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What DARPA's Been Up To, At Length

Posted by timothy on from the one-long-list-of-credits dept.

The New York Times takes an inside look at DARPA, the secretive defense agency, mentioned frequently on Slashdot, that is "changing the way we use machines — and the way they use us" in the form of a review of Michael Belfiore's The Department of Mad Scientists. Besides tracing the history of the agency, Belfiore's book expounds on the well-known Grand Challenge and its link to ever-more-automated vehicle control in civilian and military contexts, as well as other DARPA pet projects, including robotic surgery, information analysis, and the integration of electronics with the human body.

8 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. The truth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Darpa is an old boys network that funds tons of projects by the program managers friends. I worked on a robot project for a couple of years and it was depressing. They ask you to do something impossible, but something that sounds cool. Then they don't care if it doesn't work - the right money has exchanged hands.

    Sure they have done some good things, but that was a long time ago. What my complaint is mainly about is the low level of science, and the sleazy way they distribute their money.

    1. Re:The truth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Sorry but DARPA program managers have a tenure of 3 years. It's not possible to create an 'old boys network' in such an environment. DARPA will not fund a project unless there is some reasonable possibility of success. If a program goes forward and proves that something is not possible, they are just as happy with that result. Information is gained either way. (Posted anonymously for obvious reasons.)

  2. The suckitude that was DARPA head Tony Tether by philgross · · Score: 4, Interesting

    No mention of the disastrous Bush-era reign of Tony Tether at DARPA? With an incurious, aggressive president, we got an incurious, aggressive DARPA head, who cut long-term and academic research in favor of short-term corporate research. His dumping by Obama led to joy and celebrations (OK, cautious hope) across the land.

    1. Re:The suckitude that was DARPA head Tony Tether by philgross · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Read the TFA. There would have been unimaginably more cool stuff if Tether hadn't choked off academic funding for anything not directly usable in the current wars. DARPANet/ARPANet/the Internet definitely is not something that could have happened on his watch.

    2. Re:The suckitude that was DARPA head Tony Tether by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I'd rather see funding go to a project for people that have been languishing for decades: upper extremity amputees have all but been ignored by the prosthetics manufacturers because they are such a small segment of the amputee populace. Extraordinary progress has been made in leg technology just since the 80's, but most arm users have been stuck with a device ( the cable operated elbow and split hook )that hasn't fundamentally changed since the Civil War. Sure, there have been incremental moves forward over the long years, but most of them didn't amount to much ( anyone remember the Boston Arm from 1969? ), meanwhile progress remains glacial.

      I'm not holding my breath - there have been numerous announcements of breakthroughs before, and revolutionary prototypes that disappeared without a trace. Making a human-compatible arm is hard in ways that make some problems seem trivial in comparison. At least some attention is being paid, and a lot of good work is being done.

      It's been needed for 60 years, so does that count as long term for you, or is it not 'academic' enough?

  3. Re:Being human, being cyborgs by giladpn · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Well, novar21, I see your point. But if we are dependant on TV etc then we have lost the fight without a struggle.

    True fact: my family does not have a TV at our home, though we do have a DVD. The result: my children actually read books, as well as watch relatively high-quality movies.

    In other words: education is not just about the educational "system". We as parents can and should take control.

  4. Re:Dear DARPA - Find a way to scan and stop terror by SteveAstro · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think the tech we DO have was funded by DARPA at some point in the development of quite a bit of it. And how WITHOUT "exotic experimental stuff" will we find something that can ?

  5. nsf v darpa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    your forgetting the religious lobby, nsf research tends to support inconvenient truths such as evolution directly or indirectly (such as genetic based research); whereas money spent on darpa will likely result in people of competing faiths being reduced in number.