Some lessons on inventing the future in Britain

WHEN THEARPAARPADARPADRNA Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first ever satellite, in 1957, Americans were blindsided. They could scarcely believe that they had been beaten into space. “Now, somehow, in some new way, the sky seemed almost alien,” said Lyndon Johnson, then the majority leader of the Senate, describing what he called “the profound shock of realising that it might be possible for another nation to achieve technological superiority over this great country of ours”.America’s leaders did not want to be beaten again. In 1958 President Dwight Eisenhower approved the creation of a new institution—the Advanced Research Projects Agency (). Its task would be to scan the technological horizon and “invent the future”. Six decades later ’s modern incarnation, (the stands for defence) has proved itself so useful—with decisive roles in creating everything from the internet to m covid-19 vaccines—that many medium-sized countries want their own versions.