The 'What the fuck!' thread

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by glatt

I don't know about that.

I'm pretty amazed at what my cell phone can do.
Video phone calls. Streaming videos to my TV. Asking it questions verbally
and getting the answers spoken back to me. Dictating emails and web posts.
And it's a computer that comes with me wherever I go.

Just how often should we expect a huge new advance? We didn't have any of that in one package two years ago.

But that is exactly what I mean by "only tinkering around the edges"

What is "creative" among those functions ?
Aren't they just applications of technologies that have been around for a while ?
Smaller and faster are only advances or twisting of existing technologies.

I agree, we should not expect huge new advances on a regular basis.
But technical areas (fields of endeavor) do grow, mature, and become resistant to further change.
Progress becomes stepwise, and human activities follow along with the current state of technology.

IMO, on the other hand, creativity brings about something new in human activities or understanding, and changes the future.
For example, Pascal's concept leading to a hydraulic circuit to run heavy machinery
was more than just a stepwise technical advance... it was a new concept.
And was an early demonstration of the value of basic research !

Likewise for things such GPS and DNA and even concepts such as "corporations" or "intelligence".

Again in my opinion... creativity in the areas of computers
and smart phones is nearing the status of cement.
All that is left seems to be financial exploitation.

[glatt]

All a computer can do is move 1s and 0s around. That's what a computer is.

If you're looking for a new invention that can physically do something, you need to be looking at something other than computers. Computers will control the device, but the computer will still just be moving 1s and 0s around.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by glatt

All a computer can do is move 1s and 0s around. That's what a computer is.

If you're looking for a new invention that can physically do something,
you need to be looking at something other than computers.
Computers will control the device, but the computer will still just be moving 1s and 0s around.

Sorry Glatt. We seem to be speaking to different issues.

In the last part of Dana's video, Tim Berners-Lee is speaking to the concept of "creativity"
and saying that it does not come by starting at the technical level.
Instead, it comes from those ideas that change human endeavors.
He more or less says to his audience that to be "creative",
they need to start with new ideas that change human behavior.

Obviously, the internet (web) did that...
and FaceBook, tho it was not so intended, also has done that.
Also, Visicalc->Excel was another example of creative software that made such a change.
But now (IMO) adding voice recognition or streaming videos to the TV set... not so much.

For a while, Google was on that path by creating applications
that changed our access to information (search / maps / shopping / translations, etc.)
but now they are going in different directions (i.e., gathering $),
and they do recognize that the creativity of their work force is diminishing.
So they are constructing a whole new complex of buildings they hope will "foster creativity".

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Sorry Glatt. We seem to be speaking to different issues.

Yeah. I didn't watch the video, so that's probably it. I still don't really understand what you're talking about. Those things you cite as significant steps look just as incremental to me as what's been happening with smart phones in the last 2 years. I think Google maps are very cool, but paper maps with notations existed before Google maps. Google just linked up more stuff to the maps than was possible before.

[Pete Zicato]

I might be beating a dead horse, but I want to make sure it's clear. The World Wide Web protocol was indeed invented by Berners-Lee. But the WWW is not the Internet. It is one of many protocols that run on/through the Internet.

[Pete Zicato]

There's lots of room left for creativity in the area of computers and the Internet. There are infinite possibilities. We just need to think of interesting things for them to do.

But that's the hard part. If it were easy, we'd still be in the dot com bubble.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The creative push these days is in M2M (machine to machine) communication and interaction.

[DanaC]

Naw man....rat brains. That's where the future is at...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...re-information

[xoxoxoBruce]

That's a waste. What do rats communicate to each other, the weather?

[Sundae]

They might be good on toast...?

[ZenGum]

The Rat-Brains can fetch the gold!

[Griff]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

That's a waste. What do rats communicate to each other, the weather?

Mostly politics.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Touche!

[Gravdigr]

Facebook...You're doing it wrong.

[bigw00dy]

depr