[SeeGeeWhy]

Not only that, SP, but fusion only offers a 10x improvement on fission with 1,000,000x the difficulty in producing and extracting net exergy.

People seem to think it will not produce radioactive waste, but it makes neutrons. So you need to shield the hell out of that. And anything that gets bombarded with neutrons becomes activated itself, and will remain at least low level waste for a long time, too.

I'm all for adventures in science for the serendipity but let's not pretend this is "just around the corner".

You're totally right about a mismatch in capital partners, too. VCs are severely IMPATIENT capital, and fusion is at a place where it requires PETRIFIED capital. It makes me wonder why there has been a big rush of VC into the space this year. I think it could have more to do with the undercurrents of what is happening between SF and DC, from a shifting of centres of political power.

For a long time the fusion game has been dominated by national labs. This is because the fruits of these experiments have mostly been used to simulate and maintain existing warhead inventory after the creation of the test ban treaty. Splashy "breakthroughs" seem to get announced whenever the US wants to project technological superiority or make a recruiting push.

Private interests that have overlap in AI and in fission have made great strides to gain favours politically in the last two years, and it is accelerating. I wonder how much of that trend is influencing a surge in private interest in Fusion...