The winners of Advantage West’s Breakthrough Business Competition have been announced. For the record, I find nothing wrong with externally motivating innovation, and I am a fan of leaner, greener technology. I just agree with George Washington’s concept of the role of government in the process:
Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant, and a fearful master.
And yet, my hands are not entirely cleansed from government enticements to move technology forward in our mixed economy. My former employer had been nagged by Marc Millis of NASA’s Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program to submit a paper for some shindig or another. The BPPP rightly acknowledged the limits to jet propulsion, but questionably solicited all kinds of hair-brained ideas in search of diamonds in the rough. My boss, who was schitzy about anything that followed institutional protocol or initiated force, hemmed and hawed until the deadline had come and gone. Millis persisted, and another employee and I took it upon ourselves to write the paper. As we were putting the finishing touches on the submission, and Millis continued his pleas, the boss asked me fax MIllis the following:
We will meet the deadline. We are working on our time machine.
