We shouldn’t maximize growth for the sake of growth — we should maximize human happiness.
The fusion reactor would be awesome if it works, but I’ll believe it when I see a working prototype that exceeds breakeven by a sizable margin. We’ve been five years away for the past twenty-five years.
However, we were given a free fusion reactor up in the sky whose fuel will last a few billion years more. We should be doing more to harness its power. With a worldwide superconducting power grid to smooth out variations in sunlight, we could do pretty darn well with existing technology.
We should also be working on portable fusion reactors, but I see them as being more useful for things like long-term space travel. (There’s also the question of output – will they produce undesired radioisotopes?)
