I work with Big data, I do not work with ITER . But both appear to suffer from the same condition, they both promise great benefits in the future. Age does provide some benefits, with perspective being one of them. For the last (well as long as it's been thought about), un-teen years, the promise of harnessing fusion reaction as an energy source has always been 20 years out. If we just put our minds to it, we can have it done in about 20 years. Well, we have been putting our minds to it and it's still 20+ years in the future. By putting our minds "to it" means, a great number of countries have pledged people and resources to the ITER project that is currently being built in France (starting in 2007). It's budget is now grown 3x times (16b) and the end is not in sight. The hope, the promise, the future is always just out there, but not yet in our grasp. It appears that harnessing fusion is way way harder than just creating un-controlled fusion. On
Just some random (isn't it all) thoughts and doings in my life.