Pure mathematics does require creativity. If it didn't it could all be done by computer. But some times coming up with, say, an utterly logical, but new, proof requires a degree of inspiration that most people don't ever experience. I sometimes wish I had the attention span and discipline do be creative in that way.
But then you would have to learn the diagnostic tools. And my point, although presented in a rather snide and sarcastic tone, was that most people (and I'm not talking techies here) would choose a car that "doesn't need service for the first 10,000 miles", as some new cars are advertised, over one that "is so easy to service you can do it yourself". Even if that means that, yes, they have to take a trip to the mechanic just to figure out that their tire pressure is low.
I guess what is really important is the perception of ease or difficulty. Which gets back to the point of the article. Tech is perceived to be difficult.
And keep in mind that the shuttle was accelerating toward the foam at what was probably several G's. Two seconds after those things start moving they are going very, very fast.
Real gear heads tear out fuel injection systems and put in carburetors. Only sissies want modern conveniences like a car that doesn't need weekly adjustments.
But seriously, look at the auto industry. To sell more and more cars, the cars get easier and easier to keep going. People have to understand less and less about them. To sell more computers and other high tech devices they need to be made easier and easier to use. If you just want to sell to geeks, load up on the jargon, but if you want everybody in the world to buy one (or two) of your gadgets you have to make it really easy.
Take my mom as an example. She wouldn't drive if she was responsible understanding carburetors enough to adjust them. But she has fuel injection, so she does drive. Likewise, she doesn't use her digital camera much because she hates worrying about usb ports and whatnot.
True there will always be people that take a concept to the extreme. But I think the thrust of the article was that the multibillion dollar gaming industry is not creating more and more people who sit in dark rooms in an unbathed state eating junk food and playing games.
The stereotype came about when the percentage of the unbathed was much higher. And a bigger industry does not necessarily mean a bigger number of unbathed gamers. So what might have been the truth in say, the late 80's is not true anymore.
Also, as long as people are still allowed to decide what runs on their own computer you will have to convince them that they should help you with your distributed computing task.
SETI@Home worked so well because people want to know the answer. People are interested in the results. If you tried to do a distributed apple browning application nobody would download it.
Well I guess I'm not submitting anything then (I knew I shouldn't have moved to Tennessee). I guess you all will have to deal with sub standard shirts.
Peace in the middle east will cost millions, but only because anything involving washington costs millions. But you are right. Peace in the middle east will stop encouraging so many people to try and do 9-11 type things. This system will only stop one type of attack. It is a small subset of all the ways people can attack other people.
It is typical for Americans to try and solve problems by dealing with the symptoms, not the cause. See Western Medicine (Dr: Oh, you're sad, here's some pills to cover that up), war on drugs (Judge: Oh, you like drugs. You go to jail we can keep you away from them (like that even works)), etcetera, etcetera.
That sounds about right. But for me, the more I see a commercial the lower the chance becomes that I will buy what it is advertising, regardless of the quality of the commercial. Show the funniest commercial ever during every break for two nights in a row and bam! you're outta there.
I guess I'll throw away the new phone I just got. It works fine, but I can't live with out this thing. It'll be my fourth phone in three months but they just keep coming up with so many essential innovations that I must have. I am a robot.
If we had access to a plethora of medical information, perhaps we could do some data mining and identify some patterns that would benifit us more than we can imagine.
Good point. There are plenty of good uses for having loads of information about everything. But there are loads of bad uses too. The question is this: can we trust everyone who would have access to this information to use it in a beneficial, or at least non-harmful, way?
Call me a pessimist but with the big dubbya hanging around I'm less than convinced that providing more tools to mr. ashcroft is a Good Idea.
Re:Slacker friends' education
on
RFID Explained
·
· Score: 1
Well said. I'm sure that if I tried to explain RFID tags to anyone I know that isn't 'up' on them already, I would just get a puzzled look and a "Uuuah?" back in return.
