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Comment by ck2 | Hacker News Reader

Sigh, why does this have to come out of the military industrial machine?

Little known fact: over 1,000 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have lost a limb (out of 41,000 wounded that survived because of more advanced medicine).

I hope they don't use this development to justify that it's okay because we certainly don't talk about it much otherwise.

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Isn't it possible that this is why it comes out of the military industrial machine? Surely a lot of advances in trauma treatment, bandages, surgery, and all kinds of other medical advances have come from the military industrial machine as well.

I don't see the need to politicize this, and I don't think the numbers associated with the wars would be little known to people here.

Indeed. If you watch Dean Kamen's TED Talk, he says that's part of why he created it. It's not to justify sending soldiers to lose their limbs, it's to help those that already have. He showed a lot of respect and ...sadness, I guess for the soldiers who had lost their limbs, and genuinely seemed to want to help.

Historically speaking, the majority of innovations take place as a consequence of war. Advancements in aircraft, electronics and industrial processes, medicine are all prime examples. Read up on the technological breakthroughs that were expedited by world war II that might have other otherwise not taken place. Think about the mass production of penicillin and skin grafts. Necessity breeds innovation.

Why does it matter where this comes from? It's great technology that will improve people's lives.

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