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points by JimTheMan 3 days ago | 0 comments

The problem with point 2, is that person couldn't then work on other things. And there's a limited supply of people of that capability in the world.

We're now at stage where we can turn energy into thought to generate expertise on demand.

[–] thayne 3 days ago

I think you are interpreting 2 as offering some large amount of money as a prize for discovering a solution. But I think it was meant more as funding a team of mathematicians to work on the problem.

[–] sharmajai 2 days ago

Yes, that's what I meant, thanks for clarifying!

If you want to draw from history there are multiple successful examples of this in science and engineering at least: Bletchley Park, the Manhattan Project, Moon Landings.

[–] JimTheMan 1 day ago

Making the mRNA Covid Vaccinnes.It's truly incredible what the world can do, when it decides to focus on a singular goal.

I suppose the point I was making, was that the Engineers and Physicists and others, while working on the Manhattan project couldn't be doing other things.

And to develop those people takes years of education and training, and most people don't have the cognitive ability to do that kind of work. The pipeline to produce more of those workers, is skinny indeed.

Whereas now, we're limited by how many electrons we can put to work. The question then becomes, "Could our electricity be put to better use?"