On Wed, 29 Jan 2003, Tim May wrote: > Nonsense. What "political science" do you think was stopping Ford or > Honda or Volvo or GM from introducing a hydrogen fuel cell car by 1980?
What I meant is lack of lots of fat federal grants for research on fuel reformers, hydrogen separation, proton membranes, alternative catalysts, and the like. The fund allocation (or, rather, lack thereof) was sure politically motivated. Feds are sure inefficient, but the random dispersal of funds does tend to hit the far shots now and then. The private sector tends to ruthlessly optimize on the short run (because the long shot doesn't pay if you go broke before you can reap the possible benefits). It's about the single most powerful reason for federally funded research to exist.
