Automatic Design: Artificial and Natural
I was one of forty physicists, chemists, and engineers in the Research Department of my company, the Perkin-Elmer Corporation. We were supposed to develop new technology and new optical-electronic instruments. Our company had us working on research to stay in the vanguard of technology. The top rewards were reserved for the researcher who invented a new solution to some technical problem. Hopefully many potential customers had the problem, because then they would need the solution. Our company sought an exclusive patent on any new device. Once the design was safe from imitation, the Marketing Department would bring out a new product incorporating the invention. Ideally the product would be so superior to others that everyone would buy from our company. The company could charge whatever it wanted for the product, and would soon be very rich. This dream has motivated many businessmen to hire researchers. Nevertheless, good ideas are scarce.
Our company specialized in electro-optical instruments like reconnaissance cameras. One that was recently declassified was the Keyhole Camera of the Hexagon program, a space-borne telescope used to observe military and industrial activities in closed countries. Almost all optical instruments use lenses.
Our company specialized in electro-optical instruments like reconnaissance cameras. One that was recently declassified was the Keyhole Camera of the Hexagon program, a space-borne telescope used to observe military and industrial activities in closed countries. Almost all optical instruments use lenses.
