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How Do You Stay Upbeat Amidst the Idiocy?

Techdirt has a wonderful summary of how hard it is sometimes to stay upbeat when faced with some of the complete idiocy that intelligent, tech-savvy readers often have to deal with in their day-to-day lives. While the frustration will probably never go away, nor will the news calling attention to it, it does seem that opening people's eyes to problems helps things move in the right direction, so keep it up. "Yes, we're in the midst of a brutal financial mess — but that won't stop innovation. Yes, incumbent forces, with short-sighted plans and a desire to hold back the tides are annoying and disruptive (not in a good way) in the short run. But even they are finding they can't hold back progress. Robert Friedel has a wonderful book called A Culture of Improvement that details how we, as a society, are constantly looking to improve on what we already have. We add ideas and ingenuity to old concepts and build something better — not because of the desire to grab some "intellectual property," but because of the desire to improve our own lot, to build a better tool that we want to use. Incumbent short-sighted players have been able to hinder and harm progress, but they can't keep it down completely. That culture of improvement can't be stopped entirely."

12 of 442 comments (clear)

  1. That's easy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Liquor.

    1. Re:That's easy... by dr_dank · · Score: 4, Funny

      You should try Brawndo. It's got what plants crave.

      --
      Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
    2. Re:That's easy... by Valdrax · · Score: 4, Funny

      But I don't even know her!

      --
      If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
  2. Yeh damn tech idiocy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I was going to blog about this very subject today, but I couldn't get onto my Journalspace for some reason.

  3. Re:Hmm by Fortran+IV · · Score: 5, Funny

    One of the best and most lasting ways of becoming happy is to surround oneself with people that makes you feel happy.

    And so you come to Slashdot?

    --
    I figure by 2030 or so my 6-digit UID will be something to brag about.
  4. Re:Frustration? by CopaceticOpus · · Score: 3, Funny

    I have learned that the only dumb question is the one asked repeatedly.

    So this question isn't dumb?

  5. Thank you for admiting it by coryking · · Score: 4, Funny

    Everybody on Slashdot has far less brain power then me. I'm sure if you ask anybody else, they would agree that they too are smarter then the rest of Slashdot. Why do you think we all post here? We are all smarter then everybody else here. We merely exist to point out how much of an idiot people not like us are.

    If you point out that *I'm* and idiot, you are wrong because remember I'm the smartest Slashdot poster here. The point of contention then becomes the fact that you cannot have two "Smartest Slashdot Posters" and so we debate.

    However, since everybody but me is an idiot, they lack the mental ability to understand how smart I truly am. This thought, that I alone am the only Smart Person On Earth, makes me depressed. However, I'm no idiot like the author of this "Ask Slashdot". Smart people dont "Ask" questions--they already know the answers. Questions are for clueless sheep.

    Obviously I do have the answer to the "question", but only an idiot would give it--it would reward asking questions and thus reward not knowing things. Never answer questions, people should learn on their own. Any Smart Slashdot Poster knows this.

    1. Re:Thank you for admiting it by OnlySlightly · · Score: 4, Funny

      You, sir, are an idiot.

    2. Re:Thank you for admiting it by KillerBob · · Score: 5, Funny

      Everybody on Slashdot has far less brain power then me.

      I don't know if I should laugh or cry at that line....

      --
      If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
  6. Nonsense by coryking · · Score: 5, Funny

    I took freshman economics in college. I've studied differential equations (which those business weenies never had to). I've written in assembler. Economics *has* to be easy, those guys never had to study calculus based physics! Same with marketing--those guys never studied assembler like I did, so how hard could their profession be!? I mean, just show the clients a plain text file that highlights which features in our product are better, and which are not and let the client decide!

    Word to the wise, if your girlfriend or wife is a nurse and you claim that your engineering degree was harder then their nursing degree because they never took calculus, be prepared to spend the night on the couch. Just a tip.

    Still, my $TYPE engineering degree makes me more then qualified to do any profession. Why, with a few books from the library and maybe a couple Google searches I could probably give your friend that kidney transplant they need. How hard could it be anyway, those overpaid doctors never had to work with Laplace transforms!

    1. Re:Nonsense by bsDaemon · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, we all know Vets are smarter than people doctors -- after all, the dog can't tell the doctor where it hurts.

  7. only an idiot would say that by coryking · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you really were the Smartest Poster On Slashdot, you'd be smart enough to know that in fact I was actually the Smartest Poster On Slashdot. Only I am smart enough to know that I am the Smartest Poster On Slashdot.