Today’s announcement that California scientists finally achieved net-positive nuclear fusion seems like good news for the climate fight. But will this moonshot siphon resources from the actual, workable solutions we already have to hand? (Seems likely.) And worse, even if we do achieve fusion on a wide scale, will the insane engineering and materials requirements of the technology concentrate political power—and electrical power—every more fully in the hands of the already-rich and already-powerful?

To me, one of the most beautiful things about solar as a power source is its decentralized nature. Like the internet, it is a technology that tends toward anarchy and democracy. Fusion on the other hand seems like it will require tremendous amounts of centralized capital and administration.

Here’s my hope: most everyone achieves local energy independence in my lifetime, by way of a few solar panels and the big nuclear reactor in the sky. Then we use fusion to run things like aluminum smelters and data centers.