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Totally agree. Just so you know, the purpose of the NIF was for military testing right from the beginning. The reason it initially got funded (shortly after th
by jonmrodriguez 13y ago
Totally agree.
Just so you know, the purpose of the NIF was for military testing right from the beginning. The reason it initially got funded (shortly after the end of the cold war) was to help with stockpile stewardship (making sure our aging weapons still work via simulation, without having to do actual weapon tests).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ignition_Facility#NIF_emerges http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ignition_Facility#NIF_...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockpile_Stewardship_and_Management_Program#Stockpile_Stewardship_and_Management_Program http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockpile_Stewardship_and_Manag...
- gwern 13y agoOne of my favorite novels, Carter Scholz's _Radiance_, spends much of its length all on NIF and this controversy, actually: http://www.gwern.net/docs/2002-radiance http://www.gwern.net/docs/2002-radiance
- jonmrodriguez 13y agoWow, sounds like an exciting premise!
- gwern 13y agoOh, it's not that exciting. Much of the book is on the corruption of science by funding pressures and sponsors, so it's more of a slow corrosive burn than action.