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

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

#51

Post by phyzome »

squarefoot wrote: post #21
Scoundreller wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same, but it seems overkill. I'm in an old office where the only openable window is consumed by a window A/C unit. I want to put a 120mm fan in a small opening next to it that'll turn on when it's more than 3C cooler outside, and more than 24C inside. Seems like an Arduino would do it.

It could be much simpler. If I understood the problem, a differential amplifier (any opamp would do) wired to the temp sensors would output a voltage proportional to the difference between the two temperatures, plus adjustment. This voltage then can be used to drive a pwm generator wired to a h-bridge that drives a reversible fan that would pump air with speed and direction depending on the difference between two tem…

I have to ask -- are you aware of the existence of bimetallic strips, and how they can perform this function in a completely mechanical way? (No electricity.) It doesn't get you active air movement, of course, but it has worked for years in greenhouses.

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

#53

Post by ethanwillis »

sbierwagen wrote: post #30
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…

"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

Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's a flamewar topic. There's a new controversy coming out of MIT media lab every week and we need to question whether whatever "culture" they're putting out is actually worth emulating.

And don't forget MIT pushed out Richard Stallman in regards to Epstein debate while ignoring people who knowingly took childfucking money.

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

#54

Post by geofft »

saeranv wrote: post #36
sbierwagen wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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

I think the parent comment is relevant since the blog post (and subsequent comments here) praises the hacker/anti-institutionalist mentality of the Media Lab. Yet when Schwartz practiced altruistic, civil disobedience in line with that sentiment, MIT's response was to sue him until he killed himself. They've done a lot of cool things that I'm into, but let's not whitewash history.

The only link between Aaron Swartz and the Media Lab is that they hosted his memorial service.

Step one of not whitewashing history is to be accurate about it. You can't say that the Media Lab is an embarrassment to the MIT name when one of your pieces of evidence is that the rest of MIT - not the Media Lab - did something unconscionable. You can't hold organizations to account if your account is wrong.

And that's the danger with unrelated controversies and tangents - all of a sudden we need to have a discussion about the substance of that controversy and tangent. The angrier you are about something, the more important - and harder - it is to target your anger appropriately. Anger is a great tool. Make sure it is hitting what you intend for it to hit.

(In the interest of disclosure: I am an MIT alum who has never been particularly proud of my alma mater in general; I have no tie to the Media Lab.)

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

#55

Post by PragmaticPulp »

lmilcin wrote: post #48
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.

Very true.

Having worked in this space, the failures usually come from lopsided teams. Too many startups try to treat these products as technology products with a side of building materials, assuming that the technology is the hardest part.

In reality, the technology part is easy. The most difficult part is manufacturing and shipping reliable mechanisms at low cost. It can be done, but the mechanisms and mechanical parts need to be treated as the primary product, not an afterthought.

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

#56

Post by vikramkr »

m0zg wrote: post #13

Peltier element is just about the worst solution for anything. The angel wings girl wasn't experiencing much "cooling" for sure. Form over function, I suppose - consumer market seems to prefer that, but as an EE I immediately know shit's not going to work, which robs me of appreciation of the "form". And I'd prefer a mechanized window, myself.

It's art

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

#57

Post by GoodJokes »

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…

I would say MIT for all intents and purposes IS the MIT Media Lab. It is the thing the general public hears about the most. MIT has to own it. They do, and they love the exposure. MIT sold out a long time ago.

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

#58

Post by saeranv »

geofft wrote: post #54
saeranv wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the parent comment is relevant since the blog post (and subsequent comments here) praises the hacker/anti-institutionalist mentality of the Media Lab. Yet when Schwartz practiced altruistic, civil disobedience in line with that sentiment, MIT's response was to sue him until he killed himself. They've done a lot of cool things that I'm into, but let's not whitewash history.

The only link between Aaron Swartz and the Media Lab is that they hosted his memorial service. Step one of not whitewashing history is to be accurate about it. You can't say that the Media Lab is an embarrassment to the MIT name when one of your pieces of evidence is that the rest of MIT - not the Media Lab - did something unconscionable. You can't hold organizations to account if your account is wrong. And that's th…

I could be wrong and am glad to be corrected if I am. It's not like I'm following MIT Media news all day. But did the Media Lab acknowledge and critique MIT for its actions? If so you're right, I shouldn't criticize the MIT Media Lab. But if not I consider them complicit.

Re: the Disobedience Award. I did a google search to find the speech they gave where they discuss why they didn't give it to him. https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/reflections-on-the-disobedie....

I'm glad they recognized his principled and disobedient activism, but there's no acknowledgement about MIT's role in his death, and ultimately they chose not to give him the award.

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

#59

Post by jefftk »

spanhandler wrote: post #24
axaxs wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some reason this reminds me. My old house, built in the 40s, had a mysterious small hatch in the closet floor across from the bathroom. One day I opened it and it was just a cutout of the floor, directly over the washing machine in the basement below. I'm not sure if that's lazy or genius, but it doesn't get much easier than that I guess.

Our built-in-the-late-90s house has one of those in the hall closet upstairs. No door on it, just a hole. There’s some flashing and a “chute” that’s just a piece of sheet metal angled at 45 degrees to keep stuff from free-falling the whole way down, so it doesn’t look unfinished, but it’s basically just a hole. Really it’s just a laundry chute. If the laundry room is directly under you, why make it fancier than that?

You'd want a door of some sort to keep things (cats, children) from falling down it, no?

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

#60

Post by Retric »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #55
lmilcin wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Very true. Having worked in this space, the failures usually come from lopsided teams. Too many startups try to treat these products as technology products with a side of building materials, assuming that the technology is the hardest part. In reality, the technology part is easy. The most difficult part is manufacturing and shipping reliable mechanisms at low cost. It can be done, but the mechanisms and mechanical p…

Just as important is people are generally quite capable, so stuff people find annoying tends to be genuinely difficult.

A mass market automated pill dispenser you can just dump your prescriptions in seems like an obviously viable product. But, building something that’s easy enough to use, reliable enough to be safe, and cheap enough to be affordable is a pipe dream.

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