It's not like you haven't been able to hail AL cabs by app for years.
Yes, I know, and as I said to another responder, "Relax, it was just a joke." Try not to get your panties in a twist. (But feel free to call me all the names you like, I find it invigorating. Trust me, lots of nicer people than you hate me.)
A better analogy would be a drug dealer complaining that the police keep arresting him and taking him out of the school yard. Those draconian laws protecting kids from drugs and all.
Relax, bud, it was just a joke.:)
Personally I'm not a big fan of Uber. There are parts of the Uber concept that I like and parts I don't, but mostly it makes me uneasy. The predatory pricing, the race to the bottom, the lack of accountability, etc etc.
Regulatory bodies and laws exist for a variety reasons, both good and bad, and I'm wary of anyone or anything that tries to bypass or shortcut them.
If the idea could be implemented with a little more accountability/regulation then I'd be more comfortable with it, but at this time I'm very leery of the "wild west" nature of the Uber business model.
>I'll put it this way: surely you've seen footage of traffic going around L'Arc de Triomphe in Paris, or the Coliseum in Rome (if not, look it up. London has Marble Arch). Do you think a self-driving car, such as we have today or even in the next ten years can cope with that?
Excellent point, and one I've made repeatedly to no avail. People here on slashdot want self-driving cars soooooooo bad that they'll ignore anything that might harsh their buzz or introduce some of that goddamn reality into their wet dream of self-driving cars.
In my opinion the only way you'd ever get a self-driving car to navigate the L'Arc de Triomphe safely is if they were all self-driving cars in that traffic nightmare.
I've also mentioned the problems with roadworks, cyclists, pedestrians, buses, delivery vans, crossings, variable traffic controls and the like, but I'm usually shouted down and told that "smarter software" will deal with all that stuff. Somehow I doubt it.
ok, what circumstances are... "certain", in your view? Honestly curious. Can't think of any, myself, and I consider myself both open-minded and a creative thinker. Please elaborate.
Hmmm, what if the child was really a 1000-year old Reptilian from Jupiter who is hatching a Master Illuminati Plan to blow up the Earth and enslave all the survivors? It's a stretch, I'll admit, but what if? CHECKMATE, RATIONAL PERSON!
(Note for the humor impaired: Reptilians actually come from Saturn; I know that and was just trying to throw the NSA trackers off by citing slightly erroneous data. Carry on, nothing to see here, sharks with laser beams, in Russia something something, etc etc.)
Without the "Don't Be Evil" mandate, Google can now do all sorts of wonderful things like collecting data on every mouseclick and page visit, correlate it with your credit card spending data, insurance records, search history, phone records, mortgage info, geo-tracking data, and use it to flood you with tailored ads. Oh, wait, they already do that.
According to current standards, those ages seem ludicrous.
According to any standards, those ages seem ludicrous. There is literally zero proof that anyone has ever lived to 150, let alone to 950 years.
It is not outside the realm of possibility that there was a period in our world's history where we lived longer, perhaps even even much longer -- than we do now.
And it's not outside the realm of possibility that there was a period in our world's history when unicorns roamed the skies, shooting laser beams from their horns. They later grew tired of the skies and psychomagnetically recromulated their own DNA, becoming sea-based creatures resembling sharks with laser beams in their eyes instead. Soon they'll do it again, except they'll be time-traveling sharks that fly, equipped with Sidewinder missiles and GAU-8 Avenger Gatling guns.
I mean, it's not outside the realm of possibility, it could happen.
Clearly the phone is just unhappy at not being fondled constantly, since most people can't put the fucking thing down for more than 2 minutes.
The phones detects that the owner, err, sorry- the "renter" isn't constantly touching, fondling, and using the device, and after 10 whole minutes goes into "Snit Fit" mode where it sulks.
10 minutes after that it goes into the "Why You Don't Love Me Anymore" mode, and after a final 10-minute grace period it decides that it's been abandoned for a newer, shinier wife, errr, I mean "phone", and shuts down in a fit of rage (but not before posting to Facebook that you smell, have a tiny dick, and hate your mother).
