Jason Pontin compares today's engineering challenges to the moon landings in his TED Talk, Can Technology Solve Our Big Problems?
To frame the comparison Pontin first discusses the Apollo moon missions. NASA spent four percent of the federal budget on the Apollo program, 400,000 people were employed by the programs and 20,000 companies, universities and government agencies were involved in the program. Twenty four men flew to the moon and twelve walked on its surface due to the massive effort.
Central to this talk is the question of why the moon missions took place. Pontin tells us that the Apollo program didn't really solve a specific problem. There is the view that America went to the moon to beat the Russians and prove superiority. Jason takes the high road and shows President Kennedy delivering one of my favorite quotes, that we go to the moon not because it is easy but because it is hard.
Since 1970 no one has been back to the moon and no vehicles have traveled faster than the crew of Apollo X. Wide eyed optimism about the power of technology has faded from the idealism of past decades.
http://www.ted.com/talks/jason_pontin_can_technology_solve_our_big_problems.html
Pontin lists major challenges that mostly line up with the National Academy of Engineering's Grand Challenges. Curing cancer, feeding the world, going to Mars and clean energy proliferation are his big examples.
To understand why our future vision of rocket cars and personal jetpacks remained a fantasy several ideas are explored. Many feel that venture capitalists are now offering short term incentives to entrepreneurs. Jason tells us venture capitalists have always preferred small investments, but are less likely to fund risky companies now. Pontin gives us four reasons why big technological advances are not happening.
Some problems are not solved because we choose not to solve them. NASA has a plan to go to Mars, but no one is willing to spend the money and man hours on a Mars mission.
Some problems are not solved due to political systems. Pontin tells us that less than two percent of the world's energy comes from advanced renewable sources because they are not cost effective. Getting these energies cost effective will require heavy amounts of research that is currently not funded.
Some problems are not solved because we can't innovate our way out of them. World hunger can be framed as a problem of political crisis affecting food distribution and not a lack of food production capacity.
Some problems are not solved because they're bigger than we thought. When President Nixon declared war on cancer the types of cancer the disease wasn't completely understood. We didn't know how many different types of cancer existed, and how resistant they would be to treatment. Cancer breakthroughs have really only gained momentum in the last ten years.
In answer to the question posed in the beginning of the talk Jason Pontin tells us that yes, we can solve today's big problems with technology. The effort will have to be supported by politicians, institutions and the public alike and the problem must be a fully understood technological challenge.
http://www.panoramas.dk/moon/hasselblad.jpg