My brother in law sent me this, I think it poses as many questions as it does answers, however it is non the less something that people have to consider.
B.E.
B.E.
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Keeping ahead of the obsolescence curve
- Thread starter berkshire
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DaveVikingPE
Structural
So there are 106 million people wasting their time on myspace.
Nintendo spends more on research than the US overnment? Heck, there's a lot of money in supplying games to gamers...
150 million telephone calls every second? What is it all these people are talking to each other about?
3,000 books published every day? Who is reading these? Are they any good? Who is paying for them? does that mean that 3,000 peer reviews happened prior to the books being published?
And a week's worth of New York Times contains more information than someone got in a month in what, 1810? Big deal.
WHAT'S IT ALL MEAN???
It means this: without fancy laptops that cost only $100, men landed on the moon and broadcast sound and images back to earth. We haven't improved on that in nearly 40 years. All the predictions of hotels in space by 2001 didn't come true and are bascially a joke. Isn't that amazing?
Shift happens... but so what? Who has all this time to play on their Nintendo systems? Doesn't anyone care that it takes a lot of natural resources to make them fancy Playstations?
...and how come Bill Gates just doesn't BUY everyone a laptop?
Nintendo spends more on research than the US overnment? Heck, there's a lot of money in supplying games to gamers...
150 million telephone calls every second? What is it all these people are talking to each other about?
3,000 books published every day? Who is reading these? Are they any good? Who is paying for them? does that mean that 3,000 peer reviews happened prior to the books being published?
And a week's worth of New York Times contains more information than someone got in a month in what, 1810? Big deal.
WHAT'S IT ALL MEAN???
It means this: without fancy laptops that cost only $100, men landed on the moon and broadcast sound and images back to earth. We haven't improved on that in nearly 40 years. All the predictions of hotels in space by 2001 didn't come true and are bascially a joke. Isn't that amazing?
Shift happens... but so what? Who has all this time to play on their Nintendo systems? Doesn't anyone care that it takes a lot of natural resources to make them fancy Playstations?
...and how come Bill Gates just doesn't BUY everyone a laptop?
China and India have more smart kids than the US has kids. The US has more smart kids than New York City has kids. So NYC is doomed? So what - exactly!
By the way, it's the 21st century and we STILL don't have a machine that can iron shirts. What has mankind been doing all the time?
By the way, it's the 21st century and we STILL don't have a machine that can iron shirts. What has mankind been doing all the time?
I found the movie thought provoking. I found myself wondering what the consequences of all that information are. I wonder if it means there will be more and more stress at work (seems likely) and whether the demand for mental help (therapy) will increase exponentially. Also it means that our efforts will no longer be spent trying to find data but rather in decided what data is relevant in the vast surplus we will be faced with.
P.S. Actually there are two machines that can "iron" shirts, Siemens makes one and Electrolux developed another (I know because friends of mine developed it). They don't actually iron but they do use moist air to remove all the wrinkles automatically.
There is not any memory with less satisfaction than the memory of some temptation we resisted.
- James Branch Cabell
P.S. Actually there are two machines that can "iron" shirts, Siemens makes one and Electrolux developed another (I know because friends of mine developed it). They don't actually iron but they do use moist air to remove all the wrinkles automatically.
There is not any memory with less satisfaction than the memory of some temptation we resisted.
- James Branch Cabell
It's interesting, some is just hooey. These letters I'm writing are "bits of information" but that doesn't mean they're significant in any way. We had computers 40 years ago that could exceed the capabilities of the human brain when it came to actual computation.
It's interesting too, to look back at predictions made a 100 or 50 years ago and see how wrong they were about the future.
It's interesting too, to look back at predictions made a 100 or 50 years ago and see how wrong they were about the future.
I have seen a variation of this several years ago, with different dates listed in it.
Chris
SolidWorks 06 5.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 01-18-07)
Chris
SolidWorks 06 5.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 01-18-07)
- Thread starter
- #9
"Presentation is everything" as they say...startling facts about the future along with statements that there are more people in China and India than in the US....all of it accompanied by ominous music.
This presentation is designed to elicit an emotional response...but falls short of supporting the claims it implies. For example, it states that the top 25% of Chinese IQs exceed the population of the US. You'll note that it does not say what that median IQ score is? So, all they are really saying is that there are more than 4 times as many Chinese as Americans...is that a problem?
What? you think you're some kind of Jedi playing all that ominous music like that?....emotional mind-tricks don't work on me....only data.... (to paraphrase).
--
Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds
-- Albert Einstein
This presentation is designed to elicit an emotional response...but falls short of supporting the claims it implies. For example, it states that the top 25% of Chinese IQs exceed the population of the US. You'll note that it does not say what that median IQ score is? So, all they are really saying is that there are more than 4 times as many Chinese as Americans...is that a problem?
What? you think you're some kind of Jedi playing all that ominous music like that?....emotional mind-tricks don't work on me....only data.... (to paraphrase).
--
Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds
-- Albert Einstein
A very interesting slide show, but I must say regarding china becoming the worlds largest english speaking population:
My sister lives in china, and she struggles to find people who speak english.
I believe that India currently has the worlds largest population of english speakers - I dont see that causing major problems at the moment.
Chinas population works both ways, they produce more goods but they also need more goods.
My sister lives in china, and she struggles to find people who speak english.
I believe that India currently has the worlds largest population of english speakers - I dont see that causing major problems at the moment.
Chinas population works both ways, they produce more goods but they also need more goods.
flamby
Structural
- Feb 12, 2002
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We in India have some smart ones and some equally stupid ones. The stupid one keep the smart ones doing smart things and they succeed, as you would expect.
We have more dumb people than population of US. So you see this argumant is going nowhere.
Ciao.
We have more dumb people than population of US. So you see this argumant is going nowhere.
Ciao.
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