If humanity actually put resources into fusion, I'm sure we would have already have it.

But humanity's resources are controlled by few, and they want more exploitation, enshitification and ads, not abundant energy.

the joke is that we've been saying fusion is just around the corner for more than 50 years, self-driving cars have been just around the corner for 10... so far

Yup, it is the rich who are hoarding the secrets of avoiding neutron embrittlement. And we'll never tell you what they are.

I'm sure it would be much easier to solve with extra $10 trillion a year, which is pocket money compared to what goes into adtech, sloptech, attacking Iran and similar endeavors.