There is this misconception that fusion is far in the future. But these startups are aiming at commercial fusion before 2030. For instance, Helion plans for net electricity by 2024, in two years. Maybe the employees and the investors of these companies are fooling themselves and this will never happen. But they could succeed...
I am just providing pointers so people could have a look and juge by themselves. I was pretty convinced by Helion and ZAP, less by TAE.
Because we are on HN, I can mention that Sam Altman invested $375M of his own money in Helion, so he is indeed a true believer.
I think the expectation is that fusion is still a very risky bet. The upside is large (or at least perceived to be large) so a lot of funding has gone into it, but the actual chance of a breakthrough large enough is still small
I am just providing pointers so people could have a look and juge by themselves. I was pretty convinced by Helion and ZAP, less by TAE.
Because we are on HN, I can mention that Sam Altman invested $375M of his own money in Helion, so he is indeed a true believer.