re: What top secret programs do you think the govt. is working on?

Self-playing kazoo. That's what's in Area 51

quote:

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I graduated HS in '98 and never heard of participation trophies until 4 or 5 years later. Maybe because it took a while to get to my rural town but growing up there were clear winners and losers unlike today.

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We're taking this thread totally off topic, but who do you think gave the participation trophies to the millenials? Surely the 7-8 year olds didn't drive to the store and spend their allowance on trophies for themselves.

DARPA DemoDay shows projects they featured at an exhibit in the Pentagon

The topics below have links presenting further details on the DARPA Day page

Theme Areas & Associated Programs

AIR: Maintaining air superiority in contested environments through unmanned aerial systems, advanced hypersonics, improved human-machine collaboration, and supervised autonomy

Collaborative Operations in Denied Environment (CODE)
Communications in Contested Environments (C2E)
Communications under Extreme RF Spectrum Conditions (CommEx)
Dynamic Network Adaptation for Mission Optimization (DyNAMO)
Distributed Battle Management (DBM)
Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC)
System of Systems Integration Technology and Experimentation (SoSITE)
Tactical Boost Glide (TBG)
Target Recognition and Adaption in Contested Environments (TRACE)

BIOLOGY: Developing breakthrough technologies to outpace infectious diseases, accelerate progress in synthetic biology, and explore new neurotechnologies

Dialysis-Like Therapeutics (DLT)
Electrical Prescriptions (ElectRx)
Hand Proprioception and Touch Interfaces (HAPTIX)
Living Foundries
Microphysiological Systems (MPS)
Pathogen Predators
Prophecy (Pathogen Defeat)
Restoring Active Memory (RAM)
Revolutionizing Prosthetics
Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (SUBNETS)

COUNTERTERRORISM: Mitigating terrorists’ capabilities through inventive reconnaissance, big data analysis, and technologies that advance understanding of social behavior

Agnostic Compact Demilitarization of Chemical Agents (ACDC)
Broad Operational Language Translation (BOLT)
Intense and Compact Neutron Sources (ICONS)
Memex
Robust Automatic Transcription of Speech (RATS)
SIGMA
XDATA
Z-Man

CYBER: Protecting the data behind critical decisions through automated cyber-defense systems, hack-resistant software and networks, and real-time visualization of cyberspace

Cyber Grand Challenge (CGC)
High-Assurance Cyber Military Systems (HACMS)
Network Defense
Plan X

GROUND WARFARE: Exerting control on the ground through manned and unmanned systems that bolster squad-level capabilities such as reach, situational awareness, and maneuverability

Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS)
Insight
Mobile Hotspots
Multifunction RF (MFRF)
Open Manufacturing
Soldier Protection Systems (SPS)
Squad X
Vertical Takeoff and Landing Experimental Plane (VTOL X-Plane)
Warrior Web

MARITIME: Enhancing maritime agility in all conditions through unmanned surface and undersea systems, novel communications and positioning technologies, and distributed capabilities

Adaptable Navigation Systems (ANS)
Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV)
Cross Domain Maritime Surveillance and Targeting (CDMaST)
Distributed Agile Submarine Hunting (DASH)
Hydra
Multi-Azimuth Defense Fast Intercept Round Engagement System (MAD-FIRES)
Spatial, Temporal, and Orientation Information in Contested Environments (STOIC)
Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node (Tern)
Upward Falling Payloads (UFP)

MICROSYSTEMS: Advancing communications, imaging, information processing, and physical security through revolutionary microelectronic, microelectromechanical, and photonic devices

Circuit Realization At Faster Timescales (CRAFT)
Low Cost Thermal Imager - Manufacturing (LCTI-M)
Photonically Optimized Embedded Microprocessors (POEM)
Pixel Network for Dynamic Visualization (PIXNET)
Power Efficiency Revolution for Embedded Computing Technologies (PERFECT)
Supply Chain Hardware Integrity for Electronics Defense (SHIELD)
Unconventional Processing of Signals for Intelligent Data Exploitation (UPSIDE)
Vanishing Programmable Resources (VAPR)
SEEDS OF SURPRISE: Expanding the technological frontier by applying deep mathematics, inventing new chemistries, processes, and materials, and harnessing quantum physics

Atoms to Product (A2P)
Complex Adaptive System Composition And Design Environment (CASCADE)
Enabling Quantification of Uncertainty in Physical Systems (EQUiPS)
Fast Lightweight Autonomy (FLA)
Folded Non-Natural Polymers with Biological Function (Fold F(x))
Materials Development for Platforms (MDP)
Materials with Controlled Microstructural Architecture (MCMA)
Open Manufacturing
Program in Ultrafast Laser Science and Engineering (PULSE)
Quantum-Assisted Sensing and Readout (QuASAR)
Simplifying Complexity in Scientific Discovery (SIMPLEX)
SPACE: Asserting robust capabilities in space through robotics, new launch systems, and satellite architectures, and groundbreaking technologies for space situational awareness

Hallmark
Phoenix
Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS)

SPECTRUM: Assuring dominance of the electromagnetic spectrum in congested and contested environments through new materials and tools, faster chips, and smarter, more agile mobile networks

Arrays at Commercial Timescales (ACT)
Cognitive Radio Low-Energy Signal Analysis Sensor ICs (CLASIC)
Diverse Accessible Heterogeneous Integration (DAHI)
Electronic-Photonic Heterogeneous Integration (E-PHI)
Intrachip/Interchip Enhanced Cooling (ICECool)
RF-FGPA
THz Electronics
For additional information, contact demoday@darpa.mil

Most likely baby boomers statistically speaking. Gen X is just didn't put a stop to it.