From: JAY DUGGER (duggerj1@charter.net)
Date: Wed Jun 11 2003 - 08:08:30 MDT
Wednesday, 11 June 2003
Interesting question, this. This sum only exists as
an expression of the US Goverment's will. Asking what one
would do with this sum without taking the USG into account
strikes me as meaningless. So rather than ask "Given the
choice, what would you rank as the most extropic way to
expend US$200 billion?" let me propose a variant: "Given
the choice, what would you rank as the most extropic _and
politically acceptable_ US$200 billion?"
BOUNDLESS EXPANSION:
USAF currently studies better access to space in the
medium term (2010-2020). Whether or not government
programs can make space travel cheap, this goal has
military support. A breakthrough here opens up a good many
options humanity currently lacks: off-world resources,
space colonies, a back-up in case of local catastrophe,
etc.
Let's spend $40 billion on various projects,
including (if no technical spoilers exist) building a
space elevator (http://www.highliftsystems.com). Cheap
access to space, no more expensive than trans-oceanic air
travel, gives us B.E. in a literal sense.
SELF-TRANSFORMATION:
How would the government help individuals help
encourage personal responsibility? It seems very unlikely
that any constituency for this exists in the USG. Throwing
more money at drug rehabilitation seems one way to help
people transform themselves, and it has some precedent in
the government's current activities. Spend $5 billion on
this
Education also counts as self-transformation.
Radical new ideas in education could draw seed money. By
"radical" I don't mean things such as charter schools or
union-busting, but things such as the air-dropped
computers in Steigler's "Earthweb." Greg Burch might have
a link for real-world proposals. Spend $15 billion on all
of these.
For those who take a more radical view of
self-transformation, perhaps a fat series of contracts to
Kass and Fukuyama would help. Throwing money at them for
heading a multi-year elite commission whose
recommendations will never see use might indefinitely keep
them out of public view. Say $1 billion here. :-)
Life extension definitely falls under ST. I find it
hard to imagine the government spending money here more
effectively than the market. This probably reflects my
ignorance more than the actual state of affairs. Spend $19
billion here.
I skipped DO IT SO for want of time, but also left
$120 billion unspent. Anyone care to continue?
Jay Dugger
http://www.owlmirror.net/~duggerj
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