Slashdot Mirror
What DARPA's Been Up To, At Length
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ?