What Technology Wants

From What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly:

There's an old story about the long reach of early choices that is basically true: Ordinary Roman carts were constructed to match the width of imperial Roman war chariots because it was easier to follow the ruts in the road left by the war chariots. The chariots were sized to accommodate the width of two large warhorses, which translates into our English measurement of 4' 8.5". Roads throughout the vast Roman Empire were built to this specification. When the legions of Rome marched into Britain, they constructed long-distance imperial roads 4' 8.5" wide. When the English started building tramways, they used the same width so the same horse carriages could be used. And when they started building railways with horseless carriages, naturally the rails were 4' 8.5" wide. Imported laborers from the British Isles built the first railways in the Americas using the same tools and jigs they were used to. Fast-forward to the U.S. space shuttle, which is built in parts around the country and assembled in Florida. Because the two large solid-fuel rocket engines on the side of the launch shuttle were sent by railroad from Utah, and that line traversed a tunnel not much wider than the standard track, the rockets themselves could not be much wider in diameter than 4' 8.5". As one wag concluded: "So, a major design feature of what is arguably the worlds most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of two horses' arse." More or less, this is how technology constrains itself over time.

Orélie-Antoine De Tounens roi de Patagonie

Orélie Antoine de Tounens

From Wikipedia:

November 17, 1860 he signed a declaration of Araucanían independence in the farm of French settler F. Desfontaine, who became his "foreign minister". And with an assembly of the chieftains of the various tribes of the territory known as "Araucanía" was voted a constitutional monarch by the tribal leaders. He created a national hymn, a flag, wrote a constitution, appointed ministers of agriculture, education, and defense (among other offices), and had coins minted for his kingdom. Later, a tribal leader from Patagonia approached him with the desire to become part of the kingdom. Patagonia was therefore united to his kingdom as well. He sent copies of the constitution to Chilean newspapers and El Mercurio published a portion of it on December 29, 1860. De Tounens returned to Valparaíso to wait for the representatives of the Chilean government. They primarily ignored him. He also attempted to involve the French government in his idea, but the French consul, after making some inquiries, came to the conclusion that Tounens was insane.

This guy had determination. He was either deported or forced back to France four separate times. Someone needs to write alternate reality historical fiction in this kingdom. It seems his heirs still lay claim to the throne.

Bold, Brilliant, Necessary

http://www.pegasusglobalholdings.com/press-releases/center-for-innovation-testing-and-evaluation-010911.html

“The idea for The Center was born out of our own company’s challenges in trying to test new and emerging technologies beyond the confines of a sterile lab environment,” Robert H. Brumley, Pegasus Global’s CEO said. “As entrepreneurs, we saw a global need and stepped up to address it. The Center will allow private companies, not for profits, educational institutions and government agencies to test in a unique facility with real world infrastructure, allowing them to better understand the cost and potential limitations of new technologies prior to introduction."

Pegasus Holdings is building a 20 square mile test city in the desert of New Mexico. This is not Celebration, Florida or Brazilia, this is a private Apollo program. The kind ambitious undertaking that seems to reside in the past. It feels like a vestige of the ambition and future oriented thinking of the 60's. You can imagine a James Bond movie unfolding in a similar venue. The city is the greatest and most fruitful human invention and even if this enterprise is flawed, it is just the kind of bold forward-thinking we need. We live in economically depressing times. Gains from trade are exploited, science is eeking out only small improvements, and we face at best interesting times climatically. We should rejoice in this kind of daring. Plus, if it fails, it will make one hell of a place to explore.