Re: If I were a rich (wo)man...

[He_Who_Is_Pale]

in reply to If I were a rich (wo)man...

I'll assume that mousetrap is a metaphor.
Fowarding the progress of the human race through science! That, or making damn fun games has always been my dream.
So it would either be funding human-like AI research or adopting small/start-up game companies that amuse me.

[BerntB]

funding human-like AI research

Hey, a nerd that breaks fashion and convention! :-)

Those of us that get lots of money usually start space programs, these days...

[He_Who_Is_Pale]

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.

[BerntB]

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.)