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Bill Joy For New National CTO Post?
jddeluxe writes "In an article in today's NY Times, John Doerr of Kleiner-Perkins proffered up Bill Joy's name when queried by Barack Obama for a recommendation for the position of Chief Technology Officer of the Unites States which Obama has promised to create and that the country is overdue to have.
I think that's a brilliant idea, and while you're at it, have the FCC report to him as well, why don't you?" If Bill is unavailable, I'll throw my hat in the ring, although I'm holding out for Secretary of Tubes.
Under Bill, vi will be the national standard. Yeah!!!
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
While Sun has made efforts towards open source, Bill Joy still belongs to a community of developers who believe in hoarding. Would that Stallman would get a role in this administration.
Secretary of the Internet.
I claim first use of "Error No. 0B" - or "No. 0B error." It'll be the new ID 10T!
vi wins! Fatality!
In other news, what happened to Slashdot's RSS feed? I used to be able to get the feed based on my subscription, but that stopped worning yesterday.
Isn't having a Chief Technology Officer like having a Chief Refrigeration Officer or a Chief Vending Machine Officer?
RMS!!!!
While Stallman would make an excellent adviser to the National CTO, he's too much of a "Throw the baby out with the bathwater" kind of guy. While I agree with RMS most of the time, that kind of personality doesn't last long in US politics.
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
Not eleven, not twelve, but thirteen. If you guys keep putting only 12 stripes on our flag, then the terrorists have won.
I seem to recall Bill Joy having some decidedly pessimistic and even luddite attitudes towards future tech, but it's been so long since he's been in the news that I don't remember now what. Paranoid about nanotech, I think, for starters.
Infuriate left and right
How about Bruce Perens running the good ol' NSA? :-)
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
Believe in hoarding? You realise he made massive contributions to BSD, including the TCP/IP stack, which were released under a permissive license allowing anyone to use it?
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
If the Republicans went crazy over Obama's friendship with Bill Ayers, just wait until they find out what Bill Joy said about Ted Kaczynski (the unibomber) in Wired.
Yep, anyone to use it, and anyone to hoard their improvements to it.
Isn't it time we had someone in charge of evaluating new technologies who actually KNOWS how computers work, rather than having to refer to the opinions of out of touch people who still struggle with their VCR flashing 12:00 over and over since 1986?
We don't need a national CTO. We can make our own technology decisions without the government telling us what to do.
This thread points out the problem of anointing one person as CTO. Hate to say it but this is one of those things that might do better with a board, not a leader. That is to say that while there may be a judge, it's the jury that counts. Using one man is not enough, even the SCOTUS has nine. When it's important enough to do something, it's important enough to do it right. RMS should probably be on the jury, along with other notable technology evangelists.
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Apparently, Ed Felten is interested, while Lessig isn't.
Welcome our new, robot overlords!
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
I don't think RMS would even take it. Being in government requires adherence to a set of principles that many people end up finding reduces their ability to be principled. As an example, RMS would be required to back, in public, copyright law policies that he in private would vehemently disagree with. I just don't see RMS doing that, he's too much of a man of principle.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Under Bill, vi will be the national standard. Yeah!!!
There will be a revolt! We, the Emacs revolutionary council, will take up arms and fight to the death!
Hear Hear...
A board of 7. must have a mix of OSS and Closed source experts, as well as hardware experts.
Experts... not some guy that was CTO for some corperation, I want people that are either leaders in IT technology, or people that made a difference.. Being able to Code or design is a requirement for the position. too many time I have seen CTO's that were promoted from the Sales department.
Oh wait ,that will never happen... because it would be fair and balanced.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I just don't see RMS doing that, he's too much of a man of principle.
It goes beyond that. Certain people define themselves as opposition, as being not-the-man, and as such are uncomfortable in any position of authority, even if their principles were in no way being challenged.
These people serve a valuable role in society, but it is not within the corridors of power.
The Obama administration may be the place where the driving of the golden spike uniting open source development with open source government takes place. Using Federal IT standards to drive proprietary formats out of the government departments will create a cascade of rationalization and standardization throughout the US economy. Our creaky and costly medical care system desperately needs this kind of rationalization.
Accordingly, a prominent and effective member of the Open Source community should occupy this position, not a big-time software corporatist.
300iVote for vi
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Now HE'S the man.
I'd feel more comfortable with someone from the research or academic circles than I would with someone from industry for a position like that. Might just be my bias, but I feel that someone from industry might be a little more biased toward a particular set of interests. Although marginalized to some degree, I think someone like current science advisor John Marburger would be a much better choice. Just my $0.02.
Is some authority to set the standards as a mandate for **all** federal agencies. All of them, no exceptions. One of the first things that should be done is to mandate equal consideration for .NET and LAMP because Java has way too much of a fanboi following in the federal government.
In reality, though, the position of CTO is likely to be more of a figurehead than a useful position. Obama is not likely to hand down an executive order authorizing the CTO to impose open standards and a "use the best tool for the job" method of selecting the tools that will be used for building new federal web sites and web applications.
also, I could not imagine rms shaved and in suite.
