16. DARPA Mecha-Elephant
A long long time ago, a general called Hannibal moved an entire army across the Alps to win victory over the Romans. He didn’t have advanced military technology – oh no. He just had elephants. But apparently, that was enough.
It was a big deal at the time, and it’s still kind of a big deal now, because we haven’t exactly found a better way to do it. Enter the ‘geniuses’ at DARPA, who decide to build…. Drumroll please….
Mecha-elephants.
It’s not a terrible idea in theory when you need, quote, “a narrow-trail vehicle (NTV) that is capable of transporting personnel and cargo in mountainous terrain along narrow winding jungle trails with steep slopes, and across small marshes and shallow rivers and streams.”
Yup, sounds like an elephant. But it never got legs (excuse the pun) because then-DARPA Director Eberhardt Rechtin terminated the project the moment he found out about it.
We’re guessing he terminated the brains behind the operation, too.
17. Terrorism Futures Market
“Wouldn’t it be great if we could leverage futures markets to predict and bet on upcoming terrorist attacks?” Said no one ever. (Besides, isn’t Wall Street reviled enough already??)
