From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,1ea92c0e5255811d X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-03-06 03:34:04 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!fr.usenet-edu.net!usenet-edu.net!enst.fr!melchior!cuivre.fr.eu.org!melchior.frmug.org!not-for-mail From: Samuel Tardieu Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Way OT: Adam Smith and Software Markets Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 12:34:02 +0100 Organization: TELECOM Paris Message-ID: <87bs0opw45.fsf@inf.enst.fr> References: <4519e058.0303050747.1df402e@posting.google.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: m34.net81-65-250.noos.fr Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: melchior.cuivre.fr.eu.org 1046950443 35035 81.65.250.34 (6 Mar 2003 11:34:03 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@melchior.cuivre.fr.eu.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 11:34:03 +0000 (UTC) Mail-Copies-To: sam@rfc1149.net User-Agent: Gnus/5.090007 (Oort Gnus v0.07) XEmacs/21.4 (Military Intelligence, i386--freebsd) Cancel-Lock: sha1:qBbsi+mCguYW4olgxthgn93X2Qg= Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:34963 Date: 2003-03-06T12:34:02+01:00 List-Id: >>>>> "Ted" == Ted Dennison writes: Ted> Let's not forget the space program, which created the first true Ted> need for smaller computers. More than likely, everone here Ted> indirectly owes their current job and a large portion of thier Ted> standard of living to the US Space program. Not only the USA space program: + Blaise Pascal invented the first calculating machine to help his father -a tax collector- to do his job[1]. So we indirectly owe our current job and a large portion of our standard of living to the taxes, taxes collector and France (who was collecting taxes and paying Blaise Pascal's father to do so). + The first digital electronic computer, the ENIAC, was built mainly "for military purposes, such as calculating ballistic firing tables and designing atomic weapons"[2], so we indirectly owe our current job and a large portion of our standard of living to the people who were killed by those weapons. However, it is true that the USA space program sponsored the computer research industry *a lot*. Noam Chomsky even writes that the main purpose of the USA space program has been to sponsor private companies (such as IBM in the past, whose research centers were indirectly founded by USA tax payers through the USA space program). Sam References: [1] http://sol.brunel.ac.uk/history/hist1650.html [2] http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story072.htm -- Samuel Tardieu -- sam@rfc1149.net -- http://www.rfc1149.net/sam