Rory wrote a post about strong AI and whether we should spend money there rather than going back to the moon to which Eric replied "...the best goal to push for is solar power satellites...."
I think that solar power satellites is a world-transforming goal that requires government funding, while strong AI is a world-transforming goal that "just" would be accelerated by government funding. While Eric mentions AI's failed promises from the 80s, that was (a) 10 Moore's Generations ago and (b) no one seriously promotes "top-down" symbolic AI as the route forward (except Doug Lenat, who really ought to admit that Cyc is never going to work). As the 100th anniversary of flight is just around the corner, I hope that some bicycle mechanics are tackling machine vision. As Crick said, it's the key...