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Stephen Hawking Looking For Personal Techie
kaptink writes "One of the great grandmasters of space, time and the history of our existence is seeking an assistant to help develop and maintain the electronic speech system that allows him to communicate his vision of the universe. An informal job ad posted on Stephen's website said the assistant should be computer literate, ready to travel and able to repair electronic devices 'with no instruction manual or technical support.' He lost his real voice in a tracheotomy in 1985, but has something based on NeoSpeech's VoiceText speech synthesizer mounted on his wheelchair that helps synthesize speech by interpreting the twitches of his face. The synthesizer's robotic monotone has become nearly as famous as Hawking himself, but the computer — powered by batteries fastened to the back of Hawking's wheelchair — isn't just for speaking. It can connect to the internet over mobile phone networks and a universal infrared remote enables the physicist to switch on the lights, watch television, or open doors either at home or at the office. It's a complicated, tailor-made system, as the ad makes clear. A photograph of the back of Hawking's wheelchair, loaded with coiled wires and electronic equipment, is pictured under the words: 'Could you maintain this? If your answer is "yes", we'd like to hear from you!'. Hawking's website says that the job's salary is expected to be about $38,500 a year."
also he will steal your girlfriend if you have one.
That salary is peanuts.
The significant drop in salary could well be worth it. Being able to talk to the man every day, see how he works. What an interesting job indeed!
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Any tech capable of handling it will just use it as a resume builder. Unless he wants to place this ad every year, he'd better up the pay. OK, if you like to travel the world that's a nice perk and presumeably provided for but... $38.5k? You could make that in many jobs that are much less demanding.
If you make a mistake the world will say you broke Stephen Hawking.
Perhaps I've become jaded in my old age and the bubble I live in is a bit opaque these days, but 40 grand a year for someone to develop and maintain a mix of hardware and software components on-site, especially something that could be sold with a small profit for others with similar conditions to use, seem a bit low? His budget for this aside, of course.
Sorry if I did not immediately jump for joy when I saw that "salary". If you're a janitor with that salary you might be underpaid.
Once you say "computers" and "maintain" you have to get ready to to pay a bit extra, add "without support" and "electronics" and you've just gotten a license to bleed from your wallet.
Goodluck with the search Mr. Hawking.
http://www.hawking.org.uk/
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
is it getting hard to lift the de-magnetizer?
How much will he pay to just on the hardware costs? If he can't pay a good rate to get a good person much will he pay on the up keep costs?
The salary is just green pieces of paper. Helping to get more ideas out of Prof. Hawking's head is priceless.
most likely goes like this:
- some genius put that original backpack computer together
- he barely made it work, but he was not sure why it worked and he never bothered to write any documentation
- he left as soon as it was up and running, out of fear that it might break any moment and he had no idea what to do then
- now it is breaking apart and the genius is gone.
- it is your job to fix it, good luck
This entails a lot more than just technical aspects:
Sounds like a lot of direct PR stuff is involved, including scheduling and logistics, and even graphics design, which are probably not skills the typical techie would be strong in. Also, the pay sounds kind of low considering it's a whole lot more than just maintaining his technology.
Better known as 318230.
WTF! Are you kidding me! Is he going to pay travel expenses for the lucky boot licking acolyte?! BTW - I'm an agnostic. However, Steve H's latest scribble, that the universe just popped into existence and didn't need a creator was lame. Before the flames begin - At least let's discuss that the universe/multi-verse is more complex then our current understanding of physics allows for. Funny that for a guy in a box, mind is little more then a grey goo theater! It's OK to say "We just don't fucking know, and we may never know!" I would respect that more from a man of science. Pity that human beings never really got solid on Copernicus. I suggest "The Best Of Tom & Jerry" for Steve H's interface to us humble fucks. Good luck with your tech job Loozah!
Finding someone for that kind of pay who is able to do all of this and do it well won't be easy:
The salary is for a "Graduate Assistant to Stephen Hawking".
Most Graduate Assistants don't make 38k...
Not to mention graduate assistants generally put up with anything and everything that will get them better connections and research experience, typically with little regard to pay, and Stephen Hawking is a big frickin connection. I'm sure there are dozens of graduate students who would pay him to get that job, even take on loans to do it. Hell, I'd do that for this job and I don't give a rats ass about engineering or physics.
Just connect to him an iPhone with an autotune app!
"You don't want more than $38,500." Oh, wait, sorry. :P
"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results" - Winston Churchill
This is for a graduate assistant to STEPHEN HAWKING.
My stipend was 1/4 of that at best and, oh yeah, did I mention... This is for a graduate assistant to STEPHEN W. HAWKING.
I know you guys are all so F'ing incredible that you don't need resume bullets or care about other peoples' ideas, but how's about
Um, if I were eligible I'd be making them KNOW I was their man!
It's truly amazing what having to think before you speak can accomplish.
If I remember correctly he was stuck on some long discontinued TI speech synthesis chip. I remember the initial story when they first did it in particular because I also was playing with a similar part at the time in High School.
Finding parts and people has to be getting difficult.
At the same time I can completely understand him not wanting to upgrade his system, from the GUI he's used very successful for 25 years or Voice that has now become that trademark of Steven Hawking's.
Well I am thinking we should be able to emulate that whole system including the speech syntheses. Worst case it can be done as a series of recordings from the original chip.
Maybe do it as a Kickstarter project or something, do the whole thing open source. Surely there must be others with this problem.
I can imaging upgrading him to AR goggles with eye tracking, that's all off the shelf today. Then in to a little Mini PC or ARM board, and nothing but software.
With something like that we should be good till we get direct brain interfaces and quantum computing wrist watches in another 25 years, if he still even needs it.
I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso
Does he read /.?
That may be important to consider, before you post.
His net worth is posted as $20 million dollars. He needs an assistant to ensure that the customized electronic devices he has continue to make his life liveable. That's worth $38,000 a year to him. Don't know what to say.
So, here we have a golden opportunity to work for one of the most brilliant humans to ever exist, tinkering with an amazing if poorly documented system, jetsetting around the globe, being paid to attend sold-out physics lectures... and all half the /. community can think to do is bitch about the pay grade.
Seems the Green-Eyed Monster (and this global recession) has ruined a lot of folks. The way I see it, the fact that Hawking is likely footing the bill for the room, board, and travel expenses of whoever gets the gig (as they would be considered a member of his 'care team'), not to mention getting to hang out with Stephen fucking Hawking, $38,000 per annum seems like a pretty damn good deal.
Now, if only I could get my wife on board... I wonder if he needs an economist, too...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
However, gets this Job needs to change the voice to glaDOS!!!!!!
Perhaps if there were intelligent conversation, it wouldn't have been modded down. Your post amounted to:
"I don't agree with his universe origin theory. He's stupid, and anyone who wants to work for him is stupid."
Shock and amaze that you didn't start a long and meaningful conversation with that.
He proposed a hypothesis. If you have a different one to refute it, put it forward and see what others say about it. But until you're done your temper tantrum and yelling insults, it's probably just best you go sit facing the corner for a while.
If only I were about 10 years younger (back when I had my hands into more hardware and with no house payment or wife), I'd take that job, work on improving most of his cobbled together hardware with something a little more modern (and software controlled) and open source it so others can benefit from the same thing.
Getting paid £25k/year to hang out with Stephen Hawking sounds like the geek chance of a lifetime.
Interesting. I saw no screaming caps in my response. I've actually read all of Steve's stuff. Among many others. As I said previously, anyone wanting to start any meaningful conversation is jumped on and crushed. We could have started something. Nope - Jump and crush!. Never said anyone who would work for him is stupid. (Although others have and they are less charitable then I) Never said he was stupid. He throws coins in the same fountain as the rest of us. Stevie has an audience. He is a freak show and H-Wood loves, just LOVES a FREAK, with a SHOW! You love that up special! Tuck it into bed with you and pray or theorize that the crooked man has you, me and everything figured out! Did you note my high five to Copernicus? we are not the center - we do not matter - there was more and will be more and less
"Hawking's website says that the job's salary is expected to be about $38,500 a year." ...the pay is way too low. Yes it may be average UK salary, but anyone that capable can get a better gig with better pay in/near Cambridge.
On that salary the person will be living in a shared house with other people - they won't have a hope of renting or buying anything of their own.
Seriously. Considering that the job description is for a top-marks executive assistant who is ALSO a highly skilled electronics technician, AND the employer is the kind of fucktard who insists that you can not RTFM, it will be literally impossible to fill this position. Because all the applicants will be immature and incompetent.
So you ant some with a lot of technical expertise, than can understand your system without a manual, be at your beck and call, and integrate future systems?
for 38K?
yeah, good luck.
