Why shouldn't he be bitter? When we were young, we were promised flying cars and jet packs. We were told we would have moon bases in the 1970s, and by 2000 colonists would be heading for Europa. Yet decades later, here we are, still washing the dishes with no robotic maid in sight.
Alan Kay is 77 years old, and in the twilight of his life. He has worked hard, paid his taxes, and followed the rules. Yet not only does he have no flying car, he can't even get a proper answer to a fricken query!!! Damn right he is bitter.
If he knows how to build a better search engine than Google, then form a company and kick Google's ass.
He would have to duplicate Google's index, which would cost $Bs, which he doesn't have. The days when an upstart can enter the search business may be over.
Or, go to work for Bing.
Microsoft may hire him, but they aren't going to put him in charge of strategic decision making.
Wasn't question answering supposed to be wolframalpha's forte?
Just start an H1B program to bring in "highly educated workers" to fill the gap.
Canada has equivalent visa programs. In general, it is easier for skilled foreigners to go to Canada than to America. It is also easier for foreign students to stay and work after graduation.
Yes. TFA is just stating the obvious: AI is based on technology, and not magic. Deep learning is pattern recognition and statistical classification. Real life isn't like the movies. Duh.
but I think they'll be lucky to get 1/4 of the promised jobs after handing over lots of money.
It doesn't work that way. This deal is stupid, but it is not THAT stupid. No money is "handed over". The subsidies are tax breaks, and if the jobs aren't created as promised, then the tax breaks are voided.
Most economists believe that these "deals" don't create jobs. They just shift jobs into subsidized sectors, with counter balancing job losses in the businesses stuck with higher taxes.
If governments were good at "picking winners", the Soviet Union would have won the Cold War.
Sure, and hot weather is caused by an increase in temperatures.
OF COURSE diets changed. But why did they change? A small bump of 5% or 10% might be explained away as "advertising for junk food" or "more video games". But we saw a 200% increase, a TRIPLING of obesity. That is a profound and extreme change in food consumption and metabolism. Why? If it was really something simplistic like "video games", then there would be huge amounts of data to confirm that. So far no one has even been able to show a correlation between video game use and obesity, and certainly not any causation.
Here is a summary article about video games and obesity, including both observation studies and controlled experiments. They found NO evidence to support the hypothesis that video games, or watching TV, cause obesity.
Junk food is not a new phenomena. There was plenty of it 35 years ago.
Good food has gotten so expensive
Food has gone down in price over the last 35 years, and basic staples are less expensive than junk food. Oatmeal is way cheaper than potato chips. Carrots are cheaper than pretzels. Tap water is more affordable than soda.
There are a lot of dumb explanations for the obesity epidemic, but the argument that people "had to get fat" out of economic necessity is the most ridiculous.
Modern Web Browsers have Popup blockers that block standard HTML popups, giving indication that a popup was blocked, with options to create an exception.
That works well. I get popup alerts from my bank, letting me know my session is about to expire, but only because I have specifically enabled those. I never see unexpected popups from other sites.
However they still seem to allow popups created by other means (JavaScript, HTML5, etc).
Those are not real popups. They don't appear in a separate window, they have no ability to grab the focus from other tabs, and they are easy to ignore.
Urbanization hasn't changed near enough in the last 35 years to account for a TRIPLING of obesity rates, even if it was correlated with obesity (it isn't).
Rural people are most likely to be obese. Urban people are least likely to be obese. Suburban people are in the middle.
Maybe because we're less active than we used to be?
So what has caused hundreds of millions of people to become much less active? Cars ownership did not significantly change. There were no profound shifts to less labor intensive jobs. How do you explain such a massive shift in metabolism and behavior, other than just pointing out that it happened?
Yet obesity has gone up most among poor people who are least likely to be able to afford these things. Obesity has gone up the most among African-American females, the demographic least likely to own a computer or play video games. Obesity has gone up as much in Mexico as it has in America, yet all of these things you listed are less common there.
Consumption of carbohydrates as a proportion of total calories has not increased over the last 35 years.
That simple.
Simple, yet wrong.
The reasons why kids are being inactive today versus 30 years ago are the interactive video systems
If video games really were the root cause of hundreds of millions of cases of obesity, there would be plenty of evidence. Can you cite any? Boys play more video games than girls, yet girls have higher obesity rates.
Eating much more food than a body needs causes obesity.
Of course eating too much causes obesity, but dismissing a serious problem with an vacuous inanity isn't constructive.
What causes people to eat too much? More importantly, what has caused the problem to TRIPLE? Why did the problem become much much worse over the last 35 years?
