# What secret technology is DARPA hiding from us?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-secret-technology-is-darpa-hiding-from-us/542019
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [June 5, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-secret-technology-is-darpa-hiding-from-us/542019 "2010-06-05T04:10:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-secret-technology-is-darpa-hiding-from-us/542019/21 "2010-06-16T01:50:25Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#):
>
> I want an android that looks like Daryl Hannah, too.
_ **I** _ want Daryl Hannah. You can keep your android! š
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### Author:  [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-secret-technology-is-darpa-hiding-from-us/542019/22 "2010-06-16T16:18:52Z")
> [@Gordon\_Comstock](#):
>
> In the latest Technological Review in the Economist, two Darpa projects are cited. One is about [robots/vehicles that can forage for fuel](http://www.economist.com/node/16295752?story_id=16295752) and the other is a [blob-like robot that can change its shape to squeeze through small gaps](http://www.economist.com/node/16295646?story_id=16295646)
The forage for food robots worry me a bit. In the old days, when robots were going to take over the world, you could unplug them or wait for their batteries to die. The _forage for food_ robots actually hunt down insects.
Sooner on later, those guys are going to decide to vary their diets a bit (Soylent Green. Yum!).
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### Author:  [@Cylar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cylar)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2010, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-secret-technology-is-darpa-hiding-from-us/542019/23 "2010-06-18T06:50:51Z")
_The most famous DARPA brainchild is almost certainly an early computer network called ARPANET, created to facilitate collaboration among industry and university researchers. That was the beginning of the Internet._
Not quite. ARPANETās original purpose was to develop a communications network for the military, one which could survive a Soviet nuclear attack. By use of multiple relay ānodes,ā messages sent over ARPANET by military commanders could take one of several available routes. If one of the nodes (cities) were wiped out by Russian ICBMs, the message would be able to bypass that relay node and still reach its destination.
The concept eventually became a reality in 1969, and it wasnāt long afterward that it THEN branched out to use by universities and large companies running mainframe computers. (Those in turn mostly ran UNIX, which was developed in the 1970s by AT&T Bell labs operating out of Berkeley, CA.)
Cecil is mostly correct; he simply skipped that first part. Iām surprised that nobody else caught this.
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### Author:  [@Cylar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cylar)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2010, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-secret-technology-is-darpa-hiding-from-us/542019/24 "2010-06-18T07:00:27Z")
_The most famous DARPA brainchild is almost certainly an early computer network called ARPANET, created to facilitate collaboration among industry and university researchers. That was the beginning of the Internet._
Not quite. ARPANETās original purpose was to develop a communications network for the military, one which could survive a Soviet nuclear attack. By use of multiple relay ānodes,ā messages sent over ARPANET by military commanders could take one of several available routes. If one of the nodes (cities) were wiped out by Russian ICBMs, the message would be able to bypass that relay node and still reach its destination.
The concept eventually became a reality in 1969, and it wasnāt long afterward that it THEN branched out to use by universities and large companies running mainframe computers. (Those in turn mostly ran UNIX, which was developed in the 1970s by AT&T Bell labs operating out of Berkeley, CA.) Through the rest of the 1970s and 1980s it was mostly the domain of āgeeksā - scientists, military personnel, techies at big companies, and advanced hobbyists among the general population. It really wasnāt until the mid-1990s (with the development of the World Wide Web, a term seldom used anymore) that the Internet took a shape most of us would recognize today. It was a few more years still before it became user-friendly, popular, and easy to access. Really, the concept didnāt truly catch-on among the general public and become truly widespread until around 2000. Back then, something like Facebook would have flopped for lack of interest.
I happen to think that it ranks among mankindās all-time top ten achievements. A few generations ago it would have been unthinkable; today we canāt live without it.
Cecil is mostly correct; he simply skipped that first part - that it was originally developed by and for the military, not business or research. Iām surprised that nobody else caught this.
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### Author:  [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-secret-technology-is-darpa-hiding-from-us/542019/25 "2010-06-20T18:56:29Z")
> [@Cylar](#):
>
> \<\\>
>
> Not quite. ARPANETās original purpose was to develop a communications network for the military, one which could survive a Soviet nuclear attack. By use of multiple relay ānodes,ā messages sent over ARPANET by military commanders could take one of several available routes. If one of the nodes (cities) were wiped out by Russian ICBMs, the message would be able to bypass that relay node and still reach its destination.
What you describe is an Internet legend without basis in fact. See the end of this Wikipedia article for cites:
> **[ARPANET](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET)**
>
> Early research and development:
> Merging the networks and creating the Internet:
> Commercialization, privatization, broader access leads to the modern Internet:
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### Author:  [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-secret-technology-is-darpa-hiding-from-us/542019/26 "2010-06-21T02:00:37Z")
> [@qazwart](#):
>
> Thatās not a flying car. Thatās merely an airplane that you can drive on the street. A flying car is something thatās sitting in your driveway you hop into and fly off hovering a few feet over the roadway.
>
> [This](http://www.moller.com/) is a flying car. Of course, it has been _almost ready_ for years. The longest test flight was about five minutes of hovering tethered to a crane.
Close but not quite. What most of us want is the next tab over - the [Moller Neuera](http://www.moller.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102&Itemid=101). A miniature flying saucer (or mega-hovercraft) that glides above the ground. In this case, up to 10 feet. Iād like mine to be able to get up to 30 feet or so. I donāt see any prices or indication that I can pick one up anytime soon though.
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