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What makes you think we'll have fusion reactors in the 21st century?

by _heimdall 1y ago

rimeice 1y ago
I don’t think we’ll have the choice.
- fundatus 1y ago
  > I like fusion, really. I’ve talked to some of luminaries that work in the field, they’re great people. I love the technology and the physics behind it. > But fusion as a power source is never going to happen. Not because it can’t, because it won’t. Because no matter how hard you try, it’s always going to cost more than the solutions we already have. https://matter2energy.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/why-fusion-will-never-happen/ https://matter2energy.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/why-fusion-wi...
  - rimeice 1y ago
    Yeh current tech is expensive and would likely be uncompetitive. At the very very end of that article is the key to this though: > I fully support a pure research program for radically different approaches to fusion.
- tim333 1y ago
  We've got by without them so far and solar is cracking along.
- _heimdall 1y ago
  That's not how invention works though. Something has to be technically possible and we have to discover how to do it in a viable way.
Quarrelsome 1y ago
ITER apparently fires up in 2039.
- _heimdall 1y ago
  That date means nothing though. We have yet to figure out how to run a fusion reactor for any meaningful period of time and we haven't figured out how to do it profitably. Setting a date for when one opens is just a pipe dream, they don't know how to get there yet.
  - Quarrelsome 1y ago
    isn't the ROI on current AI investment kinda similar though? Both are built on elements of hope.
tim333 1y ago
Helion has one under construction https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/helion-energy-starts-construction-nuclear-fusion-plant-power-microsoft-data-2025-07-30/ https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/helion-energy-starts... Whether it works or not is of course another matter.
- _heimdall 1y ago
  Is it a fusion reactor if it can't maintain a fusion reaction and generator energy?
  - tim333 1y ago
    A non functioning fusion reactor? So far I think they've achieved fusion but not net energy.
ponector 1y ago
What makes people think we'll have AGI in the 21st century? LLM is not AI, and as far away from AGI as self-parking car.

What makes you think we'll have fusion reactors in the 21st century?

rimeice 1y ago

I don’t think we’ll have the choice.

fundatus 1y ago
> I like fusion, really. I’ve talked to some of luminaries that work in the field, they’re great people. I love the technology and the physics behind it. > But fusion as a power source is never going to happen. Not because it can’t, because it won’t. Because no matter how hard you try, it’s always going to cost more than the solutions we already have. https://matter2energy.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/why-fusion-will-never-happen/ https://matter2energy.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/why-fusion-wi...
- rimeice 1y ago
  Yeh current tech is expensive and would likely be uncompetitive. At the very very end of that article is the key to this though: > I fully support a pure research program for radically different approaches to fusion.
tim333 1y ago
We've got by without them so far and solar is cracking along.
_heimdall 1y ago
That's not how invention works though. Something has to be technically possible and we have to discover how to do it in a viable way.

Quarrelsome 1y ago

ITER apparently fires up in 2039.

_heimdall 1y ago
That date means nothing though. We have yet to figure out how to run a fusion reactor for any meaningful period of time and we haven't figured out how to do it profitably. Setting a date for when one opens is just a pipe dream, they don't know how to get there yet.
- Quarrelsome 1y ago
  isn't the ROI on current AI investment kinda similar though? Both are built on elements of hope.

tim333 1y ago

Helion has one under construction https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/helion-energy-starts-construction-nuclear-fusion-plant-power-microsoft-data-2025-07-30/ https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/helion-energy-starts... Whether it works or not is of course another matter.

_heimdall 1y ago
Is it a fusion reactor if it can't maintain a fusion reaction and generator energy?
- tim333 1y ago
  A non functioning fusion reactor? So far I think they've achieved fusion but not net energy.

ponector 1y ago

What makes people think we'll have AGI in the 21st century? LLM is not AI, and as far away from AGI as self-parking car.