A Thought-Provoking Video: Happy Friday!

[Jason Dunn]

<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="600" height="494" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jpEnFwiqdx8&amp;ap=%26fmt=18" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600" height="494" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jpEnFwiqdx8&amp;ap=%26fmt=18"></embed></object></p><p>I thought this video was quite thought-provoking, so on this Friday afternoon (where I am at least), I present this to you. Have a great weekend everyone!</p>

[Felix Torres]

Welcome to the 21st century.
Laser weapons are real, flying cars are taking off, and robots are all over.
And the real wonders are just starting to arrive.
If only people would notice...

[Rocco Augusto]

This video made me realize I'm happy I did not live in the 18th century. I can't imagine what it would be like to not have the worlds worth of knowledge available to you via a simple search engine query. :)

[tnels!]

I was looking forward to getting one of Obama's 'shovel-ready-jobs.' Maybe I should be thinking more about a keyboard-ready-job instead? I am so confused!

[tnels!]

I got so excited after seeing this video that I ran over to the first monitor I could find and Googled 'cure for common cold!'

[Felix Torres]

I got so excited after seeing this video that I ran over to the first monitor I could find and Googled 'cure for common cold!'

And you found that one is coming, right?
Molecular biologists have identified a road that can produce a general cold cure possibly within two-five years.
Science News / Sequencing Virus Genome To Cure The Common Cold (http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/40809/title/Sequencing_virus_genome_to_cure_the_common_cold)
Genetic map of cold virus a step toward cure, scientists say - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/12/cold.genome/index.html)

Want a bigger challenge?
How about electric car batteries that can recharge in 5 minutes?
Building a better battery - Cosmic Log - msnbc.com (http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/03/11/1831393.aspx)

The biggest technological miracles are the things we take for granted because they're so pervasive and ingrained into our lives we no longer even notice them, things like instant planet-wide communications, air travel, etc.

Our emerging technological civilization is just starting to bloom; wonders are headed our way we can't even imagine yet. Things that are considered the stuff of SF are far more likelier, and nearer, than most people realize. Stuff like fusion power, constant-thrust spacecraft drives, artificial antibodies...

Another "sign of our times" factoid: there are more genius-level intellects alive now than have existed throughout all of human history. And most of them are properly educated and working at creating the future.

The future is coming, whether we're ready or not.

[Brad Adrian]

Me not understand how Shakespeare not have many words. Me use lots and lots every day.

Actually, the point that struck me as odd was the Moore's Law-ish one stating that half of what a techie learns in school is obsolete by year three. New knowledge does not always REPLACE what we formerly knew, it BUILDS upon it. That's kinda like saying that once the eight-piston engine was invented, all the six-piston engines ceased to exist.

[Brad Adrian]

I can't imagine what it would be like to not have the worlds worth of knowledge available to you via a simple search engine query.
I can.

We called them "libraries."

[Felix Torres]

Me not understand how Shakespeare not have many words. Me use lots and lots every day.

Actually, the point that struck me as odd was the Moore's Law-ish one stating that half of what a techie learns in school is obsolete by year three. New knowledge does not always REPLACE what we formerly knew, it BUILDS upon it. That's kinda like saying that once the eight-piston engine was invented, all the six-piston engines ceased to exist.


1- Shakespeare invented a measurable fraction of the words in the english language. He had concepts and ideas and the words did not exist.

2- You are right that new knowledge doesn't always replace previous knowledge. But the term obsolescence is not about replacing/invalidating but about superceding/expanding. Incomplete knowledge can be superceded without being invalidated. For example, Newton's Laws of motion were superceded by Relativity because relativity better explains the universe we know, but that doesn't mean they stopped being useful in the proper context/framework. All it means is that relativity can "go" places Newton's Laws can't "go".

For a professional, having obsolete training means having incomplete knowledge or knowledge that is no longer as effective/competitive as before.

And yes, that three year rule is about right.

The rule of thumb for engineers has long been that (without regular updating) a fresh-out can count on being competent for about 5 years.
That is why most professions have Journals, seminars, workshops,etc.
Entropy rules and people can become as obsolescent as devices/technologies.
Simple fact of life.

[Brad Adrian]

...the term obsolescence is not about replacing/invalidating but about superceding/expanding.
I didn't bother looking up any definitions of "obsolete," but to me, the word means "no longer valid or useful."

[Felix Torres]

I didn't bother looking up any definitions of "obsolete," but to me, the word means "no longer valid or useful."

But that is context driven, no?
What is obsolete in one application/location is state-of-the-art in another.

In computer tech alone, there are plenty of examples of "obselete" tech that is still very very useful.
It may have been superceded by newer, more advanced technologies, but the old stuff still does what it always did as well as it always did. And occasionally, old obsolete ideas get repurposed to other areas. So that a 1993-vintage Pentium architecture can get refined as an ultra-low power mobile Processor for 2008 called Atom.
Return of the Son of Pentium in 2008? Intel's new ultramobile processors - Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2007/12/return-of-the-son-of-pentium-in-2008-intels-new-ultramobile-processors.ars)

Which is not that odd, the ARM architecture so prevalent in cellphones started out as a desktop computer architecture in the Acorn Arquimedes line way back in 1987.
Acorn Archimedes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Archimedes)

There really is a difference betweeen obsolete and useless.