Just like they hire typists to type up their notes these days?
My doctor usually has his Medical Assistant type his notes, sometimes he dictates the notes and has them transcribed. I'm sure he does some typing but he has a Medical Assistant and a transcription machine because his job isn't to type- it's to work with patients. I'm pretty sure he doesn't consider "typing" to be one of his general duties any more than he considers restocking the paper towel dispenser to be one of his duties.
My doctor is never going to learn programming, because that's not his job, that's not where his time is best put to use. He also doesn't change the oil in his car or fix his washing machine- he hires someone to do that. Sure, he could learn to do those things but he never will. And why should he?
Just like not everyone needs to do algebra ever, just like not everyone needs to know Shakespeare ever.
Those are pretty piss-poor examples. I've never used any of the algebra I learned in school, and I've never used any of the Shakespeare I was made to memorize. Those things aren't part of my job. And 99% of the people I know never use algebra or need to quote Shakespeare, come to think of it. But I'm sure you're right- in 20 years everyone will no doubt be quoting Shakespeare while solving algebraic equations.
Really, as AC said below, equating typing with programming is so silly I hardly know where to begin. If you really think that every Tom, Dick, and Harry will be programming in 10 or 20 years, then I'd suggest you need to get out more.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go over some API function calls with the bartender and the guy who mows my lawn. Oh, wait, no I don't.
I have never been treated so poorly or lied to so much by any other company than Sprint. They will basically tell you what ever you want to hear with absolutely no basis in fact. I find it hard to believe they have any customers.
True. You can tell when a Sprint rep is lying because his lips are moving.
It appears to be benign (or even helpful) but this is a slippery slope...and I can see all sorts of things that can go wrong here.
I want to root for the good guys here (pun intended, heh!) but I don't know...anything that fiddles with my PC or server without my explicit, informed consent and permission just doesn't sit well with me.
It sort of reminds me of the viruses that infect your PC and then disable any competing viruses it finds, so it has your PC all to itself. It doesn't do it for benevolent reasons, it does it because it's greedy and doesn't want to share.
So I dunno. I can't say as I like it, and I can't say as I don't. Major conflicted feelings here.
You can't see a world where people just insert their hand into a machine and a gcode nail printer paints on designs?
They already have those, and this is a perfect example of you being in your own little silo- it shows you don't understand the nail business (just one example) and the underlying reason why you cannot imagine a world where everyone doesn't wake up in the morning and start coding. Let me explain....
Most women don't go to a nail salon to interact with a machine. There are alreadynifty little machines that print nail designs on fingernails, and you won't ever find them in nail salons, period. Not because they don't work or because they're too expensive, but because that's not why most women go to a nail salon.
They go to be pampered and to chat and, dare I say it, gossip with their favorite nail gal. The whole "pampering" thing is the bread and butter of nail salons. Yes, they want the girl to do a good job but they really go there to be treated like a queen for an hour or so, to be attended and paid attention to, and listened to...etc etc.
They want a relaxing pedicure or manicure (something no machine can do yet) AND they want to be waited on hand and foot, literally hand and foot. They want to be pampered.
If they wanted to stick their hand in a box and have it do all the work, every nail salon would have these gadget. None of them do, because the women that go there want the personal touch, again, literally.
They don't want a box to print their nails, and that's the point you missed. I say all this because that whole concept applies to many industries, not just nail salons. Sure, some people would like a robot waiter but many want a real human being to interact with. The same goes for hair styling and a host of other service industries. Those people do not need to code and they do not want to learn to code.
I know it's difficult to imagine a world where not everyone uses a PC and needs to code stuff for it, but you're actually living in that world- you just can't see it.
Just like the doctors my wife works with were told when they were growing up. "You don't need to learn to type. You'll have someone do it for you".
You seem to conflate "typing" with the need and/or ability to "write code". That's just not the case.
Furthermore, I'd bet that damn few doctors actually do any coding or programming, ever. They'll hire someone to do it, because their job isn't to write code- their job is to work with patients. They don't want to fuck around with for-loops and function() calls, they want to treat patients.
