Re:Leonardo's methods are the way forward
on
Da Vinci Bridge Built
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
...see beyond the tunnel-vision of their specialism to get a grasp of the 'big picture'
The problem is, the "big picture" doesn't pay. That type of science is called "blue-sky" research, and there aren't that many companies (besides the US Gov, IBM, GE) that are willing or can afford to maintain such research groups. Unless you specialize, you don't get funding. A lot of researchers would love to be generalists, dabbling in everything and trying to come up with something new. However, unless you pick a specialty, you don't get funding from the school. You don't get research grants. You can't pay off your student loans. So you specialize.
...He invented the helicopter.
No, he designed a non-working machine that sorta looks like a helicopter. He also designed a non-working device that looks like a parachute but would kill the user. I think one of the criteria for an "invention" is that it works. I don't think you can get a US Patent on a non-working device.
...How many bridges have been built by theoretical physicists ?
Every Single One. The designers might not have had a nice shiny plaque on the door that said "theoretical physicist", but the Roman Aquaducts weren't designed by peasants throwing rocks around hoping they would stay together. Even the fallen tree over the stream. Some bright individual had been using deadfalls to cross streams, and thought to himself - "hey, I could cut down a tree and lay it across *myself* instead of having to hike all the way up here". He was a theoretical physicists. So was DaVinci for that matter, although he rarely put theory into practice. Theoretical and physicist are relative terms remember depending on what the general pool of knowledge was in that time period.
...forces us... to specialise rather than follow our interests
Nothing forces you to specialize into something you don't like. You choose your major. You choose the topic for your thesis. You choose which research grants to apply for. You choose which to accept.
I chose not to pursue a degree in theoretical mathematics. I choose to instead be a dirt poor novelist struggling to pay my massive school loans working as a helpdesk tech. It was my choice to leave the system. Everyone has that choice.
Not to say the school system doesn't have problems and couldn't use a LOT of reform at the primary and secondary levels. That I don't have an answer for.
People did not switch to Japanese cars because they were simply better (they were a bit better, but not by much in the 70's), or cheaper (just a bit). They switched because the Honda Civic got 35 miles to the gallon compared to the 10 of a Chevy Impala. Waiting for hours to get gas, IF you could find a station that had any gas... it was a HUGE exteral force upon the market. There is no such force on the PC / NetApp market.
It wasn't until the 80s that the Japanese auto industry really shined and started taking market share away from the American industry. And note that the American auto industry did disappear into a minority, and the PC market is not likely to do so either.
There's no comparison to the PC / NetApp to the Auto industry. Japanese cars and American cars were both cars, fully capable of doing the same things. An analogy might be the American Cars were IBMs and Japanese e-machines. Both computers, fully capable of computing.
To make a car/internet appliance analogy work, you would need a car that had had no interior but a single seat for the driver, no trunk, and an electric engine that only ran when plugged into an outlet. You could drive it down the driveway to your streetside mailbox and back, but not much else.
Those of us who drive, simply stop at the mailbox on our way out somewhere or on the way back. Those who don't drive aren't going to buy a crippled car that costs 80% the price of a full car just to get to the mailbox and back. They'd just as soon buy a full car or just walk.
When the price drops, those of us with full cars may buy a crippled car for the 'hack' of it, maybe to run to the mailbox on weekends so as not to create wear and tear on our full car, or maybe for the kids to play with. But no, until the price drops significantly to "toy" status, they're not going to sell.
Let me see. The Passport prompt comes up the first six times. I have 10 completely clueless friends are going to call and email me every single time it comes up. I have 20 moderately intelligent friends who will call the first two times then email me asking for detailed instructions how to disable it. I have 50 friends who'll know exactly what it's doing and will send me rants every time it happens. That's 100 phone calls and hundreds of emails. Then there's my dad who I'll have to visit personally and connect through six times so he doesn't see it again.
That's a lot of my time wasted which could be better spent elsewhere. I wish I could charge those costs back to Microsoft.
This isn't about you and me, about those with the knowledge to avoid such pitfalls. It's for the unlearned masses, many of whom I'll end up wasting my time responding to. Just like this message.
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...see beyond the tunnel-vision of their specialism to get a grasp of the 'big picture'
...He invented the helicopter.
