in reply to Re^2: If I were a rich (wo)man...
in thread If I were a rich (wo)man...
Making a smart computer is easy, making a smart computer that doesn't want to cleanse the earth of humanity is the hard part.
Bedsides, if I wanted to do space, I'd just buy NASA. The government doesn't seem to want it much anyway.
Re^4: If I were a rich (wo)man...
by BerntB (Deacon) on Sep 14, 2005 at 21:03 UTC
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Making a smart computer is easy
AFAIK, the only documented way to make a smart computer has a production time of nine months of trouble. The programming is a pain that literally takes work years for each.
I have never heard anyone call that process easy.
if I wanted to do space, I'd just buy NASA
You might want to check track records for delivery times and cost overruns before doing that.
I think you will have a hard time finding any organization that has missed cost estimates as much as NASA did for launch to orbit, literally orders of magnitude (they promised hundreds of dollars/lbs for the shuttle, think it is about 10,000... :-( )
(Update: Grammar.)
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You raise a fair point or two. Let me point out thought that I was referencing Skynet in my musings about where to spend my theoretical millions. So I was most likely not meaning myself to be taken literally.
Also, so far NASA are the only ones to have put someone on the moon, so, bloated governmental contracting aside, they must be doing something right.
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so far NASA are the only ones to have put someone on the moon
What have they done for the world lately? :-)
As in, say, the last 30++ years? :-(
Going to the moon isn't that big a problem, anymore. Just expensive -- and not a big status thing, since it's already been done.
(Well, OK, for NASA of today it would be a big problem. :-( Unless they get vitalized when they don't have a shuttle to protect.)
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You might want to check track records for delivery times and cost overruns before doing that.
NASA's biggest problem is that it's a protected monopoly in a business that shouldn't be anymore.
Why not establish the XXXX prize? Put up 100G$ (you're that rich, right?) to the first team that can land a three person team on the moon, let them live there for a month and then come back home safely? Set the deadline to Dec 25, 2015. Let NASA compete if they want to. Let's see if they can get a little more efficient with a carrot and some competition.
--DrWhy
"If God had meant for us to think for ourselves he would have given us brains. Oh, wait..."
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