3 ms·

I don't fully understand it, but I think the answer is usually some form of "attention economy". Also, I'm not sure how often startups get 1.8 Bn USD in series

I don't fully understand it, but I think the answer is usually some form of "attention economy". Also, I'm not sure how often startups get 1.8 Bn USD in series B. That sounds like a lot.

ncmncm 5y ago
It is, anyway, a lot to waste. It is not unusual for very large investments to yield zero. Any Tokamak effort will necessarily be one of those, because operating a plant would cost far more than the similarly-rated fission plant, and those are markedly uncompetitive. But none of the money will vanish: every penny goes into a ready pocket.
- willis936 5y ago
  What an awfully easy to make take that offers no insight.
  - ncmncm 5y ago
    It explains how those boondoggles get the investment they do. A nuke industry without pervasive corruption would have very different economics. But corruption is very hard to root out, particularly when it has instead been made wholly legal.
    - willis936 5y ago
      It's simply not rooted in reality. You think engineers work at half market rate as a grift?
      - ncmncm 5y ago
        What do engineers have to do with nuclear plant construction grift? They don't get the billions of dollars for uncompleted plants.