NASA Funds Sci-Fi Technology

Michael Huang writes "Wired News profiles the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC), the $4 million-a-year agency most famous for Bradley Edwards' study of the space elevator. Lesser known studies include weather control, shape-shifting space suits and antimatter-powered probes to Alpha Centauri. Remember, 'if it's not risky, it's not going to get funded'."

What?

[Neil Blender]

NASA is getting into space things? That's odd.

Be honest...

[Anonymous Coward]

Be honest, you were outraged to hear that funding was given to wacky pseudo-science projects, weren't you?

Reminds me of a quote

[jafo]

This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, by Gordon Moore: "If everything you try works, you're not trying hard enough."

Sean

Do they have 500 Altairan dollars for

[Intocabile]

.. for the triple-breasted whore of Eroticon 6? Or is that not risky enough?

Heh...

[Burgundy Advocate]

Re-fund Orion.

...then Superfund the United States!

Re:I hope they keep their funding...

[Neil Blender]

Buckminster Fuller. Now that guy had balls.

Re:Be honest...

[Reorax]

I was outraged to hear that funding was given to their wacky pseudo-science projects. Still nothing for my magnetic levitation air-hockey table.

Risky Sci-Fi projects funded??

[dos4who]

..How about trying to get CowboyNeal a date?

~m

A modest proposal

[icekillis]

A modest proposal: Instead of just posting an article every time a Wired Article comes out, slashdot should just made a special section feeding everything from Wired.

Web page desing

[notany]

At least they are not any of that 4 000 000$ year to web designers. That's allways a good sign.
The homepage looks absolutely horrible!!

My risky proprosal:

[Saeger]

Dear NASA,

Here is my 'sci-fi' grant proposal. I hope you approve:

1. Wait for advanced nanotechnology and brain-scanning tech to emerge over the next 25 years [kurzweilai.net]. I'll still need funding during this period to analyze the research landscape for suitable bla bla (i.e. sit on my ass.)
2. Launch a 'seed' probe using the old space elevator.
3. Have the seed probe attach to any unclaimed, suitably-sized asteroid and self-assemble the solar arrays, dish, and computing substrate necessary for a couple million transhuman beings + "matrix" environment.
4. "Broadcast" the willing scanned human minds from Earth for $0/lb (and let the bio-luddites join the dinosaurs.)
5. Grow our new home into a dyson-sphere-sized Matrioshka Brain [aeiveos.com] around the Sun to add to the "missing [thinking] matter" out there. :)
6. No profit.

Re:I hope they keep their funding...

[Anonymous Coward]

>> Buckminster Fuller. Now that guy had balls.

Yeah, but really tiny ones.

Re:What?

[linzeal]

Nasa getting into sci-fi would be like the US Military getting into video games, never going to happen.

Re:Heh...

[Patrik_AKA_RedX]

I would definitly want to see Greenpeace protesting against that one. The standard Greenpeace protest involves chaining themselfs against whatever they are protesting against.

Just picture this:

1) build nuclear launch system.
2) Allow greenpeace hippies to chain themselfs to launch system.
3) Launch system.
4) Annouce the first hippies in space to the world.