The REAL obstacle to SPSS

I think it's been shown here that SSPS makes a lousy weapon, and so I
don't think that the whole "IT'S A WEAPON!!!" concern will matter with
diplomats and such, who can read and do simple math (a lot better than
I can!). The problem may be with the general public, who can be made
to believe anything. Yes, I know that that sounds elitist and
arrogant and so on, but it's the bleedin' truth.

It probably cannot be proven that an SSPS can't be *turned into* a
weapon, but it probably can be shown that it would be easier and
cheaper to build your orbital death ray from scratch. Which brings me to:

If I'm Mr. World-Conquering Despotic National-Leader Guy (MWCDNLG),
and I decide that conquering the world would be a lot easier if I just
had an orbiting beam weapon, I'm going to build my orbiting beam
weapon. MWCDNLG isn't going to look around, see the lack of
beneficial SSPS-produced energy (with attendant rises in standards of
living, drops in pollution, etc.), and decide that he doesn't really
want to conquer the world after all.

Doing without the benefits of SSPS won't protect us against a MWCDNLG.