What a brave prediction! An item in a market where things become obsolete every year due to advancing storage space technology will become obsolete in 10 years! He's so brave!
I'll be amazing, too!
I predict 2 megapixel camers will be obsolete in 10 years!
I predict the Playstation 2 will be obsolete in 10 years!
I predict the G5 processor will be obsolete in 10 years.
I predict vacuum tube based difference engines will be obsolete in 10 years!
I predict ideology and politics and religion will be obsolete in 10 years!
Ah, that last one is a trick prediction. Ideology, politics and religion were obsolete the moment fire was discovered. Sadly, it doesn't stop people from continuing to embrace them.
And have a new generation of muddy, hut-dwelling, fly-bedecked, distended-bellied hackers plaguing our precious, precious Internet? Shirley, you must be joking!
And think what would happen if you sent them someplace other than France!
*rimshot*
Thank you!
Then again maybe they could pop over to an online grocer and order some food. Too bad we're not still in the dotcom collapse. Some of those outfits were accepting rocks and berries for payment near the end.
Or get Sally Struthers on the job. Yes, folks, for just pennies a day, you can sponser a Khoekhoe script kiddie and keep him hip deep in Doritos and Mountain Dew. Why just last week little !Hukwe here cracked the IMF database and struck a blow against the imperialist bacon-eaters of the West.
Get Pres. Bush to fund it. Just tell him the Bushmen are relatives.
I feel Alan's pain, but what he fails to understand is this:
Most people are not creative, and most hate to learn. This is a sad truth. The amount of people who like to learn new things throughout their life, or create things just for the sake of creating, is a thin sliver of the general population.
I like to do 3D computer art, and have started programming for fun again after a long lapse. Most people who know me, many of them professionals wiuth advanced degrees, can't grasp why I want to do it as they turn back to their latest Grisham lawyer epic.
The sad truth is that the state of personal computing is exatly what the market (i.e. the consumers) wanted. They want games and pr0n and free music. No about of hand wringing or high falutin' pondering is going to change that.
The other problem:
For him, "the primary task of the Internet is to connect every person to every other person."
When people say stuff like this, they are only really thinking about his friends and family, or maybe some small collection of online pals.
You really want to be connected with atrocities like stompthejews.org or purty-yung-thangs-only-mildy-related-to-yoo.xxx or microsoft.com?
Honestly, what is all this infinite connectivity going to brings us over what we have now?
And business, he says, "is basically not interested in creative uses for computers."
No, it's just not interested in what Alan Kay is interested in.
The guy is brilliant, and he's done great work, but I'm afraid he's developed the tunnelvision common to people who have had their eogs stroked (no matter how well deserved) for many years. There's some small businesses out there able to automate things that would have required a lot of tedious drudgework in past decades thanks to those "uncreative" business applications.
Sorry, Alan, but behiond all the educations and fancy learning objects, there's still a world to run, resources to move about and daily chores to be done. And we're going to use boring gray box computin' machines for it.
"pretty much everything that's believed is bullshit."
OK, now here I agree with him.:-) But he might want to apply the bullshit test to his own beliefs. I try to do it on a regular basis. It's sometimes painful to let go of a closely held belief, but if the facts do not support it, you have to dispose of it.
You directed your comment theoretically at Powell. After a quick analysis I concluded it would not work, meaning it would score no points for your side, and utterly failed to present your opinion as that of a reasoning being.
It's an expression of an opinion.
Freely expressed, and worth every penny, BTW. I love how people who get huffy about expressing their opinion can't handle it when someone expresses an opposing opinion.
I dinged you for calling Stern infantile, and then making an infantile comment ("get a real job") yourself. Your comment was hypocritical and utterly useless, and I thanked you for not actually sending it to Powell's site.
You know, the sort of thing his bureacracy is trying to suppress.
Oooo! You're just the big brave freedom fighter, aren't you?
I don't think I'm being oversensitive. I also favor Tivo over a roll your own PC solution and I don't get a boner over Kevin Mitnick, so I'm not sure I'm really a geek.