If they need something coded they sure as shit aren't going to do it themselves- they'll hire someone. That's why you don't go to your mechanic for medical care. Sure, your mechanic could learn to do a physical exam and maybe diagnose your symptoms (maybe) but that's not what they do. They work on cars, and like doctors, if they need some code written 99.99999% of them will simply hire someone who will do it right, and in 1/100th the time it would take them.
That's why this "everybody needs to learn to code" crap is such utter nonsense. You work with computers, good for you, but not everyone does and of the people that do, most of them are not ever going to need or want to code anything, ever.
My group won't hire new engineers that don't know how to program at least slightly. Doing stuff 'by hand' the old way is gone. Everyone I know in my group programs in some form or another.
It may shock you to learn that not everyone has a job that requires a keyboard. It sounds bizarre, but it's true. (I've actually worked at some of those jobs.)
The fact that you require it in your job or field is fine, but your gun-slit view of the world doesn't apply to every other field and discipline. I find that a lot of people tend to think that their experiences are similar to everyone else's experiences or day-to-day life events. It's an easy trap to fall into, but it's just not true.
One quick example: My sister-in-law works in a nail salon. She has no need to learn any programming, and there isn't any kind of task that could be automated in her field where she would need to learn programming. If there was, she'd hire someone to do it right rather than sit down and learn to code. And this holds true for the vast majority of people. I could come up with a thousand jobs that fall into the same "no need to learn programming" category.
Also, many of the jobs that do make use of a keyboard don't or won't don't need the user to program or code anything.
If you want to replace the sink in your bathroom, you'll educate yourself enough to accomplish that task, but you're not going to go out and learn enough plumbing to get a master plumber's license. It's the same way with programming: people may learn enough to fiddle with Excel macros, but that's a far cry from "coding" or programming.
I'm all for teaching programming concepts because they apply to many situations in everyday life (problem solving, logical thought, etc) but I just don't see programming or coding becoming a common skill, even at a casual level.
In 20 years "Programming" will be up there with where "keyboarding" is now.
I seriously doubt that unless you're referring to spreadsheet "programming" or the like.
Of course I may be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time and certainly not the last, but honestly, I just don't see it happening.
Uncle Mike and Aunt Jenny aren't going to be coding anything, and the vast majority of people will neither need to code or know how. Just like the vast majority of people now neither need to plumb their home or know how.
If anything, better interfaces and smarter software will more likely reduce the need for Joe and Jane Sixpack ever write a line of code for anything, ever.
What will they be coding? PBX interfaces? Missile guidance software? Process control analytics? What will they be writing database queries for?
What, pray tell, will all these people be coding in, and what will they be coding for? What will they need to write code for?
You make a good point. On that topic, schools (rather than trying to make all kids into programmers) should give kids enough programming literacy so that they can interact thoughtfully with real programmers.
I think it would be great if schools taught kids about the basics of programming, i.e. logical thought, breaking problems or tasks into pieces so they can be solved step-by-step, and similar conceptual skills.
But trying to teach every child to program is silly, just as it would be to teach every child to be a chemical engineer or riveter or botanist. Give them an idea of what it's all about and let them decide if they want to pursue it.
Slashdot Mirror
Moron.
It's not like you haven't been able to hail AL cabs by app for years.
Yes, I know, and as I said to another responder, "Relax, it was just a joke." Try not to get your panties in a twist. (But feel free to call me all the names you like, I find it invigorating. Trust me, lots of nicer people than you hate me.)
"I cut it three times and it's STILL too short!" - Russian construction worker
A better analogy would be a drug dealer complaining that the police keep arresting him and taking him out of the school yard. Those draconian laws protecting kids from drugs and all.
Relax, bud, it was just a joke. :)
Personally I'm not a big fan of Uber. There are parts of the Uber concept that I like and parts I don't, but mostly it makes me uneasy. The predatory pricing, the race to the bottom, the lack of accountability, etc etc.
Regulatory bodies and laws exist for a variety reasons, both good and bad, and I'm wary of anyone or anything that tries to bypass or shortcut them.
