Government Sponsorship and Secrecy

According to the Edwards reading, the government and military’s interest in developing computing technology rapidly accelerated research and collaboration, but also hindered some of the flow of new information due to the need for wartime secrecy. After the wars ended, there was less of a need for secrecy, but the political will to push research forward also lessened. Vast increases in funding during the wars played an obvious role in increasing research, but more interesting to me was the new infrastructure the government created to promote collaboration between academic, industrial, and military scientists. Hearing about those three very different communities working together was a bit surprising, since I often think of them as being at odds with each other, especially academics with the other two. That might be completely off base, but I was hoping someone with more background could add to the discussion. Now, different companies doing their own research wouldn’t want to share ideas until they have a product to sell, and I imagine the government wouldn’t for the same reasons as during wartime. So that leaves academics, but are universities still leaders in developing new technology? Actually, I feel a bit silly now that I’ve written this - I have no idea how all of this stuff actually happens! Also, if national security was the reason computer research exploded originally, what is pushing it forward today? Industry has an interest in creating consumer goods, but that seems rather petty in comparison to protecting a country. We hear about amazing projects Google is working on, but it’s interesting to think about how different our technology could be given different political and cultural circumstances.