Dual use is hard.
Many years ago, I worked on computer aided mapping: semi-automated line following. Measuring the boundaries of all the woodland in the UK to calculate the total area, better 1:1250 maps with accurate buried utilities to stopping backhoes cutting fibre optic cables, what could possibly be wrong with that? Then came the Falklands war. Digitise the contours and produce a wire-frame perspective of Mount Tumbledown as viewed from Port Stanley, please.
A few years later, I worked on CNC blade tip grinders to make jet engines more fuel efficient. Making 747s greener is great. But what if the US Navy want some for their fighters? Or the Army for an AGT1500 turbine in an M1 Abrams tank?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
