[hackerspaces] DARPA Selects Hackerspace Space Program for contract negotiation

[Joe Bowser]

I still have yet to hear the concerns of those of us who aren't in the US
addressed. I assume this is a US citizens and residents only venture?
On Apr 3, 2012 2:58 PM, "Matt Joyce" <matt at nycresistor.com> wrote:

> Hell anything of sufficient mass put in orbit can be used as a pretty
> nasty weapon.
>
> Start there.  See how far you get before the military is involved.
>
> On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 2:57 PM, Tim Miller <timmillertech at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Those of us that are not strongly against military or those who remember
> > that the space shuttle was funded largely by the military to carry
> weapons
> > and spy satellites. Maybe we fully support getting support from DARPA and
> > all you that curse the name of anything military are passing judgement
> that
> > maybe you are not warranted to give. The formation and success of NASA
> was
> > largely because of military money.  It seems people forget where that
> money
> > really comes from, it comes from our paychecks and if it has to get
> funneled
> > through hell and passed out by the devil to get to where we want to go,
> > maybe that is our choice as hackers.  Defense doesn't always mean bigger
> > badder space lasers. Defense can also be making sure that the skills
> needed
> > to maintain a country's infrastructure are intact and keep and expand the
> > country's manufacturing and continue to grow the skills methods
> > and facilities. We have already seen what happens when you put all of a
> type
> > of manufacturing ability in an one region.  The new grand experiment is
> if
> > we can do better in our distributed community shops and if you have a
> > problem with working with people with the same goal as yours so be it, go
> > join that group and sit back while the rest of us succeed in an awesome
> > manner or fail miserably knowing we tried something. And the next time
> your
> > city is decimated by a natural disaster go up to the National
> Guard member
> > doing everything they can to help and tell them go away you don't want
> > anything to do with the military.
> >
> > On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 4:43 PM, Marc Juul <juul at labitat.dk> wrote:
> >>
> >> On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 4:31 PM, Jerry Isdale <isdale at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > My Fellow Hackers...
> >> >
> >> > Today I got an email from DARPA stating that they have selected our
> >> > "Hackerspace Space Program" for contract negotiation.
> >>
> >> Interesting / Congratulations? What does that mean exactly? How
> >> certain is it that you will get funding?
> >>
> >> > Those who want to flame about taking government money can do so.. We
> >> > just
> >> > wont pass any $ your way.
> >>
> >> While I am very happy to see more interest / funding for space-related
> >> hacker activities I think there are some important issues here that
> >> you may be ignoring. One is that by calling yourselves the
> >> "hackerspace space program" you are associating hackers, the
> >> hackerspace movement and specifically everyone working on
> >> space-related projects in hackerspaces with DARPA and the military.
> >> Knowing that there are many who are strongly anti-military, it would
> >> make sense to call name this project something else, perhaps something
> >> less general?
> >>
> >> This is not just government, this is military funding. That is an
> >> important distinction for many.
> >>
> >> If is of course your decision who you fund, but starting out by
> >> calling any criticism of your decision to apply for military funding
> >> using the hackerspace name "flaming" seems itself fairly inflammatory.
> >> The term hacker is for many associated with a strong sense of ethics,
> >> and it is always a good idea to be mindful of the people who disagree
> >> with your actions on ethical grounds, even if you end up not acting on
> >> their criticism.
> >>
> >> As you are obviously aware there are people who will be unwilling to
> >> work with you on this project once you accept this funding. I wonder
> >> if you have done any research to estimate the loss in expertise,
> >> manpower and ideas, or how much of a rift this will cause in the
> >> hacker/maker community?
> >>
> >> This news comes close to the news that the Maker Faire has accepted
> >> DARPA funding, so when I mention a rift in the community it may be
> >> bigger than just this one project.
> >>
> >> For those who are suspicious of military involvement but not outright
> >> unwilling to work with a DARPA funded project, it would be really
> >> useful to have a summary of the extent and terms of this project and
> >> funding: What are the strings attached from DARPA? Are there any
> >> countries you will not be allowed to work with and do any of them have
> >> DIY space groups or hackerspaces that will be excluded? Will you own
> >> the copyright to anything copyright'able you produce and will you
> >> control licensing / patenting? Where is the project description (can
> >> we read the proposal you sent to DARPA)? Who will control the funding
> >> and how will it be divided between project participants?  How much
> >> funding did you apply for and how certain are you that you will get
> >> it? Who are involved with this project already?
> >>
> >> --
> >> Marc Juul
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Discuss mailing list
> >> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
> >> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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