Most people's moms that I know (most non computer people for that matter) don't know what a text file is. Sad maybe, but true.
me: Hey Random Joe, write this in a text file for me.
rj: You mean word?
me: No, I mean... Errr. A notepad file.
rj: What's notepad.
me(exhausted): Start->Program Files->Accessories->Notepad
I was renting VHS tapes mail order in 1994. I paid by the tape, not a subscription fee. Call me crazy, but I don't see that as a fundamental difference.
Personally I think that if your business model is to not have competition then your business model is pretty poor. You are not entitled to special privileges just because you have a good idea. If you were then most of us here would be rich. You have to be a good business person, and work, and have connections.
I guess connections in the patent office count though, so goooooaaaaaaaal to netflix.
...doesn't a publicly funded institution have a responsibility to protect children from offensive and degrading material?
It's a good question. My gut response is to say. No. No they don't have a responsibility to protect anyone from offensive and degrading material, because those are value judments. And one of my least favorite things is to see one group trying to force another group to think in a specific way.
I proabably wouldn't want my theoretical 8 year old looking at bukake porn on the internet. But as a theoretical parent it is my responsiblity to help him make the right choice. I don't want to raise a kid that blindly does what he's told, because he's used to not having any other options. I want my kid to think for himself. If that means I have to risk him seeing the occational butt sex site, so be it.
I was exposed to porn at a young age. And I didn't grow up to stalk around playgrounds trying to lure japanese school girls back to my hidden sex lair.
I think Jimmy said it best when he said: I mean... Come on.
Great. I hope they include features like having to wait in line at the county clerks office for 4 hours, and having to spend three days trying to get your future fax machine to send a copy of a voided check to a busy fax number.
Because I really want the opportunity to do all the things I do all day at home, at night, but with better visuals. Oh, and instead of getting paid for it, I want to pay for the privilege.
Slashdot Mirror
The other secret of their success is not paying their staff a living wage.
Pure mathematics does require creativity. If it didn't it could all be done by computer. But some times coming up with, say, an utterly logical, but new, proof requires a degree of inspiration that most people don't ever experience. I sometimes wish I had the attention span and discipline do be creative in that way.
But then you would have to learn the diagnostic tools. And my point, although presented in a rather snide and sarcastic tone, was that most people (and I'm not talking techies here) would choose a car that "doesn't need service for the first 10,000 miles", as some new cars are advertised, over one that "is so easy to service you can do it yourself". Even if that means that, yes, they have to take a trip to the mechanic just to figure out that their tire pressure is low.
I guess what is really important is the perception of ease or difficulty. Which gets back to the point of the article. Tech is perceived to be difficult.
And keep in mind that the shuttle was accelerating toward the foam at what was probably several G's. Two seconds after those things start moving they are going very, very fast.
Thanks. I have been translating that wrong since wolfenstien 3d. It has become somewhat of a joke.
True, but I was joking.
Well that's your problem right there. haha.
note: I'm speaking from memphis.
Real gear heads tear out fuel injection systems and put in carburetors. Only sissies want modern conveniences like a car that doesn't need weekly adjustments.
But seriously, look at the auto industry. To sell more and more cars, the cars get easier and easier to keep going. People have to understand less and less about them. To sell more computers and other high tech devices they need to be made easier and easier to use. If you just want to sell to geeks, load up on the jargon, but if you want everybody in the world to buy one (or two) of your gadgets you have to make it really easy.
Take my mom as an example. She wouldn't drive if she was responsible understanding carburetors enough to adjust them. But she has fuel injection, so she does drive. Likewise, she doesn't use her digital camera much because she hates worrying about usb ports and whatnot.
True there will always be people that take a concept to the extreme. But I think the thrust of the article was that the multibillion dollar gaming industry is not creating more and more people who sit in dark rooms in an unbathed state eating junk food and playing games.
The stereotype came about when the percentage of the unbathed was much higher. And a bigger industry does not necessarily mean a bigger number of unbathed gamers. So what might have been the truth in say, the late 80's is not true anymore.
Also, as long as people are still allowed to decide what runs on their own computer you will have to convince them that they should help you with your distributed computing task.