...How many bridges have been built by theoretical physicists ?
...forces us... to specialise rather than follow our interests
The problem is, the "big picture" doesn't pay. That type of science is called "blue-sky" research, and there aren't that many companies (besides the US Gov, IBM, GE) that are willing or can afford to maintain such research groups. Unless you specialize, you don't get funding. A lot of researchers would love to be generalists, dabbling in everything and trying to come up with something new. However, unless you pick a specialty, you don't get funding from the school. You don't get research grants. You can't pay off your student loans. So you specialize.
No, he designed a non-working machine that sorta looks like a helicopter. He also designed a non-working device that looks like a parachute but would kill the user. I think one of the criteria for an "invention" is that it works. I don't think you can get a US Patent on a non-working device.
Every Single One. The designers might not have had a nice shiny plaque on the door that said "theoretical physicist", but the Roman Aquaducts weren't designed by peasants throwing rocks around hoping they would stay together. Even the fallen tree over the stream. Some bright individual had been using deadfalls to cross streams, and thought to himself - "hey, I could cut down a tree and lay it across *myself* instead of having to hike all the way up here". He was a theoretical physicists. So was DaVinci for that matter, although he rarely put theory into practice. Theoretical and physicist are relative terms remember depending on what the general pool of knowledge was in that time period.
Nothing forces you to specialize into something you don't like. You choose your major. You choose the topic for your thesis. You choose which research grants to apply for. You choose which to accept.
I chose not to pursue a degree in theoretical mathematics. I choose to instead be a dirt poor novelist struggling to pay my massive school loans working as a helpdesk tech. It was my choice to leave the system. Everyone has that choice.
Not to say the school system doesn't have problems and couldn't use a LOT of reform at the primary and secondary levels. That I don't have an answer for.
Since when has Microsoft ever taken it upon themselves to "making sure the multitude of software packages don't conflict with each other"???
Last time I checked, MS Tech Support's favorite line was "It's not our product, contact the vendor of the application".
People did not switch to Japanese cars because they were simply better (they were a bit better, but not by much in the 70's), or cheaper (just a bit). They switched because the Honda Civic got 35 miles to the gallon compared to the 10 of a Chevy Impala. Waiting for hours to get gas, IF you could find a station that had any gas... it was a HUGE exteral force upon the market. There is no such force on the PC / NetApp market.
It wasn't until the 80s that the Japanese auto industry really shined and started taking market share away from the American industry. And note that the American auto industry did disappear into a minority, and the PC market is not likely to do so either.
There's no comparison to the PC / NetApp to the Auto industry. Japanese cars and American cars were both cars, fully capable of doing the same things. An analogy might be the American Cars were IBMs and Japanese e-machines. Both computers, fully capable of computing.
To make a car/internet appliance analogy work, you would need a car that had had no interior but a single seat for the driver, no trunk, and an electric engine that only ran when plugged into an outlet. You could drive it down the driveway to your streetside mailbox and back, but not much else.
Those of us who drive, simply stop at the mailbox on our way out somewhere or on the way back. Those who don't drive aren't going to buy a crippled car that costs 80% the price of a full car just to get to the mailbox and back. They'd just as soon buy a full car or just walk.
When the price drops, those of us with full cars may buy a crippled car for the 'hack' of it, maybe to run to the mailbox on weekends so as not to create wear and tear on our full car, or maybe for the kids to play with. But no, until the price drops significantly to "toy" status, they're not going to sell.
Let me see. The Passport prompt comes up the first six times. I have 10 completely clueless friends are going to call and email me every single time it comes up. I have 20 moderately intelligent friends who will call the first two times then email me asking for detailed instructions how to disable it. I have 50 friends who'll know exactly what it's doing and will send me rants every time it happens. That's 100 phone calls and hundreds of emails. Then there's my dad who I'll have to visit personally and connect through six times so he doesn't see it again.
That's a lot of my time wasted which could be better spent elsewhere. I wish I could charge those costs back to Microsoft.
This isn't about you and me, about those with the knowledge to avoid such pitfalls. It's for the unlearned masses, many of whom I'll end up wasting my time responding to. Just like this message.