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Jeri Ellsworth and the Robot Uprising of 2038

blog.robertelder.org

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Re: Jeri Ellsworth and the Robot Uprising of 2038

#21

Post by Dangeranger »

platz wrote: post #16

What makes core memory resistant to EMP? Wouldn't the pulse change the polarizations stored in the iron cores? > The highly irradiated port-war landscape will be unable to make use of standard silicon computer memory for centuries to come. So we really couldn't use any silicon that was hit to make new semiconductors?

The author’s argument is that a highly irradiated landscape would be too energetic for silicon based memory to work as it’s now designed. I’m not an EE but I’ve spoken with some engineers of early silicon systems which had to account for high energy cosmic rays flipping the bits within RAM in a random fashion. My guess is that using a solution like Hamming codes would not work when retrieving arbitrary data at a large scale.

Re: Jeri Ellsworth and the Robot Uprising of 2038

#22

Post by edoo »

platz wrote: post #8
thesimp wrote: post #6

I have a bit more positive look on the future: Jan-2038 is just before my retirement. I can make some money with old computer knowledge while the post-post millennial generation does not even know what the inside of an old operating system looks like.

Your old computer knowledge will be about the same worth as what income that can be generated today having extensive knowledge of Multi-User Dungeon forum software.

MUDs were advanced data processing systems. As a kid I wrapped my head around one with a 100k line code base. That has led to quite a successful career and I still use a lot of the same techniques I learned.

Re: Jeri Ellsworth and the Robot Uprising of 2038

#24

Post by zrobotics »

tomrod wrote: post #19

I found a new person to follow! From this blogpost and her wikipedia page I'm impressed. I wonder though -- is the fear of the Robot Uprising of 2038 founded, to her, or is that applied drama by the blog author?

I don't know her personally, but I've followed her for a while and I've never heard her mention anything of the sort. Also, the author didn't mention anything about her work with augmented reality, I guess it didn't fit the narrative. To be fair though, I only read the first 1/4 and skimmed the rest b/c I couldn't stand the robot uprising slant. Can't she just like cool old tech without being a cyberpunk pepper?

If you're interested, she has done some excellent interviews on the amp hour podcast. The episode referencing her semiconductor making experiments: https://theamphour.com/the-amp-hour-52-carnassial-chip-chemi... All episodes: https://theamphour.com/?s=jeri

(edit: copy/paste error)

Re: Jeri Ellsworth and the Robot Uprising of 2038

#25

Post by platz »

edoo wrote: post #22
platz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your old computer knowledge will be about the same worth as what income that can be generated today having extensive knowledge of Multi-User Dungeon forum software.

MUDs were advanced data processing systems. As a kid I wrapped my head around one with a 100k line code base. That has led to quite a successful career and I still use a lot of the same techniques I learned.

That's cool, yeah. Must've seen some interesting coding practices in that code base

Re: Jeri Ellsworth and the Robot Uprising of 2038

#27

Post by edoo »

platz wrote: post #25
edoo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MUDs were advanced data processing systems. As a kid I wrapped my head around one with a 100k line code base. That has led to quite a successful career and I still use a lot of the same techniques I learned.

That's cool, yeah. Must've seen some interesting coding practices in that code base

https://github.com/smaugmuds/_smaug_/tree/master/src

I still do C so it isn't so far removed.

Re: Jeri Ellsworth and the Robot Uprising of 2038

#28

Post by njharman »

tw1010 wrote: post #11
sebringj wrote: post #5

Crazy genius. This is an example of someone born to do something.

I know that's just supposed to be a complement, but sometimes that kind of a comment contributes to people thinking there's such a thing as a "math person" (or a "non math person"). Having comments like that thrown around in the aether makes it seem like technical subjects have "you either have it or you don't" characteristics, which I think most people on HN know is BS. I prefer to emphasize hard work over any kind…

That is how people are. We are not identical, interchangeable cogs.

Most people can be trained to do simple things in most any field. But brilliance is innate. Its not learnt and can't be made through hard work. Some people have analytical minds some don't.

Re: Jeri Ellsworth and the Robot Uprising of 2038

#29

Post by sebringj »

tw1010 wrote: post #11
sebringj wrote: post #5

Crazy genius. This is an example of someone born to do something.

I know that's just supposed to be a complement, but sometimes that kind of a comment contributes to people thinking there's such a thing as a "math person" (or a "non math person"). Having comments like that thrown around in the aether makes it seem like technical subjects have "you either have it or you don't" characteristics, which I think most people on HN know is BS. I prefer to emphasize hard work over any kind…

I would say opportunity + curiosity + propensity is the formula and we know what curiosity and propensity are not chosen things. The other caveat is just anomalous ability and although rare we have strong evidence of these people existing. There's nothing wrong with that. I don't have the baggage that you speak but understandable. What you mean is applicable for the average folks, me included.

Re: Jeri Ellsworth and the Robot Uprising of 2038

#30

Post by dmoy »

Animats wrote: post #7
skrebbel wrote: post #2

Wow that was... Extremely weird. Is this supposed to be some kind of tribute?

Weird article. Author isn't technical enough to get how Jeri thinks. I've met her. She sees the physical world in terms of first principles, like Feynman. She built a short range radar from a satellite downlink dish by turning one of the transistors around. I would never have thought you could use a transistor from a low-noise amp to produce enough power to emit a usable signal. I'd be thinking "small-signal transist…

If you like learning about low power or messy signal stuff, there's some research at UW several years back about using e.g. a combination of em interference from human bodies and normal house electrical wiring/lightbulbs as motion detectors.

That sort of stuff is really cool, and I'm very impressed by people like Jeri who can actually make it work.

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