Every proposed cause is either something that already existed 35 years ago (soda, sedentary lifestyle), or isn't actually correlated with obesity (fructose).
Is there evidence that any of these residual plastic bits that get through the water filters are actually harmful?
Obesity in children has tripled over the last 35 years, and we have NO IDEA what is causing this. Fingers have been pointed at HFCS, but there is no known causative correlation, and countries with low fructose consumption have seen the same climb in obesity. People have also blamed "inactivity", but that is just circular logic. Why have people become less active? Things like "larger portion sizes" may explain a 5-10% rise, but not 200%.
So does plastics, pseudo-estrogens, and other gunk in our diet have something to do with it? Maybe, or maybe not, but scientists have been wildly wrong before about what constitutes a healthy diet, and we are missing something that is having a really big effect on people's lives.
I think anyone allowing Kleiner Perkins to get their claws into them is the bonehead.
Perhaps. But if you ever want to do an IPO, issue stock options, sell corporate bonds, or even take out a sizable bank loan, then the process will be faster and cheaper for a Delaware corp.
Slashdot Mirror
They all pop in a new window and they're all annoying.
I don't believe you. Can you provide a link to a page that does this?
I use Chrome. I NEVER see a popup in a new window except for the one site (my bank) where I have explicitly enabled it.
How many jobs in other sectors will be created to support this factory?
About the same number that would have supported the unsubsidized jobs that this program is replacing. So a net of approximately zero.
The fund that supported Tesla, among others, actually turned a decent profit.
Some people win money in casinos. But like government subsidy schemes, most lose money.
Anyway, Tesla was not subsidized for "jobs", but for bootstrapping new technology.
you sound bitter, sweet tits
Why shouldn't he be bitter? When we were young, we were promised flying cars and jet packs. We were told we would have moon bases in the 1970s, and by 2000 colonists would be heading for Europa. Yet decades later, here we are, still washing the dishes with no robotic maid in sight.
Alan Kay is 77 years old, and in the twilight of his life. He has worked hard, paid his taxes, and followed the rules. Yet not only does he have no flying car, he can't even get a proper answer to a fricken query!!! Damn right he is bitter.
If he knows how to build a better search engine than Google, then form a company and kick Google's ass.
He would have to duplicate Google's index, which would cost $Bs, which he doesn't have. The days when an upstart can enter the search business may be over.
Or, go to work for Bing.
Microsoft may hire him, but they aren't going to put him in charge of strategic decision making.
Wasn't question answering supposed to be wolframalpha's forte?
Alpha sucks because it has a shallow index.
Back when only 1% of the population was literate, pens/quills were used for proper 'creative purposes'.
Or maybe it just seems that way because they kept the creative stuff, and tossed the grocery lists in the trash.
Just start an H1B program to bring in "highly educated workers" to fill the gap.
Canada has equivalent visa programs. In general, it is easier for skilled foreigners to go to Canada than to America. It is also easier for foreign students to stay and work after graduation.
Doesn't everyone here already know this?
Yes. TFA is just stating the obvious: AI is based on technology, and not magic. Deep learning is pattern recognition and statistical classification. Real life isn't like the movies. Duh.
but I think they'll be lucky to get 1/4 of the promised jobs after handing over lots of money.
It doesn't work that way. This deal is stupid, but it is not THAT stupid. No money is "handed over". The subsidies are tax breaks, and if the jobs aren't created as promised, then the tax breaks are voided.
What's 3 billion dollars divided by 13,000?
$230,769.23 per job.
Most economists believe that these "deals" don't create jobs. They just shift jobs into subsidized sectors, with counter balancing job losses in the businesses stuck with higher taxes.
If governments were good at "picking winners", the Soviet Union would have won the Cold War.
Scott Walker doesn't want pay teachers a living wage
The average teacher salary in Wisconsin is $53k. That is above the average salary/wage for Wisconsin, and certainly enough to live on.
1. Abundant tasty foods.
Food was just as abundant and tasty 35 years ago.
In the past, bad parents had hungry kids. Now almost no one ever goes hungry
Hunger in America was not more common 35 years ago.
Does anyone actually take the time to help a kid be less fat?
Do you really think that childhood obesity tripled because of a vast decline in helpful people?
Dietary changes.
Sure, and hot weather is caused by an increase in temperatures.
OF COURSE diets changed. But why did they change? A small bump of 5% or 10% might be explained away as "advertising for junk food" or "more video games". But we saw a 200% increase, a TRIPLING of obesity. That is a profound and extreme change in food consumption and metabolism. Why? If it was really something simplistic like "video games", then there would be huge amounts of data to confirm that. So far no one has even been able to show a correlation between video game use and obesity, and certainly not any causation.