Does anyone honestly think Bill would take a pay cut to be the CTO? What I'm saying is.. would he have that much free time to take up a role like this and not disrupt other projects/duties/professional responsibilities he's currently doing, whatever those might be?
Reply to That ||
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A board? Oh, dear. No. It'd be a quagmire, a committee designed by a committee. icann did that, whciuh is why it takes $62M to replace what used to be literally a $15K/yr part time contract.
Brian K. Reid. Everybody else is either too corrupt or too bizarre to actually do the job. Brian understands people, unlike most geek geniuses.
Nobody else can do as good a job in that role. Plus, never forget Sun was founded by the commission of a federal crime.
Need Mercedes parts ?
So you're proposing we form a committee? :) I know where you're coming from, but remember this is a government implementation.
because it is cheap as can be to pick up used tapes/movies for like 25 cents now. You can rip and burn or stash on harddrive as you please.
The president can obviously not be 100% knowledgeable on each and every issue that is to be dealt with. Choosing the right people for the jobs, instead of a crony you owe favors to, is what makes or breaks a good administration. This is one of the reasons I'm so hopeful after 8 years of morons heading up our highest offices...
Does this mean that anyone who uses EMACS will be considered a terrorist and threat to national security?
It's amazing that there is so little debate whether the federal government should create this position. Dear lord jesus, doesn't anybody give a shit about liberty? I thought computer programmers were supposed to be smart. you're digging your own graves.
to insert an ally into a high ranking government position. "No higher cause." You gotta love it.
Would this be the same position as National Science Adviser? If it's a different position, who would be under whom? AAAS is pushing for a cabinet level scientist position. Bill Joy would be an insulting pick for that office. His fundamental misunderstanding of basic things like chemistry and physics (evident in his fear of grey goo) would be crippling. We already have enough charlatans in nanotechnology getting loads of money off of scaring the crap out of an uneducated public. Putting a guy like him in charge of the NSF funding would be disastrous to serious science.
Bruce is my vote for CTO. I'd rather have someone outspoken in the role that's only partially crazy.
Chief of what, precisely?
Why should we have a single czar empowered to guide the development of all software in the United States. This is liberalism gone mad. The only thing the government hasn't f--- up is the software industry and now you guys are asking the feds to wreck that too. It's insane.
This is my sig.
Bill Joy is also the guy who keeps warning of the end of the world if we don't stop developing various technologies. He wrote a number of articles and did a bunch of interviews about the world turning to gray goo if we don't kill nanotech research, how computers and weapons will kill us all, etc.
He started work on a self-sufficient, solar powered sailboat, presumably his form of a bomb shelter for the coming techpocolypse.
Basically, he has turned in to a crazy old coot.
Yes, I know what you're saying also, but let me quote rs79, a /. oldtimer:
Brian K. Reid. Everybody else is either too corrupt or too bizarre to actually do the job. Brian understands people, unlike most geek geniuses.
Now, limiting the controlling input to such a function for the ENTIRE COUNTRY to one person is fraught with problems as illustrated by the quote above. Even one President is backed up by House, Senate, and SCOTUS. See, if it's important, there should be some checks and balances. Just the mere mention of M$ on this site is cause for a flamewar. How would a single CTO personage be able to deal with all the crap/politics/bribery/governmental interference and all that will come their way? Even the DoJ was not free from corruption. One person, without a jury behind them, will fall prey to special interests. It seems inevitable. The idea is right, perhaps even the execution of that idea will be, but I have doubts about a single person as head of that implementation.
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Watch out, the next budget cut will result in Tubal Ligation, followed closely by Tubal Litigation.
While Sun has made efforts towards open source, Bill Joy still belongs to a community of developers who believe in hoarding. Would that Stallman would get a role in this administration.
Stallman is an idiot zealot...a very talented idiot zealot but an idiot zealot nonetheless. Get someone who understands the issues without all the ideological baggage. Get Bruce Schneirererer...um Cryptoboy or another well-informed executive. It isn't about personal ideology it's about bringing some badly needed understanding and expertise to government without turning off everyone else or making backlash enemies.
RMS? Really?
While we're at it, I'll recommend Leonard Peltier as FBI Chief!
RMS? Way too radical, even for this administration.
That no one has recommended Ted Stevens for the post. I think he'll be looking for work soon.
This ain't rocket surgery.
He has something against hotel rooms?
We need someone with real vision.
I nominate Ray Kurzweil.
Virginia is for lovers. EVE is for griefers.
There's all this talk about investing in research of alternative forms of energy. Outside of funding universities, the Feds should stay out of research.
What the Feds SHOULD do is invest in building a national energy infrastructure. We need a stable national power grid, just like our national highway system. Then they should get the hell outta the way.