If it paid reasonable I would send in my resume, even though I would have to move there. I mean what a great challenge! But, 38K?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
> Steve H's latest scribble, that the universe just popped into existence and didn't need a creator was lame.
Agreed. Energy can not be created nor destroyed yet his explanation is something came from nothing. Riiiiight.
> "We just don't fucking know, and we may never know!"
As a Mystic that's the height of scientific ignorance right there: "I don't know, and neither does anyone else." Uh, no, you don't know what I know. At least the agnostics are _honest_ enough to admit, that _they_ don't know.
Science is NOT the only way to find answers, but for the majority of people, it is the BEST way. Science is _incomplete_, and always will be.
> At least let's discuss that the universe/multi-verse is more complex then our current understanding of physics allows for.
Agreed. Unfortunately most people are not ready to unlearn before they can learn.
Have any of you that are so excited to "work with/around Stephen Hawking" considered that aside from name-dropping value, you probably won't get anything out of it unless you are somewhere near his intellectual level and are up to speed on his current work? That's assuming he's willing to take time to share/discuss his work with you (he won't be) besides just saying "fix it and gtfo". For what this rather weighty, highly skilled/experienced, multi-talented, round-the-world on-call job actually entails the money is pathetic. If you have the former qualifications wouldn't you already be working with him or doing your own research? And with the latter qualifications I'd expect you to be making a ton of money maintaining some crazy important systems.
The only intelligent parts of your comment were the down mods.
Loozah.
Why is he relying on such archaic equipment? There is far better equipment out there than what he is using. Even assuming he doesn't want to undergo some sort of implant, there is eye scanning tech, EEG devices, etc. They are even putting them in toys these days.
:)
Link the EEG from a Force Trainer into a computer with a eye scanning device and a android tablet in front of him. He could use the EEG device to let the eye scanning computer to know when to start looking at his eye movements, it would track where he's looking at on the android screen interface and using either the EEG or a twitch to let the interface know when to simulate a screen touch. He would be able to communicate on a large tablet at least as fast as normal person using their finger to touch the screen. He could even have an app setup to control the chair movements or even to control a robot.
For that matter he could even have someone implant a control device in a tiger and use an android app to control the tiger to take out his enemies.
*It's not what you can do for the Dark Side but what the Dark Side can do for you!*
$38,500 a year? What a joke! Does that include having to clean his drool? You can go on all day about how it would be an honor to be his bitch, but when it all comes down to it... Really? I could have him talking like no other, with just some studio time and a few good compressors maybe try a few different mics (dynamic VS condenser)? The programming would be the least of the problem, in my opinion... Then again for shit wages?
Anyone on /. would come up with and put together a better system, that wouldn't need much if any maintenance, and put themselves out of a job.
Tell me you wouldn't.
People who only hear the playback of his synthesized speech may not understand this, but it requires an amazing amount of patience to engage in conversation with Stephen Hawking -- any anybody else who has such limited movement that they have to do one letter at a time.... v.....e.....r......y.........s.....l......o.......w.....l.....y.
In my case, that would be the hardest thing about working for him.
... would it be if the next guy launched a series of "Kickstarter" projects to slowly replace all the black-box components with open-hard / software? Obviously the standards would have to be extremely high, but I bet the long-term results would be way better than what any single person could manage as they described it.
The pay is about 1/2 to 1/3 too low and working with dicks with monotone voices sucks.
Two catches:
1. I don't live in the UK
2. I don't have a degree in anything (which is usually required for sponsorship of a job anyway)
The part that got my attention was "black box" , I love to reverse engineer things and make them better. I've generally learn anything needed quickly.
The real question is, can someone publish some schematics of what he currently has to give some idea what the technical side involves. If it's all stuff that I could learn, I'd probably apply even if there was zero chance due to point 1 or 2. If it's so complex it sounds like fun.
But yeah, salary-wise, unless someone has a real love for SH, I don't think anyone with a degree, mortgage and a spouse would apply due to the time commitments. I don't have a degree, but I'm also not tied down due to financial or significant other commitments.
First of all, I doubt that Steven would introduce the employee as "My bitch", he would certainly be more respectful than that. He would probably refer to the person as "My technical assistant" or "The genius that makes it possible for me to communicate".
The circles that he would travel in would be quite prestigious. In the science community he'd be regularly in the presence of some of the greatest minds alive today. In the political community, he's among the "Rock Stars" that politicians want to have pictures of themselves standing next to... as if the association would make them smarter.
