It took somewhere between 1500 and 1700 years from the time the first steam engine (aeolipile) showed up until it was practically applied. If that's your idea of instantaneous development, then fusion should be no problem for you.

Likewise, depending on where you want to consider the development of the internal combustion engine beginning, it took somewhere between 60 and 2100 years to develop it into a practical application.

The key difference with fusion is that we're not saying "here's an invention, what can we do with it?", we're saying "here's what we want to do, what can we invent to do it?". It's a very different way of approaching things, and should explain why your development idea of "here's a prototype" obviously doesn't apply. It's more akin to the well-known anecdote about Edison's "ten thousand ways that don't work" - you know your goal, you just need to figure out how to get there.

One other thing to keep in mind is that fusion, if we can find a way to make it work, could potentially outshine every other technological achievement in human history up to this point because of the possible applications. It's very much a high-risk/high-reward endeavor.

Isn't that true of pretty much every technology that's still in the development stage? There was a time when microprocessors weren't worth the materials they were made with, but they seem to have paid off in the long run. If we can get fusion to pay off, the benefits could potentially far outweigh what we've gotten from the microprocessor.

Not to be confused with a spherical taurus in a vacuum.

Having to stay in Phoenix *with a Sony exec*. It's like cramming two levels of Hell together into one Boss Level of Hell.

We finally have it confirmed that pop-up ads are the result of anal sex. Makes sense to me.

Because Florida Man only lives, works, and commits felonies in Florida. Expecting it to be elsewhere is like expecting to find Batman fighting crime in San Francisco. It's just not going to happen.

Just because it's by choice doesn't mean it's not a vulnerability. You can choose to never lock your front door, but that doesn't mean it's not a vulnerability... it just means you made the choice not to secure it.

Making fun of someone is still making fun of someone. Just because they can get a good job later on doesn't make it better.

Why won't you let me have my magic space drive? Picard had one. Solo had one. Why can't I have one?

The best part of science is when we expect X to happen, but we get Y instead. And the very best of that is when X = nothing.

It is possible to generate electricity without expendable fuel, whereas our current methods of chemical propulsion *must* use expendable fuel. Unless your religion doesn't believe in solar panels?

There's plenty of politicians who will do whatever it takes to benefit the dead. For some of them, it's their core voter group.

Yeah, but the blind never saw it coming and the deaf just don't want to hear about it.

Developing a working prototype and developing a commercially-feasible product are two different things. You could conceivably meet the requirements of this, but by using components or techniques that are not commercially feasible due to cost, safety, or other issues. However, it would be a big step in the direction towards doing such a thing. Google is paying for you to help make that step... not necessarily to develop a device that's worth commercializing.

"if you want a solar-powered Chromebook"

I'm a little confused... why would you convert dc to ac, only to convert it back to dc for the computer to use? If it's a dedicated power source for one device, wouldn't it make more sense to keep it dc?