3 ms·

> Tech is not developed in secret large scale government run labs of yore. Real technology (advancement of science vs software+marketing) is still very much de

> Tech is not developed in secret large scale government run labs of yore. Real technology (advancement of science vs software+marketing) is still very much developed by governments, because they are the only entities willing to spend billions on possible dead ends. Fusion reactors, CERN, nuclear technology, and those are the ones we know about because we're allowed to know. The US alone spends about 80-90 billion per year on "Special Access Programs." [1] > From ICBMs to private space enterprises. "China is building more than 100 new missile silos in its western desert, analysts say" [1] I'm also trying to be an optimist about the future, but part of that is understanding where we actually are. Technology is still firmly in the control of governments and a handful of corporations. [1] https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/29092/special-access-programs-and-the-pentagons-ecosystem-of-secrecy https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/29092/special-access-p... [2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/china-nuclear-missile-silos/2021/06/30/0fa8debc-d9c2-11eb-bb9e-70fda8c37057_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/china-nucle...

blfr 5y ago
I don't think John von Neumann would be particularly impressed by fusion reactors that don't really work after decades in development or papers with thousands of authors out of CERN.
- nicoffeine 5y ago
  "A large part of mathematics which becomes useful developed with absolutely no desire to be useful, and in a situation where nobody could possibly know in what area it would become useful; and there were no general indications that it ever would be so.” ― John von Neumann
  - blfr 5y ago
    It's not mathematics and, unlike in the atomic era, they're not becoming useful.
    - nicoffeine 5y ago
      Are you seriously claiming that mathematics aren't being used to build fusion reactors and particle accelerators?
    - nwah1 5y ago
      Fusion research on one hand is much like a ceremonial money pit where we light a mountain of cash on fire every year. Fusion power itself will likely not have much practical application anytime soon, because other power sources will be far more economical. But if we consider fusion power to be a backdoor way to get funding to research superconductors, plasma physics, and so on, then there is something valuable in the manner of that von Neumann quote, even though their proximate goal is probably all but useless for now.

blfr 5y ago

I don't think John von Neumann would be particularly impressed by fusion reactors that don't really work after decades in development or papers with thousands of authors out of CERN.

nicoffeine 5y ago
"A large part of mathematics which becomes useful developed with absolutely no desire to be useful, and in a situation where nobody could possibly know in what area it would become useful; and there were no general indications that it ever would be so.” ― John von Neumann
- blfr 5y ago
  It's not mathematics and, unlike in the atomic era, they're not becoming useful.
  - nicoffeine 5y ago
    Are you seriously claiming that mathematics aren't being used to build fusion reactors and particle accelerators?
  - nwah1 5y ago
    Fusion research on one hand is much like a ceremonial money pit where we light a mountain of cash on fire every year. Fusion power itself will likely not have much practical application anytime soon, because other power sources will be far more economical. But if we consider fusion power to be a backdoor way to get funding to research superconductors, plasma physics, and so on, then there is something valuable in the manner of that von Neumann quote, even though their proximate goal is probably all but useless for now.