On top of that... companies focused on making hardware/software solutions would almost certainly consider a person who worked directly with Steven Hawkings on his accessibility solutions as an ideal CTO for their company. If a person is interested in accessibility solutions as a career and would be interested in starting a business, obtaining government grants or simply raising money for the company would be simple having had that position earlier.
I'd imagine that there are even some great UN posts for someone who held this position. Technical adviser or chairman of this committee of another.
So... while the pay sucks majors balls... if a person sticks around in this position for 4-5 years... they can almost certainly gain the visibility and even a certain level of prestige which would secure their future indefinitely.
Oh... the fact that the person could in theory learn something along the way or even have the opportunity to test their system upgrades by having high level conversations about theoretical physics with a person, who though not as amazing as the press makes him, but still certainly capable of holding his own might be a big bonus for some.
If I weren't married with kids, I would seriously consider this position.
It was a perfect job because it allowed me to further my own theories on the universe, which became quite popular. The only thing I forgot to program was that the voice said: "My assistant Bert brought to my attention and proved that ....". I may miss the Nobel prize because of that.
Bert
Am I the only one thinking The Mighty Stephen Hawking is a fucking Quake master? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXLIzk_7KCE
He has seen things like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn7-fVtT16k and what his opinion is on it :)
This is the sig that says NI (again)
First thing I'd do is replace the whole thing with an Android tablet. Reproduce the interface on-screen, front facing camera is there to observe his face, 3G connection for access to internet and make calls, USB interface to whatever IR interface you'd like. And best of all: easy to code for and make changes and test things on a backup version.
Technology progresses...
why don't you buy his books and works and try to understand them instead?
why don't you buy his books and try understand them instead?
I would not consider this article serious in a HR perspective.
We don't know if energy can not be created or destroyed. We know that we don't know how to pull it off, doesn't mean it's universally impossible.
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Amazing paid travel and meeting of fine minds, the freedom to know first hand the world Dr. Hawking lives in, the ability to say whatever you think to whoever you want -- ZOUNDS! all this and money, too?
Focus on finances :: troubling.
I would take this job in a heartbeat, and figure out the wires, hardware, and software interface as I go. It's obviously custom, and I m able to pickup where the former person left off. Credentials--Scientist who is comfortable setting up complicated lab equiment, learning to run and troubleshoot HPLC and PCR (piece of cake) and microarras, surf along the growing information network, as new replaces old. Experienced coder on-the-fly Perl and Java Python concatanations.
Better question is this, "Sir: Is there a person leaving who will train me?"
Forget about the money. Take the job.
Maybe Hawking is a regular guy and it's really the speech system computer coming with all the theories. That would be hard to maintain.
Jeesh, the guy who can posit on the origins of the universe and time travel gives us a job application page that submits over an unencrypted channel? He really does need a tech guy!
I chose to end my comments, not with a rim shot, but a long decaying F#7sus4
Working on his tech might be fun, but being a roady when he goes on tour to do his hip hop concerts would be a lot of work.
Advice: on VPS providers
The description sounds pretty bad - they're trying to combine the job of a personal assistant, PR manager and technician into one position and are pretty clear that Prof. Hawking has no interest in conversing with you about physics. You're just his bitch. I'm not overly familiar with typical salaries in the UK, but here in the states I'd consider that salary pretty low for the qualifications they're looking for.
That's the plot to the NES game Blaster Master if anyone thinks this guy made it up. Wait... are you the game designer?
As a computer techie that suffered in the tech collapse of 2001 I now work as a PCA (personal care attendant) for a friend who has Multiple Sclerosis. I see the pay as not being that bad. PCAs in Massachusetts earn $12.48/hr currently (less than half of what I was making in tech) and working for him would be an increase in pay for me. Add to that Nationalized Health-care in the UK to the mix and it is even better. I currently have to give up $ 5k + per year (my deductible) to my hospital under Romney Care here in Massachusetts to get the basic health care that I need.
I currently service an electric wheelchair (Fortress 760V), laptop computer and its software (speech to text etc), TiVo, van, led large-screen tv, and so forth.... as well as caring for her and doig or assisting with shopping, meals, laundry...
All in all Prof. Hawking's offer seems like a good deal to me!
http://w3.ualg.pt/~pcondado/easyvoice/index.php?op=home