datavirtue parent
Why are we just hearing about this? Should have been trickling this out because I can't see the citizens jumping to provide funding for this. They are trying to figure out how their teenagers can afford food, car, and college while taking care of grandma. Sounds like a first world problem and the message to struggling citizens has been: make do.
You're just hearing about it because it's now in pop-sci.
Congress has been hearing about it forever. DSN has been a constrained resource for a long, long time.
Why would a teenager bother going to college, if the society they live in is decaying and doesn't even maintain capabilities it held three generations prior. Especially if the communicated focus from their parents is to only ever worry about feeding grandma and driving a car.