3 ms·

Looking at the SR-71, despite all its engineering "flaws" (documented excellently in a sibling comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17675996 https://ne

by pdog 8y ago

Looking at the SR-71, despite all its engineering "flaws" (documented excellently in a sibling comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17675996 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17675996), I wonder... Have we really progressed technologically, as in, doing the impossible, since the late 1960s? The Blackbird is still the fastest jet in the world more than fifty years later. I'm not even sure we could return to the Moon successfully on the first try if we tried.

Barrin92 8y ago
the disparity between progress in the 'world of bits' compared to progress in the 'world of atoms' really has become quite stark. I would agree with you that there even seems to have been a regression in some domains. We've lost an engineering culture that connects to the physical world and real materials we deal with every day. Another good example is probably the kitchen. A kitchen mid 20th century looked very different from a kitchen at the beginning of the century. Kitchens nowadays really hasn't changed that much for a very long time. Dan Wang has written a very good (albeit lenghty) essay on the topic: https://danwang.co/how-technology-grows/ https://danwang.co/how-technology-grows/
skybrian 8y ago
Making a plane faster is only one dimension for optimization and it's not actually a goal in itself. It sacrifices other goals. Nobody has done better because they are optimizing for something else. The purpose of the SR-71 was reconnaissance. Do you really think the U.S. military hasn't gotten better at that, using drones and/or satellites?
- varjag 8y ago
  SR-71 was meant to be flying over USSR and China. Few existing USAF drones would have survived 20 minutes there even in 1960s. But sat reconnaissance have certainly got a lot better to the point of rendering the bird obsolete.

3 ms·

Looking at the SR-71, despite all its engineering "flaws" (documented excellently in a sibling comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17675996 https://ne

by pdog 8y ago

Barrin92 8y ago
the disparity between progress in the 'world of bits' compared to progress in the 'world of atoms' really has become quite stark. I would agree with you that there even seems to have been a regression in some domains. We've lost an engineering culture that connects to the physical world and real materials we deal with every day. Another good example is probably the kitchen. A kitchen mid 20th century looked very different from a kitchen at the beginning of the century. Kitchens nowadays really hasn't changed that much for a very long time. Dan Wang has written a very good (albeit lenghty) essay on the topic: https://danwang.co/how-technology-grows/ https://danwang.co/how-technology-grows/
skybrian 8y ago
Making a plane faster is only one dimension for optimization and it's not actually a goal in itself. It sacrifices other goals. Nobody has done better because they are optimizing for something else. The purpose of the SR-71 was reconnaissance. Do you really think the U.S. military hasn't gotten better at that, using drones and/or satellites?
- varjag 8y ago
  SR-71 was meant to be flying over USSR and China. Few existing USAF drones would have survived 20 minutes there even in 1960s. But sat reconnaissance have certainly got a lot better to the point of rendering the bird obsolete.