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The End of the Computer Age

manhattan-institute.org

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Re: The End of the Computer Age

#61

Post by buboard »

ehnto wrote: post #53
buboard wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

apple is investing in payments, credit cards and real estate. so does facebook (and google)

But they haven't stopped doing technology. If anything, they are bringing technology to banking. 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.

time will tell. i think it 's worrying that they are entering these zero-sum markets

btw this technology already exists in bitcoin and other coins

Re: The End of the Computer Age

#62

Post by dillonmckay »

buboard wrote: post #45
droithomme wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you're riding a subway that's 100 years old ... a healthier sort of progress would happen on many different fronts Is he saying there is something wrong with electric subways? It seems an excellent solution to transport in a dense urban area. And metros have kept up with technology fairly well. What is the better solution to the subway for the problem it solves in the places it solves them? Yes, we've had subways f…

the i486 was an excellent processor, too

sx or dx?

Re: The End of the Computer Age

#64

Post by classified »

wrs wrote: post #32

This mostly just reads like stream of consciousness gibberish to me. Is there an actual coherent argument in here somewhere?

This is the top 1% celebrating themselves. If they had any coherent arguments, we would have been convinced long since. As it is, they're just laughing their asses off while taking candy from a baby (i.e. getting even more rich and powerful).

Re: The End of the Computer Age

#65

Post by classified »

groby_b wrote: post #38

Wait - he helped elect a cryptofascist that plunders the public coffers for personal gain, and then he's got the chutzpah to complain about the state of public infrastructure? At the Manhattan Institute ? The place that loudly complains that tax payer financed efforts are really just exploitation?

> ...tax payer financed efforts are really just exploitation

Right, and the super rich cannot wait to relieve us tax payers from our plight and pay all those bills for us. Otherwise, what would be the point in never paying any taxes?

Re: The End of the Computer Age

#67

Post by scoutt »

fadisaleh wrote: post #13

"...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…

> inefficiencies

Think that while this person is looking at the iPhone on the subway, it's also probably unaware that there is (in this very moment, in the world) people starving to dead or dying from deceases that already have a cure, or that there is people beheading others with machetes in tribal-like wars.

The paradigm of progress is relative.

Re: The End of the Computer Age

#68

Post by tashoecraft »

Animats wrote: post #42
josephg wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its very long, but I enjoyed Thiel on The Portal (Eric Weinstein's podcast) a few months back: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1-peter-thiel/id146999... I don't know how this compares to talks he's given, but there were a lot of small ideas in there which I thought were really interesting - like the idea that we're in a period of relative technological stagnation compared to a couple decades ago. And how obviou…

We're in a period of relative technological stagnation compared to a couple decades ago. Kind of. There's no new "must have" consumer electronics product. 3D TV was a flop, robot vacuums were a dud, VR goggles make 5% to 15% of the population nauseous, and everybody has a smartphone. The "lose money on every sale and make it up on volume" model (Uber, etc.) is coming apart. Self-driving cars don't work yet. Moore's L…

It's weird that everything is compared to one of the most successful products ever created. Something that went from an incredibly niche product to nearly every adult, and a lot children owning, in a very short timeline.

Every Apple product launch has commentary of "This isn't as successful as the iPhone", like yeah, no shit, the iPhone isn't going to be replicated every 10 years. We aren't always on the cusp of being able to combine components generated from advances in multiple industries to propel one industry to market dominance.

I like to imagine a future where we are able to continue the advances of Moore's law by getting more efficient with our software and the ever increasing abilities multi core processing. I have no idea if that's how it's going to continue, but in the absence of continued progress in one area, progress will probably be demanded in another.

Re: The End of the Computer Age

#69

Post by growlist »

scoutt wrote: post #67
fadisaleh wrote: post #13

"...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…

> inefficiencies Think that while this person is looking at the iPhone on the subway, it's also probably unaware that there is (in this very moment, in the world) people starving to dead or dying from deceases that already have a cure, or that there is people beheading others with machetes in tribal-like wars. The paradigm of progress is relative.

> there is people beheading others with machetes in tribal-like wars

I prefer the society that does not end up with machetes, but there are maniacs out there that would argue that even expressing such a preference is 'problematic'

Re: The End of the Computer Age

#70

Post by gioele »

fadisaleh wrote: post #13

"...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…

> "...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."

We need a smartphone-age/post-TV update to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panem_et_circenses and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death

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