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I can also completely forgive anyone in the 1980s for being led down the spooky national-defence paranoia route, regarding their invention. It was a different
by heads 3y ago
I can also completely forgive anyone in the 1980s for being led down the spooky national-defence paranoia route, regarding their invention. It was a different time where people were more deferential to the authorities, and had more of a reason to want their protection. You just need one visit from the men in grey coats asking nicely for a cup of tea, your formula, and your signature on the official secrets act. The effects compounded if you were prone to the Walter Mitty effect.
Anything crucial enough to maintaining an edge in the Cold War — or rather, ensuring survival should it become a hot war, something for which magical ablative insulation would be very handy — isn’t the sort of thing that gets a patent. One simply doesn’t win by suing the USSR for intellectual property infringement in the dying ashes of civilisation, old boy.
A lecturer of mine published a paper on bivalve adhesion that was allegedly funded by government interests desperate to maintain a strategic lead in limpet mines. Another worked with ultra high speed equipment with an electronic shutter that was switched by a krytron, the same component used in nuclear device detonation. There was a potent, possibly overblown concern about labs being infiltrated or broken into.
I think we forget about the miserable amount of paranoia brought about by the world being permanently only four minutes away from ending, and the weird things it made people do.
- Sniffnoy 3y agoFor those who haven't heard of it, the actual law governing this is the Ivention Secrecy Act: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_Secrecy_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_Secrecy_Act
- kragen 3y agousa law does not have jurisdiction in hartlepool yet, so this is sort of irrelevant, but presumably the uk has something similar
- bpye 3y agoSection 22 of the Patents Act 1977 is, as far as I can tell, the analogous legislation [0]. [0] - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-patent-act-1977/section-22-security-and-safety-information-prejudicial-to-national-security-or-safety-of-public https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-patent-act-1977/section-22-s...
- heads 3y agoSome would say not even English law has much authority in Hartlepool: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_hanger https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_hanger
- 6510 3y agoThe US is the only one who [be it long ago] publised a list of topics subject to review and a number every year. Total Secrecy Orders in Effect at the end of 2023 was 6155 https://sgp.fas.org/othergov/invention/stats.html https://sgp.fas.org/othergov/invention/stats.html Safe to assume other countries combined add more thousands. I see room for a much greater than zero chance we live in a science fiction story with carefully chosen toys for the irresponsible masses. (that would be us, haha) They have like cloaking fields, a garage full of flying cars, a crate of mister fusions, hand held teleportation devices, sentient holograms, a hypno ray to rc people like toy cars and an interstellar phone to talk with our alien overlords.
- kragen 3y agoi never seem to finish all my food i always get a fnord doggie bag from the waiter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urglg3WimHA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urglg3WimHA