THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A RACE that can match the progress made in World War II. Computers and antibiotics went from being little-known curiosities to mainstream projects; the biplanes still popular as the war began had been superseded by jet aircraft at its end. At the beginning of the war, rockets were
little more than self-propelled shells - but, by its end, they took us to the edge of space.
In the modern world, it can take five years to plan a new idea, five years to obtain permission and a further 15 years to finish the work; quarter of a century in all. During the war, a new weapon or a great building could develop from concept to reality in a matter of months. Our modern Western world is suffocating in bureaucracy and, at a time when we need new technologies to safeguard the future, we could benefit from the sense of productive
urgency that flourished during World War II.