ORB Visualization
3/16/2004 9:50 AM
One could argue that there are forces at work that are too difficult to influence with rhetoric. The failure of some innovations to get discovered or funded is as much subject to chance as it is to government or industrial policy.
Whether the forces at work are social, political or evolutionary, no one really has any control and it would take a great deal, a big effort and a long time to build up an body or work of influence that might make a difference. Why should anyone take on a task so huge and unassured? What is at risk to equal such an effort?
In my humble opinion, we should focus on the costs; make those who now spend the money to reveal the costs; get all the facts on the costs; broadcast the costs.
Make them accountable and public law will support a transition to something better. Once it is shown how costs have spiraled out of control, the establishment will be less able to support their foolishness.
On this note, I read somewhere that someone claimed it costs about $60M per year to fund CyCorp . In fact that is quite wrong. Admiral Bobby Innman may have funneled billions of dollars into CyC to begin with.
Who knows what money he controlled? And each of the large computer companies, some now defunct or merged with others, paid up to 1/2 billion dollars each to get access to the research and (less than stellar) results.
MCC enjoyed high funding and high access for more than a decade. Since the mid 90's however the hundred million a year levels have probably dropped down to $60M/year or so. It still is better plugged in than perhaps any company in this market.
Besides MCC, MIT and Stanford, CSLI and others got hundreds of millions in funding-- most of it now all gone. This initial surge of funding led to the AI-hype and was a U.S. policy response to massive funding in "fifth generation computers" or "knowledge technology" by the Japanese MITI and Europe's ESPRIT programs. I know because it is the time I founded my company and named it MITi, using the little 'i' to distinguish my effort from the mighty government efforts.
A lot of money has been spent. Government Information technology costs have spiraled out of control. I think we have to show them the savings they are missing by ignoring these technologies.
Ed Ewell