Re: SUO: Re: This is not a forum for political opinions
Jon,
You have made some cogently stated observations, which
I believe should be addressed before we undertake any
new directions or subprojects for the SUO WG.
For better or worse, the US DoD has had a very strong
influence on the development of new technology in the US.
An outstanding example is the Internet, which would have
been impossible (in its present form, at least) without
several decades of funding by DARPA (originally ARPA,
before the D was added to escape Reagan's cuts for
everything except the military and welfare for the rich).
If any branch of the DoD is to get involved in the SUO,
I would suggest that it should be along the lines of
the Arpanet and other projects:
1. All R & D should be public knowledge, openly
available to everyone.
2. The goals of the project may be related to some
DoD interests, but they must also be clearly
necessary to advance broadly recognized needs
of businesses, education, and society as a whole.
3. As with Arpanet, the DoD has benefitted enormously
from funding that also benefitted everyone else.
Therefore, it is reasonable to ask the DoD to provide
funding for their own benefit as well as the rest
of society.
Before the SUO puts any effort into satsifying the
requests of any DoD group, we should ask what they
are going to do for the SUO effort.
John Sowa