If the idea could be implemented with a little more accountability/regulation then I'd be more comfortable with it, but at this time I'm very leery of the "wild west" nature of the Uber business model.
>I'll put it this way: surely you've seen footage of traffic going around L'Arc de Triomphe in Paris, or the Coliseum in Rome (if not, look it up. London has Marble Arch). Do you think a self-driving car, such as we have today or even in the next ten years can cope with that?
Excellent point, and one I've made repeatedly to no avail. People here on slashdot want self-driving cars soooooooo bad that they'll ignore anything that might harsh their buzz or introduce some of that goddamn reality into their wet dream of self-driving cars.
In my opinion the only way you'd ever get a self-driving car to navigate the L'Arc de Triomphe safely is if they were all self-driving cars in that traffic nightmare.
I've also mentioned the problems with roadworks, cyclists, pedestrians, buses, delivery vans, crossings, variable traffic controls and the like, but I'm usually shouted down and told that "smarter software" will deal with all that stuff. Somehow I doubt it.
Someone help, my buggy whip business is being threatened by these new-fangled "automobiles"!!
-Joe Oldguy,
Buggy Whips Ltd.
so if you believe in the creation myth
Stop right there. No, I don't believe in the creation myth, because I'm not a fucking idiot.
Only gullible suckers, people with head injuries, and the terminally naive believe in these toxic little fairy tales anymore.
The new motto should be, "Kneel Before Zod!"
ok, what circumstances are... "certain", in your view? Honestly curious. Can't think of any, myself, and I consider myself both open-minded and a creative thinker. Please elaborate.
Hmmm, what if the child was really a 1000-year old Reptilian from Jupiter who is hatching a Master Illuminati Plan to blow up the Earth and enslave all the survivors? It's a stretch, I'll admit, but what if? CHECKMATE, RATIONAL PERSON!
(Note for the humor impaired: Reptilians actually come from Saturn; I know that and was just trying to throw the NSA trackers off by citing slightly erroneous data. Carry on, nothing to see here, sharks with laser beams, in Russia something something, etc etc.)
Without the "Don't Be Evil" mandate, Google can now do all sorts of wonderful things like collecting data on every mouseclick and page visit, correlate it with your credit card spending data, insurance records, search history, phone records, mortgage info, geo-tracking data, and use it to flood you with tailored ads. Oh, wait, they already do that.
According to current standards, those ages seem ludicrous.
According to any standards, those ages seem ludicrous. There is literally zero proof that anyone has ever lived to 150, let alone to 950 years.
It is not outside the realm of possibility that there was a period in our world's history where we lived longer, perhaps even even much longer -- than we do now.
And it's not outside the realm of possibility that there was a period in our world's history when unicorns roamed the skies, shooting laser beams from their horns. They later grew tired of the skies and psychomagnetically recromulated their own DNA, becoming sea-based creatures resembling sharks with laser beams in their eyes instead. Soon they'll do it again, except they'll be time-traveling sharks that fly, equipped with Sidewinder missiles and GAU-8 Avenger Gatling guns.
I mean, it's not outside the realm of possibility, it could happen.
2 or 7 of every animal on Earth on a boat? That's the bit that's bollocks.
Yeah, because the part about Noah fathering his 3 sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, when he was five hundred years old is totally believable.
As is the idea that he was 950 years old when he died. Also totally believable.
"Stuff that matters"....indeed.
Clearly the phone is just unhappy at not being fondled constantly, since most people can't put the fucking thing down for more than 2 minutes.
The phones detects that the owner, err, sorry- the "renter" isn't constantly touching, fondling, and using the device, and after 10 whole minutes goes into "Snit Fit" mode where it sulks.
10 minutes after that it goes into the "Why You Don't Love Me Anymore" mode, and after a final 10-minute grace period it decides that it's been abandoned for a newer, shinier wife, errr, I mean "phone", and shuts down in a fit of rage (but not before posting to Facebook that you smell, have a tiny dick, and hate your mother).
"...we won't forget about you, and we'll make sure your Moto E stays up to date after you buy it."
(time passes...)
"Ha ha, just kidding! We can't believe you fell for that shit!
