3 ms·

NASA has developed all sorts of stuff over the decades: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_technologies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_te

NASA has developed all sorts of stuff over the decades: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_technologies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_technologies Most of the modern technologies that we use in recent years has had initial funding from government: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Entrepreneurial_State https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Entrepreneurial_State * https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/17987621 https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/17987621 This includes early bootstrapping of the Silicon Valley ecosystem: * https://steveblank.com/secret-history/ https://steveblank.com/secret-history/

culi 3y ago
The gov't made the iPhone basically. I mean think about it: * GPS — government technology * the internet — a government technology * ai voice assistants — Apple literally hired the head of this research straight from DARPA after DARPA had released its work to the public * touchscreens — DARPA * accelerometers — DARPA * speech recognition — more DARPA and MIT tech * digital cameras - Bell Labs which had a government enforced monopoly that required them to fund and release research I don't know why the myth that private sector entities create technologies is so pervasive. Why would a company invest so much into research just to release it to their competitors? The only research that drives everything forward comes from the public sector. If you'd like a more thorough historical breakdown, I'd recommend economist Mariana Mazzucato's book on debunking public vs. private sector myths. https://marianamazzucato.com/books/the-entrepreneurial-state https://marianamazzucato.com/books/the-entrepreneurial-state
- nawgz 3y ago
  > I don't know why the myth that private sector entities create technologies is so pervasive Money pays to protect money, so all sorts of convenient myths are part of the common knowledge. Privatization is destroying the world. Capitalism is only a plausible economic system under heavy regulation and governments with more power than the corporations.
  - culi 3y ago
    It's only in the US that "libertarian" is associated with being pro-capitalist. In pretty much every other country it's inherently recognized that capitalism requires a massive state so libertarianism is considered a far left ideology that is anti-capitalist
    - WheatMillington 3y ago
      What countries? I live in New Zealand and at least here, in Australia and in the UK libertarianism is a politically right ideology that's tightly wound with capitalism. In which countries is it a politically left ideology? It's certainly not true that your description is a uniquely American point of view.
- atleastoptimal 3y ago
  The more I read stuff like this the more I realize all countries on Earth should pay thanks to the USA and all the great advances it has gifted the world with. And I'm not being facetious it's really crazy just how much advances in the United States have forwarded technological progress. Please tell every seething European to thank America for keeping them safe from Russia too.
  - steve_adams_86 3y ago
    I’m not ungrateful but I’m also not convinced it isn’t the product of having significant power over most of the planet such that wealth and resources in order to fund and sustain R&D are easily obtained. A tremendous amount of brain drain occurs due to the USA as well, and has for a very long time. The knowledge and skill going into these accomplishments isn’t all native to American soil. So I wonder. Is it really the USA simply being the best or is it globalism with one very powerful player reaping the most rewards? Kind of a right time, right place situation. Perhaps in both cases you might think thanks are still in order.
    - jvanderbot 3y ago
      The magic is partially the wealth, but more a sense of transparent, free, public research. Moreso, peel back the layers and find the 1st or 2nd generation immigrant scientists, educated USA or abroad, who came here, obtained citizenship or LPR status, and helped create both this collaborative culture and the discoveries themselves (maybe not in that order). Yes, it is a global effort, and yes, USA deserves credit for creating and fostering creation.
    - alistairSH 3y ago
      Right time, right place. Europe was wrecked after WWII.
  - throw0101b 3y ago
    > The more I read stuff like this the more I realize all countries on Earth should pay thanks to the USA and all the great advances it has gifted the world with. Before the US was the UK with the industrial revolution. After that it was DE with a lot of science (many of the important journals were in German pre-WW2) and chemistry. For the latter, and how the UK dropped the ball on having a chemical industry, see the book Mauve: * https://www.simongarfield.com/books/mauve/ https://www.simongarfield.com/books/mauve/ * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580291.Mauve https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580291.Mauve Just because the US has carried the baton recently doesn't mean others haven't.
- solidsnack9000 3y ago
  These systems are typically developed in public-private partnerships. This is not really the same thing as "the government" creating it. The projects or technologies are typically evaluated by studies which, even if classified, are frequently conducted by private corporations contracted by the government; the research is undertaken by a mix of government and industrial labs; and then manufacturing is generally (though not always) undertaken wholly by private enterprises. The government and industry both have a role to play. Maybe part of the reason the myth persists is because it is simpler to believe it's one way or the other -- government creates technology or private business creates technology -- than to think in terms of the more complex reality.
- maxcan 3y ago
  Governments are good at pure science, research, and individual technologies. They are not good at making products. That is fundamentally where private companies have a massive advantage.
gumby 3y ago
NASA hired Cygnus (our first customer!) while we were figuring out how to do what we planned to do. The open source world would look quite different had they not! We had a couple of key customers like that who hired us despite ourselves. NASA hired us and told us how to do our job. Intel hired us because they needed an alternate compiler to their official one for the i960 (they needed it to exist, it didn't have to work). We knew how to port gcc, gdb etc, but we didn't know how to do the job (i.e. send the reports and updates that a big corp needs). McGeedy flew down, read us the riot act and told us how to do our jobs. A few customers like that and we had it down pat.
teleforce 3y ago
NASA has been consistently contributing to open-source and open data ecosystem: NASA and open-source software: https://lwn.net/Articles/923223/ https://lwn.net/Articles/923223/ HN post on the matter: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34815383 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34815383

