331 | One Small Step Towards a Fusion Energy Breakthrough with Charles Seife

The Realignment

Saager Enjeti, Technology, Policy, News, Marshall Kosloff, International Relations, Politics, News Commentary, Public Policy, U.s. Politics, National Security, Economics

4.8 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2023

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Charles Seife, author of Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking, joins The Realignment to discuss last month's announcement by the Department of Energy of a successful controlled nuclear fusion reaction. Charles and Marshall separate the promise of "near limitless, clean energy" from the hype, explore why for six decades, fusion energy has always been "20 years away," the steep hurdles to a commercial reactor, and the role of moonshot scientific projects play in meeting the world's energy needs.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Marshall here, welcome back to the Realignment.
0:03.0	[♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
0:08.4	Before we dive in, a quick shout out to the Supercast,
0:11.7	which is how we fund the show and deliver exclusive content.
0:14.9	Yesterday, Sartre and I released our second exclusive
0:17.8	Ask Me Anything episode of the year,
0:19.4	part of our stepped up cadence.
0:21.6	If you'd like to access that extra content,
0:24.4	or just want to support the show,
0:26.4	go to realignment.supercast.com
0:29.0	or click the link in your show notes.
0:31.0	On to today's episode.
0:32.6	I'm joined by NYU professor and science journalist
0:35.9	Charles Siph, author of Hawking Hawking,
0:39.0	the selling of a scientific celebrity,
0:41.0	and more relevant to our conversation today,
0:43.7	Sun in a Bottle, the strange history of fusion
0:46.8	and the science of wishful thinking.
0:49.0	Last December, the Department of Energy
0:51.1	announced a huge breakthrough with fusion energy research
0:54.2	and a step towards a near limitless source of energy.
0:58.8	Now that there's been a month or so since the announcement,
	...

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