But look over here, Citizen- we'll give you $5 off The New Shiny if you sign up for a 50-year unbreakable contract."
Just like they hire typists to type up their notes these days?
My doctor usually has his Medical Assistant type his notes, sometimes he dictates the notes and has them transcribed. I'm sure he does some typing but he has a Medical Assistant and a transcription machine because his job isn't to type- it's to work with patients. I'm pretty sure he doesn't consider "typing" to be one of his general duties any more than he considers restocking the paper towel dispenser to be one of his duties.
My doctor is never going to learn programming, because that's not his job, that's not where his time is best put to use. He also doesn't change the oil in his car or fix his washing machine- he hires someone to do that. Sure, he could learn to do those things but he never will. And why should he?
Just like not everyone needs to do algebra ever, just like not everyone needs to know Shakespeare ever.
Those are pretty piss-poor examples. I've never used any of the algebra I learned in school, and I've never used any of the Shakespeare I was made to memorize. Those things aren't part of my job. And 99% of the people I know never use algebra or need to quote Shakespeare, come to think of it. But I'm sure you're right- in 20 years everyone will no doubt be quoting Shakespeare while solving algebraic equations.
Really, as AC said below, equating typing with programming is so silly I hardly know where to begin. If you really think that every Tom, Dick, and Harry will be programming in 10 or 20 years, then I'd suggest you need to get out more.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go over some API function calls with the bartender and the guy who mows my lawn. Oh, wait, no I don't.
I have never been treated so poorly or lied to so much by any other company than Sprint. They will basically tell you what ever you want to hear with absolutely no basis in fact. I find it hard to believe they have any customers.
True. You can tell when a Sprint rep is lying because his lips are moving.
They'll just need to be torn down, again... Rinse, lather, repeat. It's going to keep going until we force real change.
I agree with everything you said, but shouldn't it be "lather, rinse, repeat"?
How can I rinse if I haven't lathered first? A conundrum worthy of pondering...
This....makes me uneasy.
It appears to be benign (or even helpful) but this is a slippery slope...and I can see all sorts of things that can go wrong here.
I want to root for the good guys here (pun intended, heh!) but I don't know...anything that fiddles with my PC or server without my explicit, informed consent and permission just doesn't sit well with me.
It sort of reminds me of the viruses that infect your PC and then disable any competing viruses it finds, so it has your PC all to itself. It doesn't do it for benevolent reasons, it does it because it's greedy and doesn't want to share.
So I dunno. I can't say as I like it, and I can't say as I don't. Major conflicted feelings here.
This seems more like a bug than a deliberate design feature, but with Amazon it's hard to know for sure.
You can't see a world where people just insert their hand into a machine and a gcode nail printer paints on designs?
They already have those, and this is a perfect example of you being in your own little silo- it shows you don't understand the nail business (just one example) and the underlying reason why you cannot imagine a world where everyone doesn't wake up in the morning and start coding. Let me explain....
Most women don't go to a nail salon to interact with a machine. There are already nifty little machines that print nail designs on fingernails, and you won't ever find them in nail salons, period. Not because they don't work or because they're too expensive, but because that's not why most women go to a nail salon.
They go to be pampered and to chat and, dare I say it, gossip with their favorite nail gal. The whole "pampering" thing is the bread and butter of nail salons. Yes, they want the girl to do a good job but they really go there to be treated like a queen for an hour or so, to be attended and paid attention to, and listened to...etc etc.
They want a relaxing pedicure or manicure (something no machine can do yet) AND they want to be waited on hand and foot, literally hand and foot. They want to be pampered.
If they wanted to stick their hand in a box and have it do all the work, every nail salon would have these gadget. None of them do, because the women that go there want the personal touch, again, literally.
They don't want a box to print their nails, and that's the point you missed. I say all this because that whole concept applies to many industries, not just nail salons. Sure, some people would like a robot waiter but many want a real human being to interact with. The same goes for hair styling and a host of other service industries. Those people do not need to code and they do not want to learn to code.
I know it's difficult to imagine a world where not everyone uses a PC and needs to code stuff for it, but you're actually living in that world- you just can't see it.