culi 3y ago

The gov't made the iPhone basically. I mean think about it: * GPS — government technology * the internet — a government technology * ai voice assistants — Apple literally hired the head of this research straight from DARPA after DARPA had released its work to the public * touchscreens — DARPA * accelerometers — DARPA * speech recognition — more DARPA and MIT tech * digital cameras - Bell Labs which had a government enforced monopoly that required them to fund and release research I don't know why the myth that private sector entities create technologies is so pervasive. Why would a company invest so much into research just to release it to their competitors? The only research that drives everything forward comes from the public sector. If you'd like a more thorough historical breakdown, I'd recommend economist Mariana Mazzucato's book on debunking public vs. private sector myths. https://marianamazzucato.com/books/the-entrepreneurial-state https://marianamazzucato.com/books/the-entrepreneurial-state

nawgz 3y ago
> I don't know why the myth that private sector entities create technologies is so pervasive Money pays to protect money, so all sorts of convenient myths are part of the common knowledge. Privatization is destroying the world. Capitalism is only a plausible economic system under heavy regulation and governments with more power than the corporations.
- culi 3y ago
  It's only in the US that "libertarian" is associated with being pro-capitalist. In pretty much every other country it's inherently recognized that capitalism requires a massive state so libertarianism is considered a far left ideology that is anti-capitalist
  - WheatMillington 3y ago
    What countries? I live in New Zealand and at least here, in Australia and in the UK libertarianism is a politically right ideology that's tightly wound with capitalism. In which countries is it a politically left ideology? It's certainly not true that your description is a uniquely American point of view.
atleastoptimal 3y ago
The more I read stuff like this the more I realize all countries on Earth should pay thanks to the USA and all the great advances it has gifted the world with. And I'm not being facetious it's really crazy just how much advances in the United States have forwarded technological progress. Please tell every seething European to thank America for keeping them safe from Russia too.
- steve_adams_86 3y ago
  I’m not ungrateful but I’m also not convinced it isn’t the product of having significant power over most of the planet such that wealth and resources in order to fund and sustain R&D are easily obtained. A tremendous amount of brain drain occurs due to the USA as well, and has for a very long time. The knowledge and skill going into these accomplishments isn’t all native to American soil. So I wonder. Is it really the USA simply being the best or is it globalism with one very powerful player reaping the most rewards? Kind of a right time, right place situation. Perhaps in both cases you might think thanks are still in order.
  - jvanderbot 3y ago
    The magic is partially the wealth, but more a sense of transparent, free, public research. Moreso, peel back the layers and find the 1st or 2nd generation immigrant scientists, educated USA or abroad, who came here, obtained citizenship or LPR status, and helped create both this collaborative culture and the discoveries themselves (maybe not in that order). Yes, it is a global effort, and yes, USA deserves credit for creating and fostering creation.
  - alistairSH 3y ago
    Right time, right place. Europe was wrecked after WWII.
- throw0101b 3y ago
  > The more I read stuff like this the more I realize all countries on Earth should pay thanks to the USA and all the great advances it has gifted the world with. Before the US was the UK with the industrial revolution. After that it was DE with a lot of science (many of the important journals were in German pre-WW2) and chemistry. For the latter, and how the UK dropped the ball on having a chemical industry, see the book Mauve: * https://www.simongarfield.com/books/mauve/ https://www.simongarfield.com/books/mauve/ * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580291.Mauve https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580291.Mauve Just because the US has carried the baton recently doesn't mean others haven't.
solidsnack9000 3y ago
These systems are typically developed in public-private partnerships. This is not really the same thing as "the government" creating it. The projects or technologies are typically evaluated by studies which, even if classified, are frequently conducted by private corporations contracted by the government; the research is undertaken by a mix of government and industrial labs; and then manufacturing is generally (though not always) undertaken wholly by private enterprises. The government and industry both have a role to play. Maybe part of the reason the myth persists is because it is simpler to believe it's one way or the other -- government creates technology or private business creates technology -- than to think in terms of the more complex reality.
maxcan 3y ago
Governments are good at pure science, research, and individual technologies. They are not good at making products. That is fundamentally where private companies have a massive advantage.

gumby 3y ago

NASA hired Cygnus (our first customer!) while we were figuring out how to do what we planned to do. The open source world would look quite different had they not! We had a couple of key customers like that who hired us despite ourselves. NASA hired us and told us how to do our job. Intel hired us because they needed an alternate compiler to their official one for the i960 (they needed it to exist, it didn't have to work). We knew how to port gcc, gdb etc, but we didn't know how to do the job (i.e. send the reports and updates that a big corp needs). McGeedy flew down, read us the riot act and told us how to do our jobs. A few customers like that and we had it down pat.

teleforce 3y ago

NASA has been consistently contributing to open-source and open data ecosystem: NASA and open-source software: https://lwn.net/Articles/923223/ https://lwn.net/Articles/923223/ HN post on the matter: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34815383 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34815383