Fusion research on one hand is much like a ceremonial money pit where we light a mountain of cash on fire every year. Fusion power itself will likely not have

Fusion research on one hand is much like a ceremonial money pit where we light a mountain of cash on fire every year. Fusion power itself will likely not have much practical application anytime soon, because other power sources will be far more economical. But if we consider fusion power to be a backdoor way to get funding to research superconductors, plasma physics, and so on, then there is something valuable in the manner of that von Neumann quote, even though their proximate goal is probably all but useless for now.