This talk mostly reiterates his basic talking points so it feels a lot like rambling. And the title is not justified by the argument. There is, however, a case to be made that the computer tech age has reached an end. Tech companies turning to investing in banking and real estate is not a good sign.
The End of the Computer Age
51–60 of 89 posts
Re: The End of the Computer Age
#52This talk mostly reiterates his basic talking points so it feels a lot like rambling. And the title is not justified by the argument. There is, however, a case to be made that the computer tech age has reached an end. Tech companies turning to investing in banking and real estate is not a good sign.
Tech companies are still doing tech. It's more that the "tech" label is being applied to other companies incorrectly.
Re: The End of the Computer Age
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tech companies are still doing tech. It's more that the "tech" label is being applied to other companies incorrectly.
apple is investing in payments, credit cards and real estate. so does facebook (and google)
I am not saying I am feeling great about those particular companies entering the finance industry, but it's not like it's a signal that technology is becoming unimportant. If anything it's just the continued expansion of technology.
Re: The End of the Computer Age
#54It’s amazing how much the output of Serious People pontificating about AI is coming to resemble that of the AIs themselves.
Re: The End of the Computer Age
#55It reads like a long rant on Reddit. I'm a lot less impressed with Thiel now. His fascination with "scale" is interesting. Some of the problems we have today come from the conquest of scale. It used to be that big companies couldn't get out of their own way. This limited how big a company could get before smaller competitors were more efficient. With computers and networks, businesses can now be scaled to national, i…
Scale in tech has been solved, because it's trivial to reproduce a software program. It's not like manufacturing. We've got a dozen or so large automobile manufacturers that are all thriving. There's five big tech companies: Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, and Facebook. And three big telcos is an improvement over the early 20th century that Thiel is idealizing when AT&T was the only game in town. But Thiel himself…
Re: The End of the Computer Age
#56"...the iPhones that distract us from our environment also distract us from how strangely old and unchanging our environment is, how you're riding a subway that's 100 years old. And I think sort of a healthier sort of progress would happen on many different fronts." This quote stood out to me. It seems like we silently concluded that the physical world has evolved enough, developed enough, even though there's a ton o…
I think the market is what silently concluded that the physical world has evolved enough; software isn't more important, just more profitable. And because the United States is allergic to public spending, that's all that matters.
The United States wouldn't be so allergic to public spending if we weren't so complacent about foreign spending, namely the military and foreign aid/manipulation.
Re: The End of the Computer Age
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the market is what silently concluded that the physical world has evolved enough; software isn't more important, just more profitable. And because the United States is allergic to public spending, that's all that matters.
> silently concluded that the physical world has evolved enough the main culprit is regulation. There are other markets which build modern cities at breakneck pace the same thing is going to happen to tech now that regulation is kicking in
Re: The End of the Computer Age
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the market is what silently concluded that the physical world has evolved enough; software isn't more important, just more profitable. And because the United States is allergic to public spending, that's all that matters.
> And because the United States is allergic to public spending, that's all that matters. I don't think it's the spending that the US is allergic to, it's the collecting the money to spend.
Re: The End of the Computer Age
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a Korean who visited LA this summer, I was shocked to see how unmaintained the roads were, especially the highways. (There were cracks and debris all over the place)
I remember thinking the same back in 2005, which was the first time I'd driven in the US. Cracks and potholes all over the place. At the time I'd assumed it was because California was basically bankrupt (maybe it still is), but slightly shocking that it's still the case. I suddenly felt like I understood why American cars have such soft suspension. The roads were notably worse than in the UK, and by a wide margin: no…
Re: The End of the Computer Age
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a Korean who visited LA this summer, I was shocked to see how unmaintained the roads were, especially the highways. (There were cracks and debris all over the place)
I remember thinking the same back in 2005, which was the first time I'd driven in the US. Cracks and potholes all over the place. At the time I'd assumed it was because California was basically bankrupt (maybe it still is), but slightly shocking that it's still the case. I suddenly felt like I understood why American cars have such soft suspension. The roads were notably worse than in the UK, and by a wide margin: no…
All new projects in England since 2013 have used All Lane Running (an alternative to widening, where the HS is permanently converted into a traffic lane). This format is not being killed off.
The A14 Huntingdon Bypass was supposed to open as a smart motorway (A14(M)) but the legislation hasn't passed soon enough, so it will open as an all-purpose road with motorway-style restrictions and smart tech.