Hatrack River Forum: Congress, Protector of Successful Ideas

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Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :

Or in this case, you know, not.

http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/docs/UC_Participants_Conference_updated.pdf

Specifically, the update at the top that says

quote:
Congress has changed the Secretary of Defense’s authorities and DARPA
no longer has authority to carry out programs to award cash prizes.

DARPA's grand challenge has been extremely successful in spurring technological development in robotics directly useful to DARPA's intended purposes. This is far from pork, being awards by the government purely in exchange for technological advancements that help the government achieve pertinent goals.

I'm reluctant to go this far, but one person's conclusion is that it was too hard for Congress to direct the funds for political reasons: http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2006/11/not_enough_swil.html

Posted by ricree101 (Member # 7749) on :

Wow. That is pretty sad. I'm not sure I fully disagree with that conclusion. I mean, congress seems to be saying that it is ok to pay for random bridges that don't really help that many people, but we can't seem to find the funds to reward those who are advancing technology.