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Jürgen Schmidhuber – Can All-Purpose Robots Fuel a Comeback?

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Re: Jürgen Schmidhuber – Can All-Purpose Robots Fuel a Comeback?

#21

Post by RandomLensman »

lifestyleguru wrote: post #20
Hrenagf wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "elites" (people like 360° turn Baerbock) want more immigrants under any circumstances. They are like Russian nobility back in the day where they think their own population are peasants while speaking French to distinguish themselves.

Europe is back into its historical power dynamics, e.g. Catherine II was Prussian and also the Russian emperor. National states in Central and Eastern Europe were an anomaly lasting 80 years. Once US accepted the return of ruling dynasties, Europe has no other choice than to follow. People will quarrel over any scraps and ideologies the elites throw at them. Nothing will stop the gravitation of German industry toward…

If nation states in central Europe would disappear, what would "German industry" even mean?

Re: Jürgen Schmidhuber – Can All-Purpose Robots Fuel a Comeback?

#22

Post by ahartmetz »

woadwarrior01 wrote: post #14
lifestyleguru wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

German software is SAP. Every other software from them is made in Poland, Romania, Belarus, and Russia.

IMO, it's a culture thing. Even German software companies think writing software is low-status and try to outsource as much of it as possible to Eastern Europe.

Not all of them. I'd have more trouble finding work if it was true. By the way, IME Eastern Europe is the best outsourcing destination if you want good quality for somewhat less money. There are not so good companies as well, but the only good "outsourcing code" I have seen was from there.

I think it's really mostly mechanical engineering companies that undervalue software. My main client is one, they actually do value software so it's a decent environment. Unfortunately still rare.

Re: Jürgen Schmidhuber – Can All-Purpose Robots Fuel a Comeback?

#23

Post by lifestyleguru »

RandomLensman wrote: post #21
lifestyleguru wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europe is back into its historical power dynamics, e.g. Catherine II was Prussian and also the Russian emperor. National states in Central and Eastern Europe were an anomaly lasting 80 years. Once US accepted the return of ruling dynasties, Europe has no other choice than to follow. People will quarrel over any scraps and ideologies the elites throw at them. Nothing will stop the gravitation of German industry toward…

If nation states in central Europe would disappear, what would "German industry" even mean?

> what would "German industry" even mean?

Industrial dynasties speaking German and originating from 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

Re: Jürgen Schmidhuber – Can All-Purpose Robots Fuel a Comeback?

#24

Post by sega_sai »

portaouflop wrote: post #19

General purpose robots don’t make sense - humans are infinitely better for this purpose and way cheaper to produce. Sure the robots could do very dangerous or tedious work that would be “inhuman”, but I would argue that for this kind of work a specialised robot will always be more efficient and way cheaper to produce. Apart from how science fiction this all is - we can’t even produce a general purpose robot don’t mak…

I am not an expert, but it is unclear to me. A specialized robot vs general purpose robot is a scale question. I.e. if the task is big enough(i.e there is need for millions of these robots) and there is enough money, than yes specialized robot is the answer. I think for small scale problem it becomes human vs vs general purpose robot. And there really it's capital investment (for robot) vs constant cashflow (for human). There will be some cost point where the human is better, but it really depends on the price.

Re: Jürgen Schmidhuber – Can All-Purpose Robots Fuel a Comeback?

#25

Post by lnsru »

a-french-anon wrote: post #11
yuboyt wrote: post #3

"huge opportunity in German mechanical engineering". Ha. He should compare a modern German car, with their 2-3 year warranty, to a modern chinese car such as BYD, with their 8 year warranty.

Kia is famous for their warranty AND the Kia Boys thing. The most reliable Japanese brands (Toyota, Honda, Mazda, I'd say) only offer 3 years here. Warranty seems to be a marketing thing, in the automobile world.

I was in to buying Kia ev6, but canceled order after waiting 1.5 years. And it’s good thing. Because this warranty is tied to regular visits for inspection at Kia dealership. Since there is nothing to service in electric vehicle Kia will scam you with weird expensive coolant replacements and other very expensive not needed replacements.

Re: Jürgen Schmidhuber – Can All-Purpose Robots Fuel a Comeback?

#26

Post by Gravityloss »

light_hue_1 wrote: post #16
mertbio wrote: post #4

The issue in Germany is that most companies don't take software seriously. They often outsource their software to freelancers or establish offshore offices in EU countries that pay less for software engineers compared to Germany or simply hire agencies. For instance, consider Volkswagen’s struggles with its EV transition. Despite this, they ultimately decided to invest in Rivian to leverage their software. To create…

That's true of the entire EU. No one cares about software. Just look at the immense salary gap with the US or Canada.

The EU is not homogenic. Some places have excellent software industry. Some software people from Spain like to work in Finland. Pay is better, though not as high as in Silicon Valley. I don't know how well software jobs pay in the rust belt in USA.

Re: Jürgen Schmidhuber – Can All-Purpose Robots Fuel a Comeback?

#27

Post by lifestyleguru »

piyuv wrote: post #17
ReptileMan wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The good thing about general purpose robots is that solves the aging population issue without having to resort to migration.

“Good thing”? Some people would rather invest (waste) trillions of euros and decades of research rather than accepting all humans are equal. SMH

The problem is not the general population and voters somehow feeling superior than others. The problem are the oligarchs and owners needing very badly "the worse" to be present ideologically and physically.

Re: Jürgen Schmidhuber – Can All-Purpose Robots Fuel a Comeback?

#28

Post by rkwasny »

portaouflop wrote: post #19

General purpose robots don’t make sense - humans are infinitely better for this purpose and way cheaper to produce. Sure the robots could do very dangerous or tedious work that would be “inhuman”, but I would argue that for this kind of work a specialised robot will always be more efficient and way cheaper to produce. Apart from how science fiction this all is - we can’t even produce a general purpose robot don’t mak…

Some people thought heavier-than-air flight is impossible.

Re: Jürgen Schmidhuber – Can All-Purpose Robots Fuel a Comeback?

#30

Post by lnsru »

There will be no all-purpose robots in Germany. Lilium and Volocopter stories (both VTOL aircraft startups who run out of money) show how innovation works in Germany. Getting early stage hardware startup funded in Germany is absolutely mission impossible. Where the company in US would be raising series B round… the same company in Germany would get 50000€ from couple angel investors for 30% shares. Another source of innovation might be some university. But these are too occupied with grant hunt and crazy science, that nothing practical may come out. These all rants, but also backed up by personal experience. Plus as other commenters mentioned - software development is just not a competency in Germany. And software eats the world.
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