Here is a summary article about video games and obesity, including both observation studies and controlled experiments. They found NO evidence to support the hypothesis that video games, or watching TV, cause obesity.
Its cheap calories in the form of junk food.
Junk food is not a new phenomena. There was plenty of it 35 years ago.
Good food has gotten so expensive
Food has gone down in price over the last 35 years, and basic staples are less expensive than junk food. Oatmeal is way cheaper than potato chips. Carrots are cheaper than pretzels. Tap water is more affordable than soda.
There are a lot of dumb explanations for the obesity epidemic, but the argument that people "had to get fat" out of economic necessity is the most ridiculous.
Lots of innocent people get arrested. Only guilty people have incriminating evidence on their phone, by definition.
Go watch this video: Don't talk to the Police. He gives several real world examples of how innocent people went to prison for telling the truth.
You're welcome for the US blanket of protection you live under.
Please provide a list of countries that would attack Canada if not for American protection.
Some factoids to help you prepare your list:
Canada's GDP: 1.53 T USD
Russia's GDP: 1.28 T USD
Modern Web Browsers have Popup blockers that block standard HTML popups, giving indication that a popup was blocked, with options to create an exception.
That works well. I get popup alerts from my bank, letting me know my session is about to expire, but only because I have specifically enabled those. I never see unexpected popups from other sites.
However they still seem to allow popups created by other means (JavaScript, HTML5, etc).
Those are not real popups. They don't appear in a separate window, they have no ability to grab the focus from other tabs, and they are easy to ignore.
Urbanization?
Urbanization hasn't changed near enough in the last 35 years to account for a TRIPLING of obesity rates, even if it was correlated with obesity (it isn't).
Rural people are most likely to be obese.
Urban people are least likely to be obese.
Suburban people are in the middle.
I'm surprised that SF to LA is not there
California has already made a massive political and financial commitment to building a conventional high speed rail from SF to LA.
Maybe because we're less active than we used to be?
So what has caused hundreds of millions of people to become much less active? Cars ownership did not significantly change. There were no profound shifts to less labor intensive jobs. How do you explain such a massive shift in metabolism and behavior, other than just pointing out that it happened?
Computers, video games, cable TV, internet, etc.
Yet obesity has gone up most among poor people who are least likely to be able to afford these things. Obesity has gone up the most among African-American females, the demographic least likely to own a computer or play video games. Obesity has gone up as much in Mexico as it has in America, yet all of these things you listed are less common there.
Inactivity and massive amounts of carbohydrates.
Consumption of carbohydrates as a proportion of total calories has not increased over the last 35 years.
That simple.
Simple, yet wrong.
The reasons why kids are being inactive today versus 30 years ago are the interactive video systems
If video games really were the root cause of hundreds of millions of cases of obesity, there would be plenty of evidence. Can you cite any? Boys play more video games than girls, yet girls have higher obesity rates.
Eating much more food than a body needs causes obesity.
Of course eating too much causes obesity, but dismissing a serious problem with an vacuous inanity isn't constructive.
What causes people to eat too much? More importantly, what has caused the problem to TRIPLE? Why did the problem become much much worse over the last 35 years?
Every proposed cause is either something that already existed 35 years ago (soda, sedentary lifestyle), or isn't actually correlated with obesity (fructose).
Is there evidence that any of these residual plastic bits that get through the water filters are actually harmful?
Obesity in children has tripled over the last 35 years, and we have NO IDEA what is causing this. Fingers have been pointed at HFCS, but there is no known causative correlation, and countries with low fructose consumption have seen the same climb in obesity. People have also blamed "inactivity", but that is just circular logic. Why have people become less active? Things like "larger portion sizes" may explain a 5-10% rise, but not 200%.
So does plastics, pseudo-estrogens, and other gunk in our diet have something to do with it? Maybe, or maybe not, but scientists have been wildly wrong before about what constitutes a healthy diet, and we are missing something that is having a really big effect on people's lives.
I think anyone allowing Kleiner Perkins to get their claws into them is the bonehead.
Perhaps. But if you ever want to do an IPO, issue stock options, sell corporate bonds, or even take out a sizable bank loan, then the process will be faster and cheaper for a Delaware corp.
If other people need protection from the police, they'll be buying something else.
Except that many people don't realize they need protection until they are already in handcuffs. Then it is too late.
Do you really believe that "Only guilty people get arrested"?