"A Golden Age of Building? Excerpts and lessons from Empire State, Pentagon, Skunk Works and SpaceX" by jacobjacob

20/09/2023 45 min
"A Golden Age of Building? Excerpts and lessons from Empire State, Pentagon, Skunk Works and SpaceX" by jacobjacob

Listen ""A Golden Age of Building? Excerpts and lessons from Empire State, Pentagon, Skunk Works and SpaceX" by jacobjacob"

Episode Synopsis

Patrick Collison has a fantastic list of examples of people quickly accomplishing ambitious things together since the 19th Century. It does make you yearn for a time that feels... different, when the lethargic behemoths of government departments could move at the speed of a racing startup:  [...] last century, [the Department of Defense] innovated at a speed that puts modern Silicon Valley startups to shame: the Pentagon was built in only 16 months (1941–1943), the Manhattan Project ran for just over 3 years (1942–1946), and the Apollo Program put a man on the moon in under a decade (1961–1969). In the 1950s alone, the United States built five generations of fighter jets, three generations of manned bombers, two classes of aircraft carriers, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and nuclear-powered attack submarines.[Note: that paragraph is from a different post.]Inspired by partly by Patrick's list, I spent some of my vacation reading and learning about various projects from this Lost Age. I then wrote up a memo to share highlights and excerpts with my colleagues at Lightcone. Source:https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/BpTDJj6TrqGYTjFcZ/a-golden-age-of-building-excerpts-and-lessons-from-empireNarrated for LessWrong by TYPE III AUDIO.Share feedback on this narration.[125+ Karma Post] ✓[Curated Post] ✓

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