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Start now. Continue R&D and funding. In 10 years, the technology will be dramatically advanced and scaling will be far easier. Just because it's hard doesn't m
by blueben 17y ago
Start now. Continue R&D and funding. In 10 years, the technology will be dramatically advanced and scaling will be far easier.
Just because it's hard doesn't mean it isn't worth doing anyway. When the Manhattan project started, they had no clue how they would come up with the theoretical quantity of nuclear material they needed. It was impossible. They went forward anyway and in the process invented the methods they needed to make it happen. Now we have nuclear weapons coming out of our ears.
- berntb 17y agoThey did a preplanned thing in Sweden when they built warships and planted trees suitable for new warships. Now those trees are ready to be used -- but those pesky iron ships, from the 1860s onwards, got between. :-) Check: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Fusion Will they work? We will know in less than ten years. If they work, the money would be better used in battery research, to run cars on electricity.
- blueben 17y agoIf you wait because something better might come along which disrupts your present efforts, you will wait forever. Eventually, you must commit to something while recognizing that you may have to be adaptable and change your course later. Success depends less on what you choose to do and more on the fact that you are doing it.
- berntb 17y agoYeah, but you need to do some sanity checking to see how likely things are to ever be competitive... I agree that wind research should be done, but I really think/hope something better (lower investment costs and lower aesthetic impact) will be found.
- dan_the_welder 17y agoExactly. Burning stuff is a mature technology and we are plagued with inertia.