By simply reallocating the way we use the radio spectrum now devoted to over-the-air television broadcasting, we can create a bonanza for the government, stimulate the economy and [more]… Professor Hazlett estimates that selling off this spectrum could raise at least $100 billion for the government and, more important, create roughly $1 trillion worth of value to users of the resulting services…
Some compelling technology that could use these frequencies already exists, like wireless health monitoring — to check diabetics’ blood sugar regularly, for example — and remote robotic surgery that can give a patient in Idaho a treatment like that available in New York or Chicago.
Full article on making better use of the radio spectrum.
Interesting thought. Auction off the spectrum, forcing the shrinking 9% of the population (me included) that watch over-the air TV to subscribe to cable. As we have seen with the recent switch to digital television signals, any gains from a better use for the spectrum would undoubtedly be minimized when advocates for the 9% argue there needs to be subsidies to help the poor with their cable bill.
Before you know it, rather than the 5% or 6% of households that are too poor to afford cable, another 45% would claim the right to subsidized public TV.
This is not unlike health reform — force people to buy something they don’t want, and then subsidize their purchase in the interest of fairness. If the government were to subsidize cable TV, households would undoubtedly have to accept many channels that they do not want.
Devon: I can’t recall having seen anything worth viewing on the over-the-air channels in years. If you were completely cut off, and had to listen to radio instead, your loss would be small.
How reliable is your cell phone? Do you want to undergo robotic surgery that’s as reliable as your cell phone?
artk raises an interesting question. Surely there is a way of making the communication more reliable. How does the military control the drones?
Well, I seem to remember that they have a problem with the drones, anyone could pick up the video feeds. Additionally, the fail safe on a drone is just just crash without arming the weapons. The point of remote surgery is that the expertise isn’t available locally. I suppose the fail safe on robotic surgery is it just stops until your surgeon travels cross country to finish the operation.
Has anybody ever done robotic surgery at a distance?