OK, in Silicon Valley, such grand thinking is pretty normal.

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Mr Cook's move had little to do with grand strategic thinking: it was a pre-emptive bid to silence Eurosceptics in London, and also part of a broader Franco-British game in which his country will be struggling to preserve its veto in areas that others think should be subject to decisions by a majority of votes.

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But it does suggest that, if we want to see a resurgence in big thinking and grand invention, if we want to promote breakthroughs that will improve not only our own lives but those of our grandchildren, we need to enlarge our aspirations.

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To maximize the potential pulling power of having the world's biggest tee in Casey, Bohannon is also thinking on a grand scale to market the town's gargantuan landmark.

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DARPA, after all, is the ultra-forward-thinking Pentagon agency that hosted the Grand Challenge in 2006 and 2007, an autonomous car race across the Mojave desert, as well as the Urban Challenge, a 2008 event that challenged self-driving cars to negotiate a cityscape complete with obstacles and traffic.

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