A finances-first approach to technological innovation may be the reason we lose out to China.
As MMT says, it's about the real resources, stupid.
The American ConservativeAsking Questions About China
John Mac Ghlionn
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/asking-questions-about-china/
4 comments:
From the article:
“China can literally neutralize a U.S. multi-billion-dollar R&D initiative for pennies on the dollar,” Sekora said, “while ensuring that they have the competitive advantage on the battlefield or in the marketplace.”
The US is spending billions of dollars on detecting trace explosives on roadside bombs. Ten minutes after they deploy it, I could destroy it. You guys are smart, tell me how I would do it.
Military Sensors Catch The Scent Of Roadside Bombs
In Afghanistan, the American military plays a chess game with the enemy: Insurgents plant deadly roadside bombs — often called improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. The Americans find ways to detect them.
Then the insurgents make their move, coming up with new ways to conceal them.
American military officials have spent billions of dollars trying to solve the problem of roadside bombs. They have come up with electronic jammers to block the signal that sets the bombs off. They use dogs to sniff out the bombs' components.
The Pentagon has even set up a special office to deal with the IED problem. Lt. Gen. Michael Oates, who heads the office, says they have come up with a new, more futuristic tool: a sensor pod attached to American aircraft.
Aircraft with the sensors have been circling above the Afghanistan battlefield for the past year. The sensors pick up traces of the bombs' chemicals, like potassium chlorate and ammonium nitrate.
"There's trace elements; there's a range of things. It's not unlike a woman passing through and being able to detect the scent of her perfume, or maybe she touched your hand and left something behind that is discernible," he says. "There are all kinds of ways you can detect trace activity."
Eliminate roadsides?
The sensors pick up traces of the bombs' chemicals, like potassium chlorate and ammonium nitrate.
Signal-to-noise ratio. If you can't reduce the signal, increase the noise. They're looking for traces of potassium chlorate and ammonium nitrate. So you coat the roads with the stuff. Their sensors are going off everywhere. The dogs are detecting the stuff here, there, everywhere.
Totally useless technology.
Apparently, they've spent $19 billion on this stuff.
$19 Billion Later, Pentagon's Best Bomb-Detector Is a Dog
“increasing U.S. spending on R&D will increase not decrease or reverse the rate of U.S. decline,” he explained.
Of course, that seems rather counterintuitive; I pressed Sekora to clarify.
If the U.S. continues to execute its present approach to rebuilding U.S. economic health and military might to remain a superpower and counter China, the U.S. will be a poor debtor nation”
LOL! “We’re a debtor nation!”
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