What I'm saying is Tokamak fusion is the most funded both by government and academic, the $40 million TriAlpha has raised so far is just a drop in the bucket as compared to Tokamak research
Did you know that Tokamak research compromises 85% of USA research into fusion?
It's good to be a thorough and objective scientist but what I'm stressing is one needs to be able to relate to the public, which for Polywell, I believe, will make or break it.
This isn't about being a good scientist, this is about being honest.
Do you have any idea how many claims are there for "great new, clean and cheap energy source"? Allot. Such claims get large local public support, take allot of money away and then disappear. We don't want that, we don't even want to act like that. We want to show and honest deal and situation.
We can't go in there and say that the thing is ready, because its not.
We can't go in there and say that its so easy to do that a kid could use it, because we need nuclear engineers and physicist to assemble and configure the device.
We can't say "100% clean" because we will certainly start of with simple fuels, like D-T (yes, I know we all like p-b11, but D-T is the easiest and thus should be tried first) that will generate radioactive waste and give energetic and deadly gamma rays that we must work with.
We can't even say that we have everything worked out, because we still have some tidbits to work out, like fuel and electron injection.
We see the light of a star in the end of the tunnel, but we have to climb higher with a few steps. We need the public's support for the last few steps to happen, we need the money to sharpen our tools and finally reach the dream pursued for 50 years.
It would only smell of "snake-oil" if done incorrectly.
First we work with the engineering and science, then start with the large-scale propaganda campaign involving lotteries, Dr.Bussard smiling like an idiot in a camera to the lucky winner, pictures of pulsing plasma and other media lightshow.
If we try to do it the other way around, it will be a mayor hurdle in convincing other scientists, who's support we'll ultimately need if we ever dream of getting the money for finishing off our work, that is the demo reactor.
If we publish the science papers and the other stuff before the lightshow, the scientists and the like will see the lightshow as an unusual way of getting money. If we do it the other way around, the scientists and the like will see us as snake-oil sellers. They can be convinced otherwise, but that would be difficult.
True, but both have different requirements, Polywell proponents, if they are ever to see the their dream come true will need to think outside the box, push the boundaries, and find new ways to attract the attention of the public. As it sits, it isn't and that just the undeniable facts.
Oh, once we have a more solid basis, the fusion promise has something for everyone, regardless what political spectrum you are in. If we could gather up some animators and artists, we could make great videos and images of what Polywell fusion would grant us.
[imagine next section with sexy, uplifting and compelling voice]
The Great Fusion Promise has something that everyone would love to see.
Powerful rocket motors that far surpass anything NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories can wave a bat at and can actually be developed, unlike plans with fission technology that would run into various political problems (look up "Orion" and "Deadulus", one uses fission the other fusion). Manned missions to Mars, and a permanent Moon base are not only possible, but unmissable opportunities, for the cost of a few air fighters.
Surface-to-LEO costs alone would make any rocket engineer piss their pants with joy.
There is an off-shot of this: fusion jets (under "air-breathing scramjets). Insert a very small amount of superhot fusion plasma into an airstream and you have OMSG (Oh My Sexy Goddess) amount of thrust, with no after-product but a little helium and hot air. Such propulsion would work with other atmosphere very well (you could actually do this with fission btw, look up "The Flying Crowbar" or "Project Pluto", cold war project, scary as shit).
This could make immense and powerful jet planes, which cannot help but be supersonic, or even suborbital. Air traffic would be cleaner and busier, possibly with going highs that are currently reserved only for military and experimental purposes. This means that air travel and transportation would be greatly be cheaper, allowing many more people to visit across the globe much more regularly and more cheaply. Want to take the kids and the wife for a weekend trip to Tokyo to see something different from New York? No problem, the hotel costs will be greater then the plane ticket.
And there is power production. Very powerful, very clean and fairly cheap, non-dependent on any outside source. If every country in the world would swich to fusion from coal, CO2 productions would be massively reduced!
Third-world countries would love it, and other countries could raise little objection, unlike with present fission. Electric bills could be around cents, and your son's allowance could cover a month's energy use. Even homeless people could afford using electric items, and I imagen that there would be public outlets giving electricity for cents an hour. And people would call them overpriced.
Even though Polywell cannot be used as a weapon directly, there are many military possibilities! Step right up gentlemen, and see the aircraft carrier of the future! Loaded with lasers that could destroy any incoming missile or even mortal, and rail guns against which there is little defence, with sonar and radar so powerful that if the technicians are not careful enough, they might boil the seas! There would so much weaponry possible with enough electricity, that we might see the revival of the battleship!
Also, submarines! We could use powered submarines to go deeper, farther and faster then ever before! All electric devices submarines could go for technically forever, with nothing but limitations of the crew. We might even see the birth of a long-forgotten fantasy, civil trips underwater, with large and giant submarines with luxurious service.
Really, there is little for the sceptical mind and plenty of imagination!
[*gasp*]
[Put's "watch "surprise sproker" from "The Chaser's War on Everything" to get more ideas.]
Really, there is very much the public would like that could be gained from Polywell.
What we must do however, for the public not to dismiss it, is to prove that its not a false hope, like many were in the last 50 years. Something that I'd like to be convinced of myself.
EDIT:
Considering the funding levels for polywell I strongly believe that academic/government route will be extraordinarily hard to get funding, if not impossible. Then again, hopefully I'm wrong.
Actually, the funding needed for Polywell would be quite small, even unnoticeable. Consider that EMC2 needs 5 mill max for next stage of experiments. Cold fusion gets around 2 mill a year.