There are more than enough technologies out there. What doesn't exist is a way to get the goods to market. You will see solar energy skyrocket in Arizona, if they can sell their energy to Vermont. Every Montana rancher will have a solar wind farm, if she can sell what she generates to Chicago.
Taxes on what you put in and what you pull out to fund the system, just like the highways are financed through fuel taxes. Then stand back and watch private investment in research and investment shoot through the roof.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
I hear old Bill is available, and he certainly has plenty of experience. We wouldn't even have to pay him!
(Kidding)
He prefers to commune with the wild beastes. I'm pretty sure RMS is sasquatch.
"The cup is in turn designed for holding hot or cold liquids, and has an open rim and closed base." --US Patent #5425497
Could someone please tell me what a CTO would do besides interfere with Our Rights Online? Would he push IPv6? Would he muck around with DCMA notices? Would he ensure IP law compliance? Would he ensure telecos are operating within common carrier restrictions? Would he find reasons to take down websites critical of his O-Master? Would he control funding for government IT depts.? Positions of power must have clear separations of powers, and I see nothing of the sort here.
This smells like another government-as-daddy scheme. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...
The government can't save you.
You must be new here... At slashdot - we just spout off random "Pro GPL/Free software" crap ad hominem and expect all the suckers to bite.
I don't know how to break this to you but the position of National CTO isn't quite as important as the role of SCOTUS. Upholding the laws and constitutional freedoms of the citizenry is much more important than what IM client government employees wil be allowed to use.
Why doesn't Slashdot ever get slashdotted?
Yes, because the Government *never* *ever* takes power when it can.
My question through, has anybody looked at the 10th Amendment? Isn't this appointment a violation of that Amendment, or as we just ignored it today?
I would love to see the Patent & Trademark Office moved out of the Department of Commerce into a technology-oriented department like a CTO office. Then maybe someone in authority and who understands technology would finally take a stand to recognize that business processes are not patentable...
I know, dream on...
Jay Mumper
He'd likely have a staff... and robes... and commandments.... wait, got derailed there.
"There are no facts, only interpretations." --Friedrich Nietzsche.
I agree, I want to download my intelligence into a machine, and he'd help promote the technology that will let me do that.
"There are no facts, only interpretations." --Friedrich Nietzsche.
Billy Joel? I was pretty confused for a minute there. This is what happens to my brain when I am in electoral statistics withdrawal.
Not at all. a US CTO isn't disciplining the states. It's disciplining the US government's current LONG list of madness in IT and perhaps communications. Infrastructure that doesn't work, contract awards that are clearly insane (but a congressman's bribery result), and so on.
The 10th isn't being ignored. It's a CTO for federal pursuits, not state. And states need systems that talk to federal ones that can't be done today, and intrastate information infrastructure is a mindlessly duplicate set of overpriced assets. The whole way we compute in government needs a fresh eye towards its citizenry.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
We need someone with real vision. I nominate Ray Kurzweil.
I think Stevie Wonder played one of those at some point.
Set your phasers on "funky"!
Bill Joy's a smart guy, but not much of a diplomat. Speaking of Kleiner-Perkins, maybe Tom Perkins is interested in coming out of retirement. Other good choices: Vint Cerf, Vinod Khosla.
Better yet, just use Digg. Whatever tech is getting the most diggs gets federal funding. The site was one of his best supporters anyway.
http://www.stallman.org/saint.html
No sig for the moment.
Ok - you're offtopic, but I'll bite.
What African-American wouldn't vote for Obama?
There are two good reasons -
a) to see a brother in the White House, and
b) to stick it to the Man.
It's not anti-white, it's pro-black, and I feel sorry for you sad little whingers.
You lost - get over it, and concentrate on important things like regaining control over your own Constitution after the last 8 years of perversion.
One swallow does not a fellatrix make
... Plus, never forget Sun was founded by the commission of a federal crime.
Do you have a link for that? I'm curious and wasn't able to find anything about it (Sun is just too common of a name).
There's only one clear choice for such a post: Leo Laporte!
It's better to burn out than to fade away
I'm moderately impressed with Bill Joy, having met him several times over the years, all the way back to his grad student days. But he's not right for this job. He gets more credit for the Internet than he should, though. He didn't invent TCP/IP. His was about the fourth or fifth implementation, and it wasn't one of the better ones. He had the huge advantage of government funding and permission to give the code away, though, so his was the one that was widely used. Then, at Sun, he had the advantage of being able to reuse code developed with Government money at a privately funded startup.
In his post-Sun years, he went off on a weird anti-AI kick, as if we were actually close to making strong AI work. Which we're not. That seemed to be mostly a ploy to get attention. Since there's no real problem to work on, one can pontificate in that area. If, say, he'd picked security as an issue, he would have had to propose workable solutions.
So, no, this is not the person we want.
Kurzweil?
You gotta be kidding.
OK, so the man's got vision, but so has any brain-addled acid-crazed schizo hippy you care to mention.
You need someone with real vision and practical common-sense, like Joy, or maybe Jobs (yes, I know I'll get flamed for that) or even Wozniak.
