[rwallace]

The underlying assumption behind the negative attitude here is that everything worth doing, is easy. That for every line of development which will turn out to be worthwhile, it's possible to build a minimum viable product on a shoestring. This is an understandable idea, because it would be great if it were true. It would be very handy indeed if the universe worked this way.

Unfortunately, it doesn't. Sure, it's true enough for websites because the industry spent several decades building infrastructure to the point where a couple of guys in a garage can build a website. It's not true for much anything else. If we want to make the transition to clean energy before we wreck our environment, if we want to do something about the degenerative diseases collectively referred to as old age before we all bankrupt ourselves trying to prolong dying, if we want to get off this planet before we get snake eyes on the cosmic dice, we need to get back into the habit of understanding valuable goals need big investments.