SETI@Home worked so well because people want to know the answer. People are interested in the results. If you tried to do a distributed apple browning application nobody would download it.
Well I guess I'm not submitting anything then (I knew I shouldn't have moved to Tennessee). I guess you all will have to deal with sub standard shirts.
Peace in the middle east will cost millions, but only because anything involving washington costs millions. But you are right. Peace in the middle east will stop encouraging so many people to try and do 9-11 type things. This system will only stop one type of attack. It is a small subset of all the ways people can attack other people.
It is typical for Americans to try and solve problems by dealing with the symptoms, not the cause. See Western Medicine (Dr: Oh, you're sad, here's some pills to cover that up), war on drugs (Judge: Oh, you like drugs. You go to jail we can keep you away from them (like that even works)), etcetera, etcetera.
That sounds about right. But for me, the more I see a commercial the lower the chance becomes that I will buy what it is advertising, regardless of the quality of the commercial. Show the funniest commercial ever during every break for two nights in a row and bam! you're outta there.
That's what the mute button is for.
I guess I'll throw away the new phone I just got. It works fine, but I can't live with out this thing. It'll be my fourth phone in three months but they just keep coming up with so many essential innovations that I must have. I am a robot.
From the article: The radiation dosage is about the same as sunshine, Hallowell said.
If we had access to a plethora of medical information, perhaps we could do some data mining and identify some patterns that would benifit us more than we can imagine.
Good point. There are plenty of good uses for having loads of information about everything. But there are loads of bad uses too. The question is this: can we trust everyone who would have access to this information to use it in a beneficial, or at least non-harmful, way?
Call me a pessimist but with the big dubbya hanging around I'm less than convinced that providing more tools to mr. ashcroft is a Good Idea.
Well said. I'm sure that if I tried to explain RFID tags to anyone I know that isn't 'up' on them already, I would just get a puzzled look and a "Uuuah?" back in return.
This is why I no longer work for the Flaming Asshole (we all called it that, I mean look at the logo).
Most people's moms that I know (most non computer people for that matter) don't know what a text file is. Sad maybe, but true.
me: Hey Random Joe, write this in a text file for me.
rj: You mean word?
me: No, I mean... Errr. A notepad file.
rj: What's notepad.
me(exhausted): Start->Program Files->Accessories->Notepad
I was renting VHS tapes mail order in 1994. I paid by the tape, not a subscription fee. Call me crazy, but I don't see that as a fundamental difference.
Personally I think that if your business model is to not have competition then your business model is pretty poor. You are not entitled to special privileges just because you have a good idea. If you were then most of us here would be rich. You have to be a good business person, and work, and have connections.
I guess connections in the patent office count though, so goooooaaaaaaaal to netflix.
It's a good question. My gut response is to say. No. No they don't have a responsibility to protect anyone from offensive and degrading material, because those are value judments. And one of my least favorite things is to see one group trying to force another group to think in a specific way.
I proabably wouldn't want my theoretical 8 year old looking at bukake porn on the internet. But as a theoretical parent it is my responsiblity to help him make the right choice. I don't want to raise a kid that blindly does what he's told, because he's used to not having any other options. I want my kid to think for himself. If that means I have to risk him seeing the occational butt sex site, so be it.
I was exposed to porn at a young age. And I didn't grow up to stalk around playgrounds trying to lure japanese school girls back to my hidden sex lair.
I think Jimmy said it best when he said:
I mean... Come on.
Damn conservation of momentum. Who passed that stupid law anyway. Conflarnit. -NASA MXER Project Director
I don't care who does it, I'm going. If I have to have a little red book in my pocket the whole time, so be it.
I would also be interested in trying to eat pot stickers through a straw.
Great. I hope they include features like having to wait in line at the county clerks office for 4 hours, and having to spend three days trying to get your future fax machine to send a copy of a voided check to a busy fax number.
Because I really want the opportunity to do all the things I do all day at home, at night, but with better visuals. Oh, and instead of getting paid for it, I want to pay for the privilege.