[ExI] Nuclear Fusion - Friend or Foe?

[Adrian Tymes]

Fusion, if and when it becomes commercially viable, will have military and
non-military applications.  This is inescapable, and quite common among
"dual use" technologies.

But just because the military applications are there, does not mean they
are the only ones that will matter, or even that they will dwarf the
non-military applications into insignificance.  The ability to destroy has
quite limited applications compared to everything else one could do with
commercially viable fusion.  The truly power mad, lust at the possibilities
of creation that new technologies promise to unlock.

On Mon, Oct 17, 2022 at 11:22 AM BillK via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> Apologies for yet another depressing article. Sorry!
>
> I've just read a long article (translated from the Italian) by a
> retired nuclear researcher.
> We have been hoping that nuclear fusion might provide lots of cheap
> energy and solve our energy problems.
> He is concerned that the research is supported by the search for
> military applications.
>
> <
> https://www.senecaeffect.com/2022/10/the-dark-side-of-nuclear-fusion-new.html
> >
>
> Quote:
> Basically, research on nuclear fusion, sometimes touted as a benign
> technology able to produce energy "too cheap to meter," is mainly
> justified by its military applications. The search is for an "inertial
> confinement device," something that would detonate without the need
> for a trigger in the form of a conventional fission bomb. These
> devices could cover a range of destructive power that could go from
> tactical warheads to planet-bursting weapons.
> ------------------
>
> Why does everything have to made into weapons for destruction?
> Does humanity have an irresistible desire to commit suicide?
>
> BillK
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> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
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>
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