Just like the doctors my wife works with were told when they were growing up. "You don't need to learn to type. You'll have someone do it for you".
You seem to conflate "typing" with the need and/or ability to "write code". That's just not the case.
Furthermore, I'd bet that damn few doctors actually do any coding or programming, ever. They'll hire someone to do it, because their job isn't to write code- their job is to work with patients. They don't want to fuck around with for-loops and function() calls, they want to treat patients.
If they need something coded they sure as shit aren't going to do it themselves- they'll hire someone. That's why you don't go to your mechanic for medical care. Sure, your mechanic could learn to do a physical exam and maybe diagnose your symptoms (maybe) but that's not what they do. They work on cars, and like doctors, if they need some code written 99.99999% of them will simply hire someone who will do it right, and in 1/100th the time it would take them.
That's why this "everybody needs to learn to code" crap is such utter nonsense. You work with computers, good for you, but not everyone does and of the people that do, most of them are not ever going to need or want to code anything, ever.
....what? "falls" into space?
I know; I actually winced when I read that.
I'll be shocked and astounded if this actually ever takes place.
A Moon shot is a hell of trick to pull off, even getting into orbit is beyond the capability of most countries, let alone transit to the Moon.
Space travel is hard; it's expensive, it's complex, and space is probably the most unforgiving environment imaginable.
Color me skeptical; I don't think this is going to happen via private industry for another 20 to 50 years at the very least.
I'd be overjoyed to be wrong, though! :)
My group won't hire new engineers that don't know how to program at least slightly. Doing stuff 'by hand' the old way is gone. Everyone I know in my group programs in some form or another.
It may shock you to learn that not everyone has a job that requires a keyboard. It sounds bizarre, but it's true. (I've actually worked at some of those jobs.)
The fact that you require it in your job or field is fine, but your gun-slit view of the world doesn't apply to every other field and discipline. I find that a lot of people tend to think that their experiences are similar to everyone else's experiences or day-to-day life events. It's an easy trap to fall into, but it's just not true.
One quick example: My sister-in-law works in a nail salon. She has no need to learn any programming, and there isn't any kind of task that could be automated in her field where she would need to learn programming. If there was, she'd hire someone to do it right rather than sit down and learn to code. And this holds true for the vast majority of people. I could come up with a thousand jobs that fall into the same "no need to learn programming" category.
Also, many of the jobs that do make use of a keyboard don't or won't don't need the user to program or code anything.
If you want to replace the sink in your bathroom, you'll educate yourself enough to accomplish that task, but you're not going to go out and learn enough plumbing to get a master plumber's license. It's the same way with programming: people may learn enough to fiddle with Excel macros, but that's a far cry from "coding" or programming.
I'm all for teaching programming concepts because they apply to many situations in everyday life (problem solving, logical thought, etc) but I just don't see programming or coding becoming a common skill, even at a casual level.
In 20 years "Programming" will be up there with where "keyboarding" is now.
I seriously doubt that unless you're referring to spreadsheet "programming" or the like.
Of course I may be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time and certainly not the last, but honestly, I just don't see it happening.
Uncle Mike and Aunt Jenny aren't going to be coding anything, and the vast majority of people will neither need to code or know how. Just like the vast majority of people now neither need to plumb their home or know how.
If anything, better interfaces and smarter software will more likely reduce the need for Joe and Jane Sixpack ever write a line of code for anything, ever.
What will they be coding? PBX interfaces? Missile guidance software? Process control analytics? What will they be writing database queries for?
What, pray tell, will all these people be coding in, and what will they be coding for? What will they need to write code for?
You make a good point. On that topic, schools (rather than trying to make all kids into programmers) should give kids enough programming literacy so that they can interact thoughtfully with real programmers.
I think it would be great if schools taught kids about the basics of programming, i.e. logical thought, breaking problems or tasks into pieces so they can be solved step-by-step, and similar conceptual skills.
But trying to teach every child to program is silly, just as it would be to teach every child to be a chemical engineer or riveter or botanist. Give them an idea of what it's all about and let them decide if they want to pursue it.