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To the future occupants of my office at the MIT Media Lab

ethanzuckerman.com

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Re: To the future occupants of my office at the MIT Media Lab

#41

Post by xdavidliu »

saeranv wrote: post #28
nangz wrote: post #16

Remember when MIT media Lab gave a civil disobedience award to bethann mclaughlin for some nebulous #metoo bs who since disgraced herself by LARPing as a fake Native American academic who died of covid? https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/08/twitter-account-emba... Remember when they chased Aaron Swartz to commit suicide and never gave him a civil disobedience award? Remember their extremely close links to Jeffrey E…

Yeah, their treatment of Aaron Swartz was despicable, and extremely hypocritical.

I hope by "their" you mean "MIT's", not "MIT media lab's". MIT media lab wasn't particular responsible for the Aaron Swartz situation.

Re: To the future occupants of my office at the MIT Media Lab

#42

Post by xdavidliu »

nangz wrote: post #16

Remember when MIT media Lab gave a civil disobedience award to bethann mclaughlin for some nebulous #metoo bs who since disgraced herself by LARPing as a fake Native American academic who died of covid? https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/08/twitter-account-emba... Remember when they chased Aaron Swartz to commit suicide and never gave him a civil disobedience award? Remember their extremely close links to Jeffrey E…

some of your points, including regarding Epstein, are valid. However, unless I'm recalling incorrectly, the Aaron Swartz incident wasn't related to the Media lab in particular.

Re: To the future occupants of my office at the MIT Media Lab

#43

Post by bmitc »

sbierwagen wrote: post #29
SQueeeeeL wrote: post #4

There's something so beautiful about a place so dysfunctional that you can't even replace standard office equipment; I know it was alluded to in the article, but in case anyone forgot, the MIT Media Lab played a part in Jeffery Epstein and he often leveraged it for good PR https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/business/mit-media-lab-je...

"Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Ethan Zuckerman explicitly resigned due to MIT’s and the Media Lab’s involvement with Epstein and is thus the reason why he is leaving his office. So the comment you replied to is not unrelated nor a tangent.

http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2019/08/20/on-me-and-the-...

Re: To the future occupants of my office at the MIT Media Lab

#46

Post by imranq »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #15

Whenever I read stuff about this I get a sense of immense jealousy. MIT certainly has its issues but man, I'd love to be at a place where people exhibit so much joy and interest in creation. I've met my share of cool people but it truly does feel like MIT has this unique environment of technical skill and creativity.

Make a plan and get there too!

Re: To the future occupants of my office at the MIT Media Lab

#47

Post by closeparen »

Animats wrote: post #7

It's very MIT. It's also an illustration of what went wrong with the "internet of things" concept. Sensors are easy today. Actuators are hard. Most "IoT" things can't do much. Try to buy a home power window. They exist. They're an exotic luxury home item. Even controllable home HVAC dampers are rare. It makes good sense to have a system where windows, fans, dampers, heaters, and compressors are all coordinated to max…

I've been in several campus facilities like this. When they make ridiculous decisions, the person with the power to override is three ticketing systems away. In one case we even managed to get the right person on the phone, but it was a weekend and her VPN client wasn't working. Something to be said for a window you can open by putting your hands on it.

Re: To the future occupants of my office at the MIT Media Lab

#48

Post by lmilcin »

Animats wrote: post #7

It's very MIT. It's also an illustration of what went wrong with the "internet of things" concept. Sensors are easy today. Actuators are hard. Most "IoT" things can't do much. Try to buy a home power window. They exist. They're an exotic luxury home item. Even controllable home HVAC dampers are rare. It makes good sense to have a system where windows, fans, dampers, heaters, and compressors are all coordinated to max…

The trouble seems that there aren't many people that get software AND electronics AND mechanics AND on top of that marketing, right.

It is rare enough to find people with good electronics and software skills.

Re: To the future occupants of my office at the MIT Media Lab

#49

Post by crooked-v »

squarefoot wrote: post #23
skybrian wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like avoiding a walk to dispose of garbage isn't all that far removed from "gadgets for rich people?"

I get your point. It all depends on age, weight and how far one has to walk. For elderly people not having to walk to trash their cats litter (mine is like 8+Kg) plus glass bottles, plastics etc, can be a life changer. I still however see some of these automations more like bullet points in hotel advertising rather than really useful things.

On a similar note, many of those seemingly pointless as-sold-on-TV gadgets for kitchens or cleaning are actually assistive devices for people with limited mobility, relabeled for general sale on the side.

Re: To the future occupants of my office at the MIT Media Lab

#50

Post by mymacbook »

Animats wrote: post #7

It's very MIT. It's also an illustration of what went wrong with the "internet of things" concept. Sensors are easy today. Actuators are hard. Most "IoT" things can't do much. Try to buy a home power window. They exist. They're an exotic luxury home item. Even controllable home HVAC dampers are rare. It makes good sense to have a system where windows, fans, dampers, heaters, and compressors are all coordinated to max…

I’m guessing NeXT is supposed to be Nest (given IoT and HVAC).
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