4 ms·

I attended some lectures by Rodney Brooks - and I similarly had my mind blown. Over a few lectures he covered a wide variety of research, much of it for 3-lette

I attended some lectures by Rodney Brooks - and I similarly had my mind blown. Over a few lectures he covered a wide variety of research, much of it for 3-letter organizations and it included his development of "scurrying" robots with multiple sensors and multiple actuators. Of course, much of it was subsumption architecture - still an interesting topic. He also talked about how he was trying to find a use for his robotic prototypes, and was creating a company to release a product. (So I guess this is yet another case of government investments resulting directly in privatized profit. Pretty typical - though many seem to want to deny it.)

ghaff 8y ago
> (So I guess this is yet another case of government investments resulting directly in privatized profit. Pretty typical - though many seem to want to deny it.) You mean, like the Internet? I thought that was one of the justifications for government-funded research. Long-term research that jumpstarts shorter-term private development and productization.
- MrTonyD 8y ago
  I guess I was thinking of all those who are in denial about any benefit from government spending, and work to undermine government. Or maybe I was thinking about those who insist that private industry is the only solution to everything. Or maybe I was thinking about those who insist that rich executives deserve everything they earn without paying any taxes back to our society.
- adventured 8y ago
  > You mean, like the Internet? No. Most of the ARPANET, much less the Internet, wasn't originated from the government. They contributed maybe 3% of everything that went into it and people like to give them most of the credit. It was constructed of components invented in the private sector, with plenty of private networks among the first connections. Most of the people that worked on ARPANET were not employed by the government. SRI, BBN, Xerox were not government agencies. Harvard, Stanford, MIT, USC are not state schools. The government was the agent behind bringing ARPANET together. They did not form the actual Internet or invent most of its technology. Their single biggest contribution was being so kind as to get out of the way legally. I'd argue that an easy 97% of everything that has gone into the Internet over the last 35 years, has been private technology and private capital. The private sector has invested trillions of dollars into building out the Internet and making it was it is. The government has contributed a laughably tiny sum by comparison, in both monetary terms and technology. Besides the myth that the government invented and constructed the Internet, the government barely has a single dollar it doesn't first take from the private sector. Nearly all of its resources derive from private sector production and taxation against that production. The government then redistributes that private sector money. Factually anything that government does, in other words, is first thanks to private money that makes it all possible.

ghaff 8y ago

> (So I guess this is yet another case of government investments resulting directly in privatized profit. Pretty typical - though many seem to want to deny it.) You mean, like the Internet? I thought that was one of the justifications for government-funded research. Long-term research that jumpstarts shorter-term private development and productization.

MrTonyD 8y ago
I guess I was thinking of all those who are in denial about any benefit from government spending, and work to undermine government. Or maybe I was thinking about those who insist that private industry is the only solution to everything. Or maybe I was thinking about those who insist that rich executives deserve everything they earn without paying any taxes back to our society.
adventured 8y ago
> You mean, like the Internet? No. Most of the ARPANET, much less the Internet, wasn't originated from the government. They contributed maybe 3% of everything that went into it and people like to give them most of the credit. It was constructed of components invented in the private sector, with plenty of private networks among the first connections. Most of the people that worked on ARPANET were not employed by the government. SRI, BBN, Xerox were not government agencies. Harvard, Stanford, MIT, USC are not state schools. The government was the agent behind bringing ARPANET together. They did not form the actual Internet or invent most of its technology. Their single biggest contribution was being so kind as to get out of the way legally. I'd argue that an easy 97% of everything that has gone into the Internet over the last 35 years, has been private technology and private capital. The private sector has invested trillions of dollars into building out the Internet and making it was it is. The government has contributed a laughably tiny sum by comparison, in both monetary terms and technology. Besides the myth that the government invented and constructed the Internet, the government barely has a single dollar it doesn't first take from the private sector. Nearly all of its resources derive from private sector production and taxation against that production. The government then redistributes that private sector money. Factually anything that government does, in other words, is first thanks to private money that makes it all possible.