity wasn't understood when Marie Curie found out that radium generated heat with no energy input, and look where THAT has taken physics.
Whether it will be the "next big thing" in energy generation remains to be seen..but current indications are that it certainly has that possiblility.
"And that “horizon” keeps retreating as it’s approached.
Really??? What gives you that idea?? Other than your own prejudices. It looks to me like things are developing more quickly than ever, and that the number of involved researchers is increasing, despite the best efforts on the part of the skeptopaths to prevent that.
But that "is" certainly true of "hot fusion", which you obviously dearly love, not being able (or willing) to say anthing negative about it.
"But patents are issued and papers written and money spent on all those replications."
Patents have only been issued in the last year or so, and virtually all of the research efforts thus far have been done on a shoestring with limited means and equipment, by people that were either "self-financing", had discretionary grant funding (emeritus professor sorts), or were able to "midnight engineer" it without official sanction.
“If the normal path of good science had been followed instead of the anti-LENR political and economic warfare waged by physicists against it, we would very likely have working power units by now.”
Note the words "very likely" in that sentence. No such qualifers were present in your comments.
If then Lenr is moving right along to a virtually inevitable practicality, its funding level must be about right.
More interesting than the possible future of whatever Lenr is in reality is the undertone of personal insult evidenced by words like ‘stupid, prejudice, skeptopath, mind reading about “love” of something or other.
Do you take it as a personal slight when others don’t share your enthusiastic support of Lenr or even think it fraud?