[hopespringseternal]

Over the last 30 years I have heard time and again that this was a big problem, never happen, too hard, too expensive, blah blah. Engineering curricula mentions this in many places, but also provides rational tools to debunk the repetitive erroneous assertions.

Like fusion power and space travel?

The problem with hydrogen is that a bunch of utopians imagine it to be some magical panacea without giving any considerations to costs vs. benefit. "Could we switch to a hydrogen economy?" completely ignores the fact that if it was a good idea, we would already be there.

These people cannot imagine that the market drives things in certain directions for very good reasons and defying or brute forcing the market can be downright disastrous.

If this sort of thing could be brute forced into being, we would all be speaking Russian.

[Regulator]

Like fusion power and space travel?

Yeah, it's all impossible, just Omni magazine BS, right?

Funny. I make my living flying spacecraft. And a few friends of mine work here: Fusion Research at Los Alamos

Call them up and tell them they're all engaging in Brute Force trying to do things that just cain't be done, dontcha know. Maybe you could do it over your Nokia video enabled phone...which may soon be powered by a (gasp) fuel cell (double gasp, followed by shock).

By the way, Oh Seer of the Immortal Market, just what do you think the future of inertial confinement fusion might be? In say, the 30 to 60 year time frame?