I humbly disagree. A "cluster" is something that every entity (academic or business-like) in need of moderate computing power considers using nowadays. The grid is used by international collaborations, mainly scientific ones like the LHC ones, LIGO, and the protein-folding guys. The cloud is simply a rehashing of the grid, perhaps more business oriented. And I can assure you that people DO care.
I, for one, am much more worried about important, but not-sensitive stuff (things like the keys to your house: you need to have them safe, but if somebody finds them, it's no big deal. Nobody would try every key in every house in the city to beat the odds of finding the right one). I'd like some kind of radio-based detector (RFID, maybe) that helps me keep track of those annoying, easy-to-lose items.
Alternatively, we could just wait until Google is so all-knowing that we could just type "my keys" into it, and receive a satellite picture of them.:)
I'd like to point that the Higgs boson has NOTHING to do with gravity. The Standard Model, Higgs boson included, is a theory of the strong and electroweak interactions. The mass that fundamental particles have for virtue of their Higgs couplings is akin to an inertial mass only.
But I agree with you. I'd also hope for the non-existence of the Higgs boson. however, all odds are against us. There are some fundamental processes that can only be made sense of in the presence of a particle which looks very much like the Higgs. If I recall correctly, it was Chris Quigg that said that "if the Higgs boson does not exist, we'll need something much like it". But of course, with the Higgs come a lot of other issues (the hierarchy problem for instance), which open up a whole new area for physics.
A friend of mine is teaching Elementary Modern Physics using Medieval Role-Playing Games to 15-year olds. Sure, it is hard to teach concepts like Lorentz contraction, time dilation, and atomic quantum mechanics without the full-blown mathematical apparatus. But counting on the kids' imagination gives you a edge. Alternative methods of teaching should ALWAYS be searched for, even because we already have the "tested and true" method (chalk & talk).
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I humbly disagree. A "cluster" is something that every entity (academic or business-like) in need of moderate computing power considers using nowadays. The grid is used by international collaborations, mainly scientific ones like the LHC ones, LIGO, and the protein-folding guys. The cloud is simply a rehashing of the grid, perhaps more business oriented. And I can assure you that people DO care.
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Ow, come on. Nobody would use this as a weapon.
I, for one, am much more worried about important, but not-sensitive stuff (things like the keys to your house: you need to have them safe, but if somebody finds them, it's no big deal. Nobody would try every key in every house in the city to beat the odds of finding the right one). I'd like some kind of radio-based detector (RFID, maybe) that helps me keep track of those annoying, easy-to-lose items.
:)
Alternatively, we could just wait until Google is so all-knowing that we could just type "my keys" into it, and receive a satellite picture of them.
I'd like to point that the Higgs boson has NOTHING to do with gravity. The Standard Model, Higgs boson included, is a theory of the strong and electroweak interactions. The mass that fundamental particles have for virtue of their Higgs couplings is akin to an inertial mass only.
But I agree with you. I'd also hope for the non-existence of the Higgs boson. however, all odds are against us. There are some fundamental processes that can only be made sense of in the presence of a particle which looks very much like the Higgs. If I recall correctly, it was Chris Quigg that said that "if the Higgs boson does not exist, we'll need something much like it". But of course, with the Higgs come a lot of other issues (the hierarchy problem for instance), which open up a whole new area for physics.
A Teddy Bear-looking thing in the middle of the battlefield? What will keep the enemy from shooting it to earn bonus points?
A friend of mine is teaching Elementary Modern Physics using Medieval Role-Playing Games to 15-year olds. Sure, it is hard to teach concepts like Lorentz contraction, time dilation, and atomic quantum mechanics without the full-blown mathematical apparatus. But counting on the kids' imagination gives you a edge. Alternative methods of teaching should ALWAYS be searched for, even because we already have the "tested and true" method (chalk & talk).