War and Technology

[Ishmael]

Edison invented the electric chair
Apollo missions were cold war attack against ussr

war..whether economic ( between companies ) or political ( between governments ), I still feel spurs most tech advancement. Even if a guy invents something, it takes comapanies or governments who want to crush competition to put those inventions to practical widespread use.

besides, during war..governments are willing to pumps lots of funds into research, eh?..at least purchase the best technologies for the military at least...well once they recognise its potential value which sometimes is passed over ( Tesla demonstrated radio control boats at st louis world's fair iirc, yet admirals poo-pooed it as 'toys ' not capable of sinking battleships )

 

[aramis]

Originally posted by Raibert MacArthur:
Can we continue to find other "Grant Project" to push science forward?? A cure for AIDS- some push but how much really? The Mars mission - is it still a go?

The problem with AIDS is twofold:
1) ANY disease research is tricky to do, and elimination is harder than any sane person wants to comntemplate
2) AIDS is seen by many as "God's punishment for the Sexually Immoral"

Problem 2 is the major one that would prevent a US led assault...

Not to mention the fact that JFK was launching a paramilitary project in competition with an Enemy Nation.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Originally posted by Aramis:
The problem with AIDS is twofold:
1) ANY disease research is tricky to do, and elimination is harder than any sane person wants to comntemplate

Would it be cynical to suggest that you can make more money treating a disease than curing it...?

2) AIDS is seen by many as "God's punishment for the Sexually Immoral"

Sadly there's no cure for bigotry.

 

[atpollard]

My doubts about researching a cure for AIDS stem from a limited understanding of virology: AIDS is a virus and no virus has EVER been "cured". Anti-viral vaccine research would seem a better investment. Curing a virus ranks up there with perpetual motion and reactionless drives ... more fiction, less science.

 

[atpollard]

How about some serious ENERGY research?

I would like to see more real data on energy transmission (for Solar Satellites) since non-renewable resources appear to have long term instabilities that are bad for economies – and fusion appears forever frozen at 15 years away. I don’t want propaganda on microwave death rays destroying the entire ecosystem, or pie-in-the-sky claims that everyone will have unlimited power at such a low cost that it will no longer be worth the effort to install meters to measure power usage. Some real facts would be nice.

Given the difference in energy density and maximum theoretical efficiency between all chemical fuels and nuclear fission, more serious research is needed in the area of Nuclear-electric power generation and transmission.

 

[atpollard]

How about some serious MANUFACTURING research?

If nothing else, the Nano-tech advocates are correct about the inefficiency of modern versions of 19 th century manufacturing processes. Some extraordinary research is going on in the use of a dot-matrix printer to create tissues one layer at a time (and some day entire organs). I propose a major push to develop a build-anything-on-demand manufacturing technology (as opposed to specialized machines and assembly lines able to produce only one item at a very high rate of speed with a long, expensive retooling process). The ability to store items as detailed build instructions, order on-line, and local build-on-demand could alter modern commerce and industry as much as mechanized farming has altered agriculture.

Once upon a time, 90% of the population was required to produce enough food to feed everyone, today less than 1% of the workforce are farmers. Could automated manufacturing do the same for industry?

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

There are at least some strides being taken towards resolving the nuclear issue, finally. And the strides involve doing what the French do. Ie, instead of developing hand built, one of plant monstrosities like we did in the 60's and 70's, there is a new design move in creating new plants using stadardized methods, which is what should have been done in the first place.

I hear ya about the dubious data on a lot of alternative energy sources. It has long irked me to have a genuine interest in the subject, only to find a bunch of half baked crackpottery associated with it. Solar was one of them that was the worst handled. For many years it was the savior of modern times, but then you had to overlook having large amounts of battery acid eventually hitting a landfill, or that the panel manufactoring process uses some NASTY chemicals for sure. At least now they are trying to make it a practical reality, and it seems to be working.

There needs to be a real boom in advancement, after all these decades of false starts and general footdragging.

 

[aramis]

More importAnly, Ishmael, during war, a lot of technologies already "in the cans" (to borrow a film term) finally hit field use.

WW I saw the first major public acceptance of food in metal cans for the US. Sure, they'd been around, but WW I saw enough people made familiar with them to spur their popularity for non-liquid contents.

Further, it spurred a move towards ethnic cuisines in the US culture.

ALso, many times, a production line is set up for a wartime product for military use, then switched over to a civilian product of similar nature after the war in order to keep the line open.

 

[mbrinkhues]

Stuff the war matured:

Diesel engines for ships and trucks (WWI/WWII)

Jet engines (WWII, Korea)#

Rocket Technology (WWII, Cold War)

Mass-Produced Antibiotics (WWII)

Batteries (WWI/WWII/Early cold war)

Electrolitic Cells (Late cold war)

Nuclear Power (WWII/Early cold war)

Boots (WWII)

 

[Sifu Blackirish]

A quote from the April 2007 WIRED magazine article, "The World Needs More Rebels Like Einstein"

"...Einstein's genus reminds us that a society's competitive advantage comes not from teaching the multiplication or periodic tables but from nurturing rebels. Grinds have their place, but unruly geeks change the world..."
~Walter Isaacson~