[ExI] Manhattan project as a model

[Keith Henson]

The Manhattan Project may be a fairly good model for building power
satellites and propulsion lasers _if_ it were done by the US.  The MP
was in the same order of magnitude in cost as this one, especially if
you count the much larger size of the economy.  It didn't have any
steps that paid off till the bombs were built and delivered.  Private
companies did the work, under the incomparable General Groves, but the
government (taxpayers that is) paid for the whole thing.

And it would take a war-like motivation for it to happen.  Energy
alone probably isn't enough motivation for such a project, even if it
were widely recognized (which it is not yet) to be a world sized
scalable solution.  I suspect it would take wild weather, say a Sandy
or Katrina event every year and widespread belief that carbon is
causing the weather extremes to get national motivation for a
Manhattan style crash program to build power satellites.

And like the Manhattan Project or Apollo, I expect the decision do so
would come from the top.  It's too big, too much perceived risk, and
way too much military consequences for private investment.

It would be much like nuclear power without the initial investment by
the government in atomic energy.  Without the Manhattan project,
people would have understood by the late 50s that you could get energy
out of uranium.  But would private investment have developed it.  Not
likely!

On the other hand, I could see the Chinese government building power
satellites as a solution to their energy problems. (And incidentally
to save a ton of money on no longer useful types of military
hardware.)

Keith