I know assholes have been around since Ogg intentionally tripped Oog during the mastadon hunt, but I think it's difficult to argue that the level of public decorum hasn't fallen like a rock in the past 20 years or so.
As for paranoia, that never changes. From terrorists back to Communists back to "the negras" to "she's a witch" to, I dunno, huns or something. Although with terrorists and Commies there was SOME reality to the threat, even if it isn't always where we are looking.
Same with the negras. HEY, I'M JOKING!! IT'S A JOKE! CALM DOWN!
People like to make fun of such things and "those wacky 50's ways." Sure, there were lots of civil rights issues and other ponderous bullshit, but some days I think we tossed out the baby with the bathwater. I mean, we really seem to live in a world these days that's an endless legion of assholes.
If you so much as claim to like a TeeVee show someone else doen't like, that other person will tell you how your taste is all in your feet, your brain cells suffer from some degenerating disease of the mind, you should do disgusting and incetuous things with your mother and/or father and/or unlce, and you are, somehow, the moral equivalent of Hitler, Stalin and Caligula combined.
Although not in so many words. It's usually "Yu fvkin suuk dood!" But the meaning is clearly implied.
People tell me it's the result of free speech and free expression and the tossing of old ways, but that doesn't do much to mitigate the fact that we live immersed in an endless legion of assholes.
People don't say "Microsoft sucks" because Microsoft is a preceived monopoly, they say "Microsoft sucks" because Microsoft sucks. The laughable farce they call multitasking, the networking from hell, the abysmal interface design, the SuperSizeMe bloatware and ooooooooo- don't get me started, Pedro!
So what you are saying is that it's not ok for one person to just sell to the highest bidder or to whomever best suits your political view at the moment, but for nations is all fine and dandy?
That is so far from what I said, I hope you aren't out of the first grade, because that's about where your reading comprehension skills are.
I *said* isn't this the sort of thing we bash GOVERNMENTS for. I *said* it's not a good thing.
I was comparing him to any government or big defense company. *I* was asking some posters why is it bad for governments and defense coimpanies, but not bad for this guy.
Was it really that difficult to figure out?
No. That's some bugfuck strawman you made up because you cannot read.
Some people turn violently ill when it comes time to compose a resume!
I've met people like that. It's called "lack of discipline."
So that makes it OK to start building weapons for the highest bidder? Isn't this the sort of thing we bash the big defense companies and governments for?
Oh, but he says, "No terrorists." Great. How extensive a background check will he do on a potential client when a $100 million check from oil money is waved under his nose? Will he build one if it means his daughter's head does not get chopped off?
I'm just speculatin' is all. Just pondering.
Cruise missiles are boring anyway. I want to be a freelance mechabot designer.
Actually, I *hate* that one. It reeks of some bizarre techno-theology. The anthropomorphization of inanimate objects has no place in rational debate. It's almost as bad as "think of the children"... but not quite.;-)
As for state secrets, you want every frequency and codec our military uses? You want the identities of our international operatives and intelligence sources? You want every vulnerability discovered in testing of our fighter craft?
Some information in the wrong hands can (and HAS) killed poeple. Look up the consequences of some of the more famous spy cases in recent years. People *died* when certain information was leaked.
We should have all seen GL for what he was with the Ewoks, but we were fooled anyway.
What's this *we* crap? Some of us *did* see the beginning of the end with ROTJ. So did many critics. I recall one stating that "the toys have taken over the toy shop."
Actually, the problem is people like you who take themselves too seriously and can't recognize the difference between a dark humored quip and a serious political statement.
Would you suggest attacking the Vatican and killing the pope if a Catholic committed a terrorist act?
You mean like diddling thousands of little boys and covering it up. OK, I'll consider it. Thanks for the suggestion.
For instance I've had my TiVo waiting a few years for a rebroadcast of Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's 70's British TV show "UFO" (the series bridging "Thunderbirds" & "Space 1999"). However hopefully in tomorrow's TV universe I'll be able to get it distributed when I want for a few bucks, or cheaper if I'm willing to be put on a wait list and get it once a critical mass of subscribers have signed up.
