Thu, Aug 14, 2003
DARPA's Bizarre Failures
#
Today's Los Angeles Times published,
"Army of Extreme Thinkers", which compares DARPA's great successes
with some of its unusual failures: (7O)
But the price of success has been an equally impressive record of scientific kookiness. And now, in a darker era of amorphous terrorist threats, even some of its staunchest supporters are feeling a twinge of anxiety over such projects as the FutureMAP? terrorism market. (7P)
In the 1970s, DARPA studied telepathy and psychokinesis. Another
project was to create a mechanical elephant for traveling through the
jungle. (7Q)
According to the article, 85-90 percent of DARPA's projects fail to
accomplish their stated goals. Nevertheless, PaulSaffo is quoted as
saying that DARPA has "paid back its investment by orders of
magnitude." I would love to see a study that showed this. (7R)
This year, DARPA granted $2.7 billion on more than 200 projects,
including $12 million for creating a brain-machine interface. (7S)
This article makes me think of Donald E. Stokes's Pasteur's
Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation (Brookings
Institution Press 1997). When I get a chance, I'll pull up my notes
and post a review. (7T)
/articles |
Posted at 10:31pm
EEK Speaks
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