alt Hacker NewsThe Manhattan project employed some significant % of all of America. A project of that scale will likely never happen again.
It was also about far more than the science. It was about industrializing the entire production process and creating industrial capability that simply did not exist before.
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bastawhiz • yesterday at 7:19 PM
Does quantum computing need that though? We don't suddenly need a large, unique supply chain for these computers. We don't need to dig up the qubits and refine them. Testing doesn't blow up the computer.
rcxdude • yesterday at 11:32 PM
The Manhattan project had a huge impact but it was not that big as far as efforts in the war went (they managed to hide the budget allocated to the project from most of congress, for example).
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My comment was not limited to the U.S. government.
And the Manhattan Project cost $30B in today’s money. Compared with some of the numbers Congress has allocated recently, I’d call that a bargain.