Tops, Fusion, & the Hand of God
It’s a fool’s quest to call the top of financial hysterias, not that randomly, or in this quantum age call it a certain probability, some will get it right. The thing about hysterias is whenever you think there’s a top, they can always rave higher. Nonetheless, a month ago, a friend and golfing partner of the last several years, called a top. He’s still part of the financial industry and use to be at the Board of Trade.
Odds seem pretty good the SPCX IPO – an AI company Elon assures his fleeced flock – was the top. Never has there been a greater pile of grift. Yesterday, SPCX dipped to $136, that’s a dollar from its $135 IPO price. That means everyone who bought and held since its first $150 opening trade is now underwater. Even better, the underwriters’ price is about to be breached.
Yesterday, call it a double top, General Fusion went public. Yes, as the name implies, it deals with fusion though there is no marketable fusion, but you can now buy stock in it. You reply, "Joe, General Fusion is backed by Jeff Bezos. He’s made lots of money." He’s not the only billionaire fusion enthusiast. Google has a fusion company and Gates. Just as he’s "behind" on AI, Elon hasn’t announced any fusion gambits, though I may have missed it, maybe there's one somewhere in SPCX? Once again, I highly recommend Dr. Collier’s, a theoretical physicist from Eastern Kentucky, excellent shredding of Tech billionaires and physics.
Bloomberg reports $4.5 billion invested in fusion in the last year, “reflecting growing confidence that the fledgling industry is on a path to deliver electricity from commercial plants.” I guess we can deem fusion “vibe energy.” We just need to feel good about it and it will happen. The biggest problem is AI will not be able to give us the answer because the vast amounts of energy required for it to “think” a solution will not be available until we have fusion.
The financing to date of General Fusion would seem to wave all sort of red flags. Hurting for money, it merged with a SPAC, you know that recent financial innovation of raising a bunch money and creating a company that someday will invest in something. One report writes, “Before the reverse merger (with the SPAC) was announced, General Fusion was running short on cash and struggling to raise more. The company had reportedly been attempting to raise $125 million. But by May 2025, it hadn’t materialized, and General Fusion laid off at least 25% of its employees. Three months later, the company convinced existing investors to put in another $22 million in what was reportedly a ‘pay to play’ round.”
Better is General Fusion’s tech, where “the plasma is formed, it will use rings of pistons to compress liquid lithium around the fusion fuel until the atoms within fuse and release energy. Previously, the company said it would use steam to drive the pistons, though today it doesn’t specify, merely saying that “synchronized mechanical drivers” will force the lithium blanket inward around the plasma.” Steam driven mechanical pistons, sounds more 18th than 21st century, eh?
We live in an age where cleverness rules. That’s no good thing. Unlike the Greeks, we have no culture to understand the vice of clever. First and foremost, lying is one of the clever’s greatest tools. One of Ancient Greece's great cultural heroes was Odysseus. He was famous or infamous for being clever, which the Greeks thought at best a double edged sword. In a pinch, clever can be appreciated, the ability to think and immediately act to a given situation you find yourself. However, clever is not something a civilization can be built on, for that you need wisdom. In short, clever requires no greater value than immediate thought and action. Wisdom is the ability to act continually over time based on experience and knowledge.
The Greeks understood purely clever people were dangerous to be around. Odysseus is prime example, almost everyone around him dies. It is unfortunate Christopher Nolan is making The Odyssey. He makes entertaining enough Hollywood fluff, but Oppenheimer showed he can’t create culturally significant or culturally helpful stories. As a society, one might even say as a civilization, we are in desperate need of a cultural critique of clever.
Speaking of tops. The winner of the Cup will probably come out of today’s game. I’m on record, nothing more than a romantic notion in celebration of the 250th year of independence, supporting the Frenches hoisting the cup in New Jersey. Spain’s a very good team, it will be a great match.
You Englanders, just remember watching tomorrow, 40 years ago, in another North American stadium, you witnessed the hand of god:
