Most technology policy is decided by bureaucrats rather than technocrats.
Politicians and their staff are writing the policy on issues like genetics, the internet, cryptography, and privacy, often without sufficient input from people who actually understand these topics. Thus, they give sports events priority over space flight, and today's ratings priority over mankind's future. The web gives us a unique advantage over most news media because we're able to narrowcast. We can't be experts on everything, but our readers, collectively, are. If there's a technology issue or news item that you care about and would like the rest of the community to hear about it, read our editorial guidelines and use the post article link to tell us about it.