# Each additional mission in the government allows another person to stick their nose in the process
Per the 1972 requirement that all DARPA projects had to have a clear military function
[[Why did funding breakthrough research only focus on DARPA and ARPA-E?]]


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Stagnation and Scientific Incentives

Why did funding breakthrough research only focus on DARPA and ARPA-E?

Ars Longa Vita Brevis - SSC

The math and Economics of S-Curves

# How do you identify where a technology is on an S-Curve?	

[[Funding Breakthrough Research]]



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# What would VC financing look like if they could take their money back from companies that weren’t doing well?
* [[The ability to pull funding is a clear reason to ‘black box projects’]]
* [[Why did funding breakthrough research only focus on DARPA and ARPA-E?]]
## References
[[Know When to Fold ‘Em: An Empirical Description of Risk Management in Public Research Funding]]


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The ability to pull funding is a clear reason to ‘black box projects’

Blue Sky vs White Space

Each additional mission in the government allows another person to stick their nose in the process

Triumphant innovation is unexpected and surprising

What if you could think of PARPA as Skunkworks for VC?

What if your mission was “create technological surprise?”

What would VC financing look like if they could take their money back from companies that weren’t doing well?

Why is “advance technologies that could be critical to national security” quantifiable but “revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain” is not?

# Why did funding breakthrough research only focus on DARPA and ARPA-E?
[[How do you identify where a technology is on an S-Curve?]]



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# Why is “advance technologies that could be critical to national security” quantifiable but “revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain” is not?
[[Why did funding breakthrough research only focus on DARPA and ARPA-E?]]


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Ben's working notes

Why did funding breakthrough research only focus on DARPA and ARPA-E?

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