Tracing the history of terrestrial fusion energy to a giant multinational experimental fusion facility under construction reveals a series of consequential failures, re-evaluations of once defunct designs, but also persistence. To account for how this vast enterprise, dogged by failure, endures, I suggest that different ontological narratives re-orientate the enterprise both temporally and vis-à-vis different forms and valences of failure. Thus the rhetoric of mission-driven project vies with that of open-ended, present-focused experiment: the former is positioned as the crucial solution to the threat of climate change; the latter ‘bakes in’ virtuous failure as integral to creative practice. Visionary promise moves to a focus on the meanwhile. Finally, the sheer unfurling size to which attention is constantly drawn offers a disorientating spectacle, denying perspective or closure and acting to suspend judgements of failure.

中文翻译：

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暂停失败：聚变能开发中的时间性、本体论和巨人主义

将地球聚变能源的历史追溯到一个正在建设中的巨型多国实验性聚变设施，揭示了一系列随之而来的失败、对曾经失效的设计的重新评估，以及持久性。为了解释这个被失败所困扰的庞大企业如何持续存在，我建议不同的本体论叙述在时间上以及相对于不同形式和价的失败重新定位企业。因此，任务驱动项目的修辞与开放式的、以当前为中心的实验相竞争：前者被定位为应对气候变化威胁的关键解决方案；后者将良性失败“融入”为创造性实践不可或缺的一部分。与此同时，有远见的承诺转移到焦点上。最后，