Here you go. It's a bit spendy, but then you have it for all time. Pride of ownership, and all that.
Slashdot Mirror
I'll be amazing, too!
I predict 2 megapixel camers will be obsolete in 10 years!
I predict the Playstation 2 will be obsolete in 10 years!
I predict the G5 processor will be obsolete in 10 years.
I predict vacuum tube based difference engines will be obsolete in 10 years!
I predict ideology and politics and religion will be obsolete in 10 years!
Ah, that last one is a trick prediction. Ideology, politics and religion were obsolete the moment fire was discovered. Sadly, it doesn't stop people from continuing to embrace them.
You mean the HDVR2? I get my locals from the bird, but a friend hooked up an existing antenna for his. It records those just fine.
And think what would happen if you sent them someplace other than France!
*rimshot*
Thank you!
Then again maybe they could pop over to an online grocer and order some food. Too bad we're not still in the dotcom collapse. Some of those outfits were accepting rocks and berries for payment near the end.
Or get Sally Struthers on the job. Yes, folks, for just pennies a day, you can sponser a Khoekhoe script kiddie and keep him hip deep in Doritos and Mountain Dew. Why just last week little !Hukwe here cracked the IMF database and struck a blow against the imperialist bacon-eaters of the West.
Get Pres. Bush to fund it. Just tell him the Bushmen are relatives.
*rimshot*
Oh! Pow! Thank you!
The problem is in the question. It's not either/or.
The answer is: some of both, but a lot of the former.
Most people are not creative. Period. You can toss out all the explicatives you like, but that won't change the reality of it.
He's focused on connecting people to people, not people to organizations or corporations.
Yes, but organizations and corporatoins are just clusters of peopl- oh, what's the point...
Somewhere, someone will blame the US for this.
Most people are not creative, and most hate to learn. This is a sad truth. The amount of people who like to learn new things throughout their life, or create things just for the sake of creating, is a thin sliver of the general population.
I like to do 3D computer art, and have started programming for fun again after a long lapse. Most people who know me, many of them professionals wiuth advanced degrees, can't grasp why I want to do it as they turn back to their latest Grisham lawyer epic.
The sad truth is that the state of personal computing is exatly what the market (i.e. the consumers) wanted. They want games and pr0n and free music. No about of hand wringing or high falutin' pondering is going to change that.
The other problem:
For him, "the primary task of the Internet is to connect every person to every other person."
When people say stuff like this, they are only really thinking about his friends and family, or maybe some small collection of online pals.
You really want to be connected with atrocities like stompthejews.org or purty-yung-thangs-only-mildy-related-to-yoo.xxx or microsoft.com?
Honestly, what is all this infinite connectivity going to brings us over what we have now?
And business, he says, "is basically not interested in creative uses for computers."
No, it's just not interested in what Alan Kay is interested in.
The guy is brilliant, and he's done great work, but I'm afraid he's developed the tunnelvision common to people who have had their eogs stroked (no matter how well deserved) for many years. There's some small businesses out there able to automate things that would have required a lot of tedious drudgework in past decades thanks to those "uncreative" business applications.
Sorry, Alan, but behiond all the educations and fancy learning objects, there's still a world to run, resources to move about and daily chores to be done. And we're going to use boring gray box computin' machines for it.
"pretty much everything that's believed is bullshit."
OK, now here I agree with him. :-) But he might want to apply the bullshit test to his own beliefs. I try to do it on a regular basis. It's sometimes painful to let go of a closely held belief, but if the facts do not support it, you have to dispose of it.
You directed your comment theoretically at Powell. After a quick analysis I concluded it would not work, meaning it would score no points for your side, and utterly failed to present your opinion as that of a reasoning being.
It's an expression of an opinion.
Freely expressed, and worth every penny, BTW. I love how people who get huffy about expressing their opinion can't handle it when someone expresses an opposing opinion.
I dinged you for calling Stern infantile, and then making an infantile comment ("get a real job") yourself. Your comment was hypocritical and utterly useless, and I thanked you for not actually sending it to Powell's site.
