Paradoxical Fusion Commandments

Posted by Rezwan on Sep 11, 2011 at 03:21 PM
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In that spirit, here are the Paradoxical Commandments modified for fusion research.  And here are notes on the origins of the Paradoxical Commandments. 

Paradoxical Fusion Commandments

When it comes to energy, people are insatiable consumers, full of NIMBY, yet take a tightfisted “wait and see” stance towards research.

Fight for funding and do the research to get them fusion energy anyway.

If you do fusion research, people will accuse you of wishful thinking.

Do fusion research anyway.

If you are unsuccessful in your fusion experiments, people will ridicule you and accuse you of fraud and waste.

Do the experiments anyway.

If you are successful, people may attempt to steal or stifle your inventions.

Succeed anyway.

Fusion is “oversold” but underfunded.

Fight for fusion funding anyway.

Honesty and frankness about the uncertainties of research make you vulnerable to defunding and derision.

Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest scale ideas with the biggest budgets may, or may not, be outperformed by the simplest ideas with the smallest budgets. 

Pursue a diverse range of fusion experiments.

What fusion researchers spend years building may be successful overnight.  It’s a cliff edge phenomenon. 

Keep calm and fuse on!

People really need energy breakthroughs but attack you with budget cuts and contempt if you attempt them.

Attempt fusion breakthroughs anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get swarmed by ungrateful people with pitchforks saying “what took you so long?”

Give the world the best you have anyway.

Origins of Paradoxical Commandments

The Paradoxical Commandments were written by Kent Keith and came out of his experience as a student leader.

One thing he learned was students didn’t know how to work through the system to bring about change. Some of them also tended to give up quickly when they faced difficulties or failures. They needed deeper, longer-lasting reasons to keep trying.

  “I saw a lot of idealistic young people go out into the world to do what they thought was right, and good, and true, only to come back a short time later, discouraged, or embittered, because they got negative feedback, or nobody appreciated them, or they failed to get the results they had hoped for.” recalls Keith. “I told them that if they were going to change the world, they had to really love people, and if they did, that love would sustain them. I also told them that they couldn’t be in it for fame or glory. I said that if they did what was right and good and true, they would find meaning and satisfaction, and that meaning and satisfaction would be enough. If they had the meaning, they didn’t need the glory.”

In a similar manner, a lot of idealistic people go out into the world to pursue fusion, only to get quickly discouraged by setbacks in research, but mostly by a lack of funding.  A quick success in fusion would be nice, and we hope the LPPX or any one of the other fusion experiments has a breakthrough soon.  But in the meantime, we need to work on our stamina. 

Help us spread the paradoxical fusion commandments!  Here’s more action you can take!