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Mark Rober (former NASA) launches a 30 day Creative Engineering Class

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Re: Mark Rober (former NASA) launches a 30 day Creative Engineering Class

#61

Post by TedShiller »

thaumaturgy wrote: post #56
fxtentacle wrote: post #30

This is clearly marketing, and clearly good one. From what I can tell, it's a course that was mostly produced by someone else and will be delivered by someone else, but they recorded Mark Rober - the guy famous on YouTube for glitterbombing people - as the instructor. But their FAQ already states that he will "be able to" look at what students are doing and "may occasionally [..] give feedback", so most likely he won…

Thanks for pointing this out. I've enjoyed quite a few of Mark's videos over the years. He's clearly smart and talented, but it was unsettling how insanely productive he seemed to be. That sort of thing naturally creeps into my subconscious and not in a healthy way. He mentions the people he works with but the videos are still presented in a way that makes them feel like a single person production. I should've figure…

He also pollutes the environment with all of his projects. Filling his swimming pool with plastic balls for views.

Re: Mark Rober (former NASA) launches a 30 day Creative Engineering Class

#62

Post by hojjat12000 »

TedShiller wrote: post #61
thaumaturgy wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for pointing this out. I've enjoyed quite a few of Mark's videos over the years. He's clearly smart and talented, but it was unsettling how insanely productive he seemed to be. That sort of thing naturally creeps into my subconscious and not in a healthy way. He mentions the people he works with but the videos are still presented in a way that makes them feel like a single person production. I should've figure…

He also pollutes the environment with all of his projects. Filling his swimming pool with plastic balls for views.

I don't think any body cares about that. Specially when you can collect the plastic balls (because it's in your pool) and recycle it (which I'm sure he did, I don't think he dumped it in his kitchen trash can). He also uses biodegradable glitter.

Re: Mark Rober (former NASA) launches a 30 day Creative Engineering Class

#63

Post by stolenmerch »

unreal37 wrote: post #49

I think he's brilliant, and don't get the hate being directed at him here. He deserves his success. Seriously surprising, actually. I'd love to understand the source of it. Why people want to reduce his success to "showman", "milking it", "not actually done by him", etc? Why diminish something that makes the world a better place and is not taking anything away from others?

> I'd love to understand the source of it.

I certainly don't hate Mark Rober and am not at all trying to reduce his success - so take this as one opinion in response to your question. There is something about his YouTube content I don't personally enjoy. It's a little hard to articulate, but to me it feels cheesy. I understand his schtick is creating overengineered solutions to life's little annoyances, but his on-screen persona seems put on to me. I get the sense he's a super talented guy who also has an amazing crew and network of friends. I just don't have a swimming pool or access to a trillion orbeez, so perhaps I am more drawn to normal engineers making youtube videos about them hacking on their raspberry pi.

Re: Mark Rober (former NASA) launches a 30 day Creative Engineering Class

#64

Post by O_H_E »

hojjat12000 wrote: post #62
TedShiller wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He also pollutes the environment with all of his projects. Filling his swimming pool with plastic balls for views.

I don't think any body cares about that. Specially when you can collect the plastic balls (because it's in your pool) and recycle it (which I'm sure he did, I don't think he dumped it in his kitchen trash can). He also uses biodegradable glitter.

> biodegradable glitter

ok, wow. TIL such thing exists.

Re: Mark Rober (former NASA) launches a 30 day Creative Engineering Class

#65

Post by bobby_bob »

gowld wrote: post #32
jld wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After his latest video I was wondering if his recording of the thieves in their homes runs afoul of wiretapping laws. I can appreciate that someone who just stole a package probably isn't likely to try to press charges, but made me wonder if he is just assuming that risk. Maybe the box has a 'shrinkwrap' license agreeing to be recorded?

The box has a lot of text on it to indicate it's a fake product. I wonder if it mentions the microphone. The project bugs me a bit, as it's designed to find the 3% of people (IIRC from Rober's report) willing to steal and open an obvious fake package -- dumb kids, or mentally ill, or desperate and stupid. Also, he's famous, so he's risking retaliation bombs.

What bugged me was the complete lack of depth, one of the most interesting (and pertinent) topics surrounding the use of these devices are the legal implications.

There is no state that allows you to bug someone else's conversation. Intentionally causing a surveillance device to be installed in someone's home (which he clearly did) without their consent must present some legal issues?

Likewise, individuals are in some cases liable for the results traps they set. For example, the countdown (on the latest video) is troubling because it's reasonable to expect people to panic, and act erratically in response. What happens if they seriously injure themselves trying to escape the imagined bomb?

Someone else doing something illegal (stealing your "trap" package) doesn't protect you from prosecution or lawsuits.

Anyway, it would hear about the discussion with they had with lawyers before they did this. There's very little depth in many of the more recent videos. They're merely entertainment, not educational/engineering videos.

Re: Mark Rober (former NASA) launches a 30 day Creative Engineering Class

#66

Post by glenstein »

fastball wrote: post #22

I've enjoyed Mark Rober's content over the years, but I'm skeptical for two reasons: 1. I think people frequently underestimate how useful it is to do the "boring" parts of engineering (or any discipline). The unfortunate reality is that a lot of learning (that can be applied generally) comes from failure / mistakes, and you don't really get that if you're taught "this is how you can make this particular cool thing".…

>This is generally why I'm skeptical of anyone that thinks they can distill down their success in a given field into a single book or video series, when invariably their success is a result of 10+ years of experience, practice, and overcoming obstacles.

I just want to complement you for this excellent distillation of the problem with this kind of course without descending into backhanded complements.

When I heard about the course, something did strike me as "off" in the sense of needing to be explained. It feels like a shortcut, a whirlwind tour, or worse, a "master class" that leaves out something important. And what it leaves out is the grind, and the tedium, and the meta-understanding that those are aspects of successful work.

Re: Mark Rober (former NASA) launches a 30 day Creative Engineering Class

#67

Post by 14u2c »

TedShiller wrote: post #61
thaumaturgy wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for pointing this out. I've enjoyed quite a few of Mark's videos over the years. He's clearly smart and talented, but it was unsettling how insanely productive he seemed to be. That sort of thing naturally