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ItsMe000001 | 7 years ago
However, in this context, what do you propose? WWII was a "real war", it was easy to see you were on the good side and that it was worth fighting. Besides, that huge ("world") war already was in progress. Right now the situation is not exactly comparable?
What I see from this is that somebody else - government or whatever - has a function, and relying on business alone won't work. They won't fund when returns are uncertain, no crazy ideas, no unlimited "costs don't matter" funding. What I also find interesting is that that was unlimited debt-based spending, anyone who had something that looked like an idea got funded to do whatever it took. And it worked, or is anybody still concerned about the amount of debt the US took on during WWII? So either we find a way for similar initiatives in peace times - or we wait for another huge war (or a similarly bad crisis) to convince the tax payers, but also motivate those doing the research, to get another round of innovation started with a similar disregard for debt, cost and plannability?
chriselles|7 years ago
The defence sector simply can’t afford to fund every “good idea”.
Especially every idea, once selected, that leads to multi-decade and multi-billion(trillion in case of F35) lock in.
My thoughts, and hands on experience with military innovation, is focused on the bottom end.
Both in terms of “user” rank and budget for prototype capability.
I genuinely applaud those in the civilian tech sector who vote with their feet on moral/ethical perceptions.
However, it doesn’t hurt to understand history. Both the early generations of Silicon Valley and tech sector history as well as the last generation(dot.com bubble).
Money is flowing now, but all bubbles pop.
Especially Saudi oil money(40 years ago it was the soon to be deposed Iranian Shah’s money propping up Grumman and others).
When money gets tight, moral/ethical protest becomes less affordable.
I put my time where my mouth is and try to teach young serving members of the military how to innovate themselves(at least an introduction to it), rather than paying contractors to do it for them.
I can assure you the projects we’ve been working on have all been quite practical and ethical to work on.
One concept I push is “Its always H-Hour” stolen from my old employer Amazon “It’s still Day 1”.
Creating a sustainable sense of urgency and bias for action, but with an emphasis on resource austerity. We don’t have a Manhattan Project budget. We sometimes borrow things temporarily.
The Indian austere innovation concept of Jugaad comes to mind.
Personally, I think the answer is a mashup of H4D using a StartUp Weekend-like intro, Jugaad like resource austerity, and a YC like innovation community and pipeline. And perhaps something on the high end akin to the Israeli Talpiot Program.
I sincerely hope those ethically opposed to working on defence projects can continue to afford to do so.
As that will mean the tech sector is still awash with opportunity anD cash which will help nudge defence towards conducting more internal adaptation of commercial tech instead of relying on civilian contractors.
I’d certainly prefer we don’t see another peer or near peer level major global conflict.
But conflict seems eternally intertwined with the human condition. At least for now.