“Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions” -Thomas Jefferson. Don’t get mad, and also don’t come right at them with the ridicule as they expect that and are prepared. Simply start agreeing with them and see how far you can take it.

Can someone ELI5? Is this extremely token gesture an appreciative nod or strings (visible or not) attached trojan horse?

We’re already well on the way to having supercritical CO2 generators. Sure, it’s still a steam engine, but supercritical CO2 makes it sound so much sciencier.