Technological revolutions and the predictions they attracted: the ones that failed, the ones that held, the ones nobody saw coming, and what all of it implies for AI. Underneath them all, a pattern: what a technology makes abundant makes something else scarce. Looking at history is often the best way to predict the future.
Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things. Douglas Adams (via High Scalability – 3 Rules that Describe Our Reactions to Technologies)
Richard Feynman, the Challenger Disaster, and Software Engineering : Gustavo Duarte With respect to software, I take out four main points: Engineering can only be as good as its relationship with management Big design up front is foolish Software has much in common with other engineering disciplines Reliable systems are built by rigorously tested , incremental bottom-up engineering with an ‘attitude of highest quality’
(via Hakiri » Was Huxley right? ) I stumbled upon the following cartoon on twitter. I have read " 1984 " [ George Orwell , 1949] but not " Brave New World " [ Aldous Huxley , 1931 ]. Will be visiting the local library soon. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared taht what we love will ruin us. Further work by Aldous Huxley: Brave New World Revisited (1958) In Brave New World Revisited, he concluded that the world was becoming like Brave New World much faster than he originally thought. ...
Don’t hate, create. Ben Horowitz (in Can-Do vs. Can’t-Do Culture | Re/code )
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“Every Time Technology Changes, It Changes What People in the Plot Can Do.” An Interview With Margaret Atwood Reading and writing has always changed depending on how it was delivered. This is not a new thing. We tend to be “Golden Age” about everything. We imagine a past about things being better, but we’ve forgotten a lot of stuff. People are always scared of new technology. On the first trains, people had nervous breakdowns, because they were going too fast. When the first bicycles came out, people were warned about getting “bicycle face.” ...
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