[onion2k]

I'm always amazed and impressed by the people who work on these giant projects. To do all that engineering without really knowing if it'll even work in the end must require a huge amount of confidence in both yourself and the rest of the team.

[Faint]

Confidence, or conscious willingness to take steps to unknown (will to explore)?

[dest]

Furthermore, if the technology works eventually, you may already be retired (if not passed away!) In my opinion, the motivation rather comes from the fascinating scientific questions behind those projects. Whether it works as an industry may be "just a plus". Disclaimer: did a phd in tokamaks / experimental data crunching

[adrianN]

Well, even if it ends up not working, you learned a lot along the way. Ambitious engineering efforts are never completely wasted.