Yes, the process itself is efficient, but what I am pointing out is the energy it takes to create that reaction (infrastructure, the energy it takes to fire the lasing material/power the flashbulb, etc. It all adds up to more than what we get out of it)

While the pellet released more energy than the lasers put in, the calculation does not include the 300 or so megajoules needed to power up the lasers in the first place.

Right, but the point is that the reaction itself is energy positive, which proves that at a larger scale and with more efficient reactors, it can end up being energy positive even when you factor in the rest of the energy cost. This is just a proof of concept, not intended to be an actual power plant, but it is a significant breakthrough, because no one has ever proven that fusion power was actually practically possible before now, only theoretically.

Even if my understanding is entirely wrong, we’d still need to actually put in the infrastructure required to create this energy on a vast enough scale. This means we are going against the fossil fuel industry. I highly doubt anyone but the socialist countries will ditch the fossil fuels fast enough to save us.

Of course, this is just an experiment, and yes, it’s likely, as I said in the post body, that the fossil fuel industry will not allow this to happen in the US, but now that it’s proven to work and the methodology is known, countries like China can start making their own.

As for saving us, I don’t believe that the fossil fuel situation will get bad enough to kill us. I am Gen Z living in the US, and have lots of experience with people in my generation. I haven’t met a single one that defends fossil fuels in any way. In fact, most of them want to destroy the fossil fuel industry entirely. I have hope that my generation will at the very least improve the situation.