The reason, others will eventually take the high ground in technological invention.

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As I wrote in this column recently, downturns are always times of great technological entrepreneurship and invention.

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But the simple fact is that warfare, not venture capital, is the greatest underwriter of technological innovation and invention.

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But producing CIGS cells on a mass scale has turned out to be a formidable technological challenge, requiring the invention of specialized manufacturing equipment.

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Irving John Good famously described the development of an ultraintelligent machine as the "last invention that man need ever make, " for after that, humanity would cede innovation and technological development to its smarter progeny.

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