You know, the sort of thing his bureacracy is trying to suppress.
Oooo! You're just the big brave freedom fighter, aren't you?
Oh, geez, not even as a joke! You'll get Richard Hoagland started!
I know assholes have been around since Ogg intentionally tripped Oog during the mastadon hunt, but I think it's difficult to argue that the level of public decorum hasn't fallen like a rock in the past 20 years or so.
As for paranoia, that never changes. From terrorists back to Communists back to "the negras" to "she's a witch" to, I dunno, huns or something. Although with terrorists and Commies there was SOME reality to the threat, even if it isn't always where we are looking.
Same with the negras. HEY, I'M JOKING!! IT'S A JOKE! CALM DOWN!
Yeah, that'll work. Actually, thank you for not registering to the FCC site and posting. Your's isn't the sort of response we need.
If you so much as claim to like a TeeVee show someone else doen't like, that other person will tell you how your taste is all in your feet, your brain cells suffer from some degenerating disease of the mind, you should do disgusting and incetuous things with your mother and/or father and/or unlce, and you are, somehow, the moral equivalent of Hitler, Stalin and Caligula combined.
Although not in so many words. It's usually "Yu fvkin suuk dood!" But the meaning is clearly implied.
People tell me it's the result of free speech and free expression and the tossing of old ways, but that doesn't do much to mitigate the fact that we live immersed in an endless legion of assholes.
People don't say "Microsoft sucks" because Microsoft is a preceived monopoly, they say "Microsoft sucks" because Microsoft sucks. The laughable farce they call multitasking, the networking from hell, the abysmal interface design, the SuperSizeMe bloatware and ooooooooo- don't get me started, Pedro!
So what you are saying is that it's not ok for one person to just sell to the highest bidder or to whomever best suits your political view at the moment, but for nations is all fine and dandy?
That is so far from what I said, I hope you aren't out of the first grade, because that's about where your reading comprehension skills are.
I *said* isn't this the sort of thing we bash GOVERNMENTS for. I *said* it's not a good thing.
I was comparing him to any government or big defense company. *I* was asking some posters why is it bad for governments and defense coimpanies, but not bad for this guy.
Was it really that difficult to figure out?
No. That's some bugfuck strawman you made up because you cannot read.
I've met people like that. It's called "lack of discipline."
So that makes it OK to start building weapons for the highest bidder? Isn't this the sort of thing we bash the big defense companies and governments for?
Oh, but he says, "No terrorists." Great. How extensive a background check will he do on a potential client when a $100 million check from oil money is waved under his nose? Will he build one if it means his daughter's head does not get chopped off?
I'm just speculatin' is all. Just pondering.
Cruise missiles are boring anyway. I want to be a freelance mechabot designer.
Isn't this like someone in 1650 proposing a continental highway system for the New World?
Actually, I *hate* that one. It reeks of some bizarre techno-theology. The anthropomorphization of inanimate objects has no place in rational debate. It's almost as bad as "think of the children"... but not quite. ;-)
As for state secrets, you want every frequency and codec our military uses? You want the identities of our international operatives and intelligence sources? You want every vulnerability discovered in testing of our fighter craft?
Some information in the wrong hands can (and HAS) killed poeple. Look up the consequences of some of the more famous spy cases in recent years. People *died* when certain information was leaked.
That doesn't explain the obsession.
Is it secretly a desire for a third testicle getting projected?
What's this *we* crap? Some of us *did* see the beginning of the end with ROTJ. So did many critics. I recall one stating that "the toys have taken over the toy shop."
Would you suggest attacking the Vatican and killing the pope if a Catholic committed a terrorist act?
You mean like diddling thousands of little boys and covering it up. OK, I'll consider it. Thanks for the suggestion.
Please don't vote.
Please don't breed.
People who have made a life of studying such things disagree with you.
Harsh? Yeah.
Although exactly where we will have arrived is anybody's guess.
Here you go. It's a bit spendy, but then you have it for all time. Pride of ownership, and all that.
UFO Megaset!
Personally, I heavily dug season 1, but season 2 got a bit silly.