You might as well suggest Eric Drexler - another self-publicist with no notable contribution to make.
One swallow does not a fellatrix make
Excuse me, did you just say hoarding?
This brings up an issue that I asked a friend of mine, a correspondent blogger for Pajamas Media who was credentialled for the DNC in Colorado, to ask if he ever got with anyone influential in the Obama campaign. I don't think he got the chance to ask.
It's the logical outgrowth of "all the smart people don't work for you" and it is, roughly: "What plans does the Obama administration have for Idea Triage from the general public?".
I fully believe the "it's who you know" depiction from fiction of the way that good ideas percolate up to someone who can do something about them in the Federal government, and I don't think it's good enough.
Surely you'll wade through a lot of crap, but just as surely, there has to be a serviceable way to build an organization to which people can submit ideas and people who are sufficiently educated and street smart to spot the good ones can.
Our current community moderation systems are a start, as long as they don't turn into the Tyranny of the Majority; not all good ideas are popular.
Like, oh, I dunno, the US Constitution.
Perhaps I should make this point to Bill Joy today, before he takes the job. Any slashdotters have him on a DSS key on their desk phone? :-)
Just so long as we're rid of Kevin #$%^%#&!!!! Martin.
Basically, he has turned in to a crazy old coot.
Luddites rock!
But, anyway, he'd be a perfect fit for the Obama administration. Technology loses to concerns, many of which are unfounded, about environmental issues. Much like Greenpeace's position on nuclear fusion.
Somebody start the petition to get this guy hired please...
www.schneier.com
By your reasoning why should you have a Secretary of Treasury? Or heads for any of these departments: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Federal_Executive_Departments
The US govt does not appear to have a "Secretary of Science and Tech" sort of position.
Obama's bunch appears to think there's a gap somewhere.
They should hopefully already have advisors for tech stuff. So I'm thinking that it would be more of a symbolic role that shows that they are saying "Tech is important enough for that".
If you think a National CTO is going to be personally deciding the technological needs of every federal agency, either you're the dolt or the dolts are the National CTO and the people who appointed him.
Which brings us back to the topic - is Bill Joy suitable?
I'm surprised there's been no mention (at browsing +3) of Nicholas Negroponte. Isn't he a viable candidate, say what you will?
The subject who is truly loyal to the Chief Magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures (Junius)
Anyone got an inside line on how one "washington outsider" could end up finding a job in the new CTO's office?
-- There's only one replacement for displacement.....
I vote for COMMANDER taco AND CHIEF technology officer!
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
Bill Joy might be okay if he never needs to step out and promote the national IT agenda to non-techies. As appealing as he is to /. readers for his knowledge and technical "style", he would put to sleep most politicians, CEOs, etc.
What? They are against fusion??
Ok, I'm now officially not shining for them anymore!
Against fusion... pah...
Yours,
Sol the Sun
(Friend of Joe the Plumber)
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Obama: Nuclear power worth considering, not panacea
Could it be that Obama is actually a center-Right presidential candidate, and not the radical left wing terrorist sympathizing deep green wacko he was portrayed as in the campaign? Say it ain't so, Joe (the Plumber).
Don't worry. Bill Joy won't actually create any new technology laws or policies, he'll just write white papers and leave the implementation to others.
From TFA:
"What we do is bring foreign nationals to the world's greatest universities. We train them, invest in them and make them go home," he said. "What kind of national strategy is that? So I would staple a green card to the diploma."
No, thank you. I'd rather keep my job, than have it given to some Sri Lankan who's willing to work for minimum wage.
Proverbs 21:19
Under Federal law, you have to be a licensed theoretical physicist if you want to begin a multi-billion-year chain fusion reaction.
i don't think a "group" of 7 people would be that susceptible to groupthink. generally, when it comes to group behaviors, the larger the group, the more pronounced the effects of group psychology are.
groupthink/group mentality isn't a blanket argument against synergetic bodies or group collaboration, nor is it a very good argument for autocratic decision-making. deliberative assemblies, or committees, are so popular because when you invite more than one perspective on a particular issue you encourage discussion and debate, which facilitates better decision-making. you're more likely to make the wrong decision when you don't have to argue your position to opposing committee members. discussion forces people to give more careful thought to their actions/choices.
the issue of accountability also isn't much of a problem with a committee of this size. it's not like the military chain of command where the ones giving the orders are distanced from the resultant consequences, and "following orders" introduces ambiguity of responsibility.
as long as records are kept of each committee member's votes & statements, they can be held directly accountable for their actions. that is, assuming there's some sort of government or public oversight. but the same problem would arise with an autocratic system.
Not seven, but nine, and we shall call them the fellowship of the token ring.
This is a solution to an un-defined problem. We should only implement solutions AFTER we have defined a problem. "Jumping to Solutions" is why so many decision-making processes go wrong.
Expanding the Presidential Empire is not necessarily the answer to our current problems. Government interference in the distribution of goods and services normally reduces the effectiveness and efficient workings of the marketplace, thus depriving the potential customers.
"The mind works quicker than you think!"
It's coming true! Black-hat really does want to be Secretary of the Internet!
FGD 135
But think about it, a really representative panel of that sort would really need someone representing, say, Microsoft, maybe Apple, maybe HP and/or Dell, and then a couple of FOSS guys. Imagine Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, RMS, and ESR on such a committee. Easily imagined. Now imagine anything getting done by this committee, ever... Not so easily imagined. When the closed source guys were not fighting over which of their personal pet technologies was best for a given purpose, they'd be in grid-lock as RMS and the FOSS guys try to block all proprietary anything. I'd be inclined to say that the closed source people should get 4 seats and the FOSS 3 seats: on the theory that it's more likely that at least on closed source advocate would side with FOSS on a given specific question than that the the FOSS guys will ever side with the closed source guys, and if all 4 cosed source guys agree with something it's likely to be a least a slightly open system.
Still I think one guy, preferably fairly neutral and willing to work with all parties and being advised by a committee like you recommend, would be better. He might not always do what any one of us might want or hope he'd do, but a least something will get done.
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
You ignorant clods!
you had me at #!
I can see it now...
Department of Justice: From-the-Eeny-meeny-meeny-moe-Dpt
Department of Defense: From-the-Fire-up-the-Ornithopter-Dpt
I don't know enough about Bill Joy's personality (versus his software contributions which I think many here are familiar with) to have an opinion either way.
I do think David Farber is politically astute and familiar with dealing with government enough that he could make a productive contribution to USA as a solid adviser on technology, based on his track record of "getting it" with historic technologies like that Internet thing, Plus he is a EFF trustee, Fellow of the ACM and IEEE, Oh, and he is a interesting people.
Nice non-sequitur. Supporting your "Obama administration" (which has yet to be created, BTW) claim with something totally unrelated. Your train of logic derailed a ways back, dude.
I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
These people serve a valuable role in society, but it is not within the corridors of power.
I was thinking about this exact subject this morning with regard to Ralph Nader. Smart guy, definitely has the interests of the people at heart, and he's worked in previous administrations under the Secretary of Labor. Unfortunately, he is literally his own undoing. His mere presence would polarize people to the point where nothing could get done, despite the fact that he'd probably have some pretty good ideas.
A board? Unless your goal is for nothing to actually happen, then a board is a terrible idea, let alone a board with seven people. In my experience 3 is the maximum number of people you can have before returns start diminishing sharply.
I think Bill is a smart guy and did great things at Sun. But I don't think he is a good choice for National CTO because in a lot of respects he is a technophobe when it comes to emerging technology. He believes genetic engineering, nanotechnology and robotics are inherently dangerous. If you don't believe me just check Google
And that is the point.
If the process is slow, then the decisions will be correct.
when you have a bunch of reactionary sheep that go "OMG OMG! we need to attack IRAQ!" is when you run into trouble.
Want proof? Patriot act.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
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Isn't having a Chief Technology Officer like having a Chief Refrigeration Officer or a Chief Vending Machine Officer?
Yes, by all means, lets create yet another cabinet level position for something that should be, at best, an Undersecretary job. To be fair, all Presidents these days try to make a splash with a constituency by creating a cabinet level post for their interests (Reagan made the head of Veterans Affairs a cabinet level post; it could be handled by an assistant secretary in the DOD). We already have an advisor post for science and technology. IT in particular is no longer anything special... its common and widespread and simply a utility service now, like getting water, power, and telephones. And since any government CTO will almost certainly mainly be a CIO job, it'll be like creating a cabinet position for a utility service.... Secretary of janitorial services... secretary of motor vehicles, etc.
Have you ever seen a modern Presidential staff meeting with all cabinet secretaries present? I'd say we need less top cabinet posts, not more, and we need to make some of the current posts sub-cabinet positions. Fold some of these agencies into larger ones.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Obi also said he'd make Michael Phelps secretary of steroids!
Paying attention? The unregulated market brought us the Great Depression 70 years ago and until Bush the markets stayed regulated. The _recent_ deregulation is why we're in the mess we're in now.
There's no way you don't already realize this, I'm not sure why you posted what you did.
The mess we're in now is because of one thing and one thing only... subprime mortgages. Those mortgages were the result of political legislation, the Community Reinvestment Act. It was the root cause of everything else that's going on. The paper on these mortgages, despite being bad, was still rated AAA because of political pressure. The rating agencies failed in their job, but they did so because they were told not to stop the carnival by politicians that wanted to keep the subprime gravy train going. George Bush didn't create these things, and in fact, tried to actually enact new regulations on them. Guess who blocked that? And guess why they blocked it.
The repeal of Glass Steagall simply allowed financial companies to enter new markets... it allowed bank holding companies to be stockbrokers to their customers, for instance. Even Bill Clinton still doesn't think the repeal was wrong, because it didn't have a stinkin' thing to do with the subprime mess.
Regulation wasn't the problem. Politics was the problem.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Maybe being uncomfortable in a position of authority isn't such a bad thing.
Free market. Right, you mean like the financial industry used? Thank you for playing. NEXT!
You would think free market advocates would know better then to spout their crap when the world is facing the biggest economic crisis in decades because of their antics.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Newsflash African Americans vote heavily favors the Democratic candidate since about 1970.
Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
No one in the government encouraged mortgage lenders to make the "liars loans" (loans with no effort to verify employment and income status), package them and re-market them as AAA securities on the international market.
Bullshit. Oh yes they did. Banks were pressured to make these loans and rating agencies were pressured to ignore the toxic status of those mortgages, because it suited the political aims of some powerful people. If you don't think political pressure to keep getting the poor into houses with these loans wasn't real, then you're either blind, stupid, or both.
While I'll be the first to tell you that Republicans needed to pay politically for their political mistakes this election, it's a crying fucking shame that guys like Barney Frank, who was neck deep in this problem, has gotten re-elected while telling people he tried to stop the subprime mess, when the son of a bitch is actually complicit in it. He and a bunch of other powerful congressmen stopped reforms and new regulations on Fannie and Freddie everytime it came up in Congress. He's been caught on camera repeatedly saying "I don't see what the problem is here". You want someone to blame for this shit? Start with Frank, and work your way down his list of cronies that wanted to keep the subprime system rolling along because it benefitted them politically.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Then IPv6 would be the law of the land :)
While everyone in the computer industry, and I would even go so far as to say, as a result - everyone in the world - owes Bill Joy a huge debt for his contributions to the world, I think it would be unfortunate if he were appointed to such an office.
And I find myself sad to say that.
But...
Most people will remember that he has demonstrated a serious degree of pessimism prior in his Wired OpEd, "Why the future doesn't need us".
The debate this sparked result in Joy being quoted and interviewed many times. His decidedly dim view of unchecked technological advancement became quite clear.
He has openly endorsed the idea of an international body that would have oversight and could control scientific research and experimentation everywhere.
This was rebutted by Freeman Dyson shortly afterward, "The Future Needs Us!".
In Dyson's rebuttal he mentions Milton's speech, Areopagitica, which while an argument for free speech, has strong parallels with regards to scientific inquiry.
While it is frightening the long list of dangerous things that we can do to ourselves and the world, it is also _equally_ exciting and encouraging when these things are applied in a beneficial manner.
We have already experienced, for hundreds of years, a world where scientific inquiry was stifled by various organizations. And in fact, similar organizations today continue to threaten and have even succeed in pushing back research (ex. stem cell research).
It is difficult to see how Bill Joy, given his stated views, would help to bolster us forward both in terms of simple advancement and also with regards to our international competitiveness.
I think such things as the prevalence of spyware on PCs and the reluctance of many people to offer music or movie shares stands as proof that most people actually can't make their own technology decisions.
You could say the same thing about automobile ownership. There are a lot of wrecks. I guess people just can't be trusted to own a car.
It's pretty rare to actually see cheerleaders for a nanny state on Slashdot. Congrats, you can start your own club now.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
I don't think RMS would even take it.
He would also have to cut his hair, trim his beard, start wearing ties, and taking showers on a regular basis. Can you imagine RMS in a suit and tie? I just cannot picture that.
"The government has millions of computers, and you don't want someone to set policy? Look at what the mindless, out of control, dead in a ditch projects have cost us.
The government has lots of cars too. Lots of law enforcement officers. Lots of guns.
I know! Lets put them all under one secretary! When the Army needs to change specs on their M-16's, then they'll have to get permission from the secretary of guns. And when the FBI wants to change their sidearms, they'll need to get permission from him too! It'll be sooooo much more orderly and efficient!
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Consider though that his Copyleft relies on Copyright law.
We don't need a national CTO. We can make our own technology decisions without the government telling us what to do.
We don't need a Secretary of the Treasury. We can make our own monetary decisions without the government telling us what to do.
Imbecile.
The Government has a monopoly on the printing of money. Last time I checked, government bought most of its technology from privately developed sources. Fucktard.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Says you. In my professional experience over the last 10 years, Linux and Apache on commodity hardware have been integral in lowering barriers to entry for small companies and the cost of scaling for large ones.
-Isaac
The big difference being that those private companies had the choice of what to use, and used rational self interest as a basis for using Linux and Apache. Their reasoning was financial, not ideological. And they couldn't force it on everyone else via government policy. There's a huge honkin' difference here.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
as represented in his well-known article on same, this is the last person who should be a CTO of the US.
Plenty of people around with less hide-bound attitudes.
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
It looks like the next administration will be even bigger than the current one.
How can we stop the rampant growth of government?
We don't need to keep adding new secretaries and departments, czars, special offices, and other positions all the time.
I trust the people, businesses, schools, state and local governments, etc. can use technology just fine without a national CTO.
tolkien ring?
Climate Progress - Hell and High Water
Thank you, thank you, thank you, John McCain, for choosing that stupid woman as your running mate.
I think a board is the right move. And Ballmer should hold the chair.
Does this mean you would finish the supercollider?
Squirrel!
I'd rather see a visionary like Kurzweil than a pessimist like Joy in that position. Not that I'm any expert on Joy's positions, but I seem to remember he'd taken a decidedly negative view on possible technological breakthroughs of late, with an emphasis on curbing research into "dangerous" areas.
90% of African Americans supported Barack Obama against Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primaries. Therein lies the anti-White racism of African Americans.
Nah! We need John C. Dvorak, instead! LOL!
Lincoln hated slavery and said so publicly but as President he said, also publicly, that if he could save the Union without freeing a slave he would do so.
I'd say Lincoln counts as a man of principles.
I nominate seven random slashdotters. Rotate them every 12 months. But what level of Karma?
You must be new here... At slashdot - we just spout off random "Pro GPL/Free software" crap ad hominem and expect all the suckers to bite.
I don't think that means what you think it means.
I like the idea of 1 person better. With that, it's very clear where the accountability lies and you don't get the groupthink that plagues many councils and meetings. Perhaps there should be a board that supports him with recommendations though.
What's the practical difference between a committee suffering from groupthink and one person whose opinion is the only one that matters?
I think you've got that totally backwards. The problem with committees that's solved by appointing a single decision maker isn't groupthink, it's gridlock.
*Whoosh*
Of course once they get going it becomes a self perpetuating mess. For instance the EU has an 80 page specification for the design and construction of a steering wheel. I have personally sat in on ISO meetings that corralled 60 people for them to argue for days on end to no useful conclusion about anything. Standards, per se are wonderful. That's why we have so many of them 8>0
Great, we'll all be forced to take a pound of vitamins with each meal so we can survive to be immortal cyborgs zooming through space.
It would be useful for people to remember that Joy was the author of "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us." which was an interesting examination of why some technologies might be best left untouched.
Now, you want to appoint a luddite as the CTO of the United States? Please explain the rationale behind this.
Why not get someone with experience, such as Al Gore?
You're just saying that because you prefer emacs to vi, admit it. :P
True, and he's also come out in favor of censorship of science. He has stated, for instance, that the human genome should not be made publicly available as it may be used by terrorists, etc., to manufacture biological weapons. I think he even suggested that perhaps laws be passed to enforce such a doctrine. Do we really want such a person to be in a position of power?
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
Greed - Gates
Gluttony - Ballmer
Pride - Jobs
Wrath - RMS
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
ask yourself why does the country's federal government need a cto? so they can better coordinate their collection and cross-referencing of your personal information? funny how folks on /. who usually put on tin foil hats actually approve of such a thing. let's talk about barrack hussein obama a little bit. first his name is not capitalized because of three reasons, (1) because nothing in this post is capitalized (2) because he doesn't believe in capitalism so why should his name be capitalized and (3) because his first name means lightning in jewish and they dont have capital letters in jewish. he claims he is christian but he's really jewish. now this presidential dude who promised change in america is gonna make changes all right. the wrong kind of changes. instead of making the government more efficient and less involved in your life, he's gonna make it less efficient more wastful and much much more involved in everything that you do. that's why a cto position is necessary. to gather more info about you faster, to cross reference it to give them all kinds of insights into what you're doing and before you know it, every square millimeter of the united states (next thing you know he'll switch us to that trash called the metric system like they have in third world countries like the eu) will be covered with surveillance cameras that cross reference a database with the known movements, financial activity, cell phone records, and everything else and the government will know exactly where you are at every moment. hell bring change all right. the wrong kind of change. and that will lead to hope. hope that when he finishes his term in office somebody normal will become president and fix the damage.
These people serve a valuable role in society, but it is not within the corridors of power.
They are called "prophets".
They preach absolute righteousness and call for repentance (i.e. changing your ways).
They also wear odd clothing and have long beards, but that is a secondary qualification.
I am anarch of all I survey.
1) Barack Obama thinks we need a CTO
QED
Shortest logical proof in the history of philosophy.
Ask Slashdot: Technology Policy for America
I'm the new president-elect and am trying to come up with a technology policy for the USA. Does anyone have experience with this who can provide some good suggestions?
[OnlyHalfKidding]
Someone who would be described as a "Center-left politician, with some liberal tendencies" in Europe or Latin America would be immediately branded an "Extremist, Dangerous Left-Wing Wacko" in the US.
That's because the US only has a Conservative Party and an Even-More-Conservative Party.
[/OnlyHalfKidding]
No sig for the moment.
"I put on my robe and wizard hat"...actually, that's not something I think I want to see in my government. :)
"You still there, baby? I think it's getting hard now."
I believe that was Bill's initial reaction to nanotechnology...what was yours? Perhaps he has settled down now that he has had a decade or so to think it over?
He would probably also have to shower. That rules him out right there.
There's hardly any context in Obama working with Ayers, praising Halidi, and listening to racist drivel from his pastor for 20 years; there is a lot of context for McCain being quoted as willing to continue the war in Iraq for a hundred years (not what he said), or Palin ridiculing research on drosophila (not what she said), not to mention the ridiculous "troopergate" (a national issue, I am sure) and "200K for dresses" (definitely worth discussing for hours on national TV, considering that all the other things that go into organizing massive public events magically appear out of the air at no cost to anyone). Get real.
Oh no, Taco! I've actually \written\ serious creepware. And deployed for Fortune 50's. I'm way more qualified than j00.
slashcode? that old steaming pile? pffbbt. I'll stick with FirstClass. You know what I mean. ;-)
Anyone seen my low uid? last seen 10 years ago while panning the #@$# out of Taco's 'web based discussion system'
Since when was that part of the job description?
True, but getting such people to take the position is like giving a cat a bath.
What about a pointed hat and a 20-sided die?
Bill "We should relinquish several types of technology" Joy for national technological czar? No freaking way. This is not stepping up to the future. Don't get me wrong. I have tons of respect and admiration for Bill Joy. But the man has some opinions that I believe utterly disqualify him for such a role.
Secondly, I don't believe there should be any such role. The government, let us not forget, managed to get us into this current mess. Despite nearly unlimited power including the power to take roughly 50$ (counting everything) of all our life productivity that pays, the government has managed to put us $10 trillion to $50 trillion (depending on the accounting method) in the hole, embroil us in a war even more senseless than Vietnam (never ending war with no possible victory), removed sensible laws against dangerous financial practices, ignored the evil of new more dangerous practices, and created the housing bubble blowing up in the world's face. This same government acts as if it owns all of our lives and livelihood and can dictate how much we retain and what we may or may not do in more areas of "our" lives every day. So sorry if I am not too excited by a "national CTO". It is time to give these power-lusting yahoos a huge and very deserved vote of NO CONFIDENCE!
It surprises me no one has suggested him in this discussion, and perhaps there's a reason I'm unaware of that he wouldn't fit the position, and who know's if he'd take the job, but I can't think of anyone more suited than EFF Co-Founder Mitch Kapor.
Mitchell David Kapor (born November 1, 1950) is the founder of Lotus Development Corporation and the designer of Lotus 1-2-3, the "killer application" often credited with making the personal computer ubiquitous in the business world in the 1980s. He is known as an entrepreneur, investor, social activist, and philanthropist.
The alternative hypothesis is that they're just smarter than you.
"It doesn't cost enough, and it makes too much sense."
That doesn't mean he's wrong.
I read the article in Wired someone linked to. It's good and worth reading. Not unlike the article by Martin Hellman on the Risk Analysis of Nuclear Deterrence featured here a week ago or so. I used to enjoy ragging on the wet blanket Jeff Goldblum types. As I get older, I realize that optimism is no substitute for a good hard look at reality. If there is one thing in life you can count on, it's Murphy's Law. Actions have consequences, often unintended.
As to what to do about it... I'm not sure. Which is why I have the same sense of melancholy as Bill Joy. There are so many genies out of the bottle or about to be unleashed it's hard to count them these days. Just because the world seemingly works fine now and has for the last few decades doesn't mean that it is robust in the long term, nor does it mean someone is crazy for pointing out ways in which the system may not be robust.
If I have seen further it is by stealing the Intellectual Property of giants.
Speaking as both an environmentalist and ecologist as well as a technophile, I request that you not generalize. Yes, there are a lot of warm and fuzzy ex-hipy types out there who think that humanity should just go away to make the world wild and unspoiled again. In my opinion, this would be a terrible waste of evolutionary processes leading to a viable sentience. Managing a clean and healthy environment is essential for maintaining a world that is workable, for both human and non-human enterprises.
Anyone who makes an uninformed snap judgement about either developing technology or necessary ecological consideration for emotional reasons is acting irrationally and irresponsibly.
VCRs used to be a bitch to program
Yeah, the manual expected you to, like, read an' shit...
I don't know much about loaning money, except a fiver off my friends when I'm short on cash.
Is this a Cost of Anarchy thing? That is, if everybody takes care of their own self-interest by doing bad loans, does it become the good payers' self interest to do bad loans as well?
God damn, now I have to do a BSc in economics as well... :D
I'm pretty sure RMS is sasquatch.
With all the fur he's having, and his larger-than-life body, I always thought he was King Kong.
Imagine Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, RMS, and ESR on such a committee.
You need Mark Shuttleworth.
No committee ever gets anything done if its hand can't be forced by a guy with glowing red eyes.
and robes...
No wizard hat?
wearing ties, and taking showers on a regular basis.
Can you imagine RMS in a suit and tie? I just cannot picture that.
What, and you can picture him taking showers?
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
I don't know how to break this to you but the position of National CTO isn't quite as important as the role of SCOTUS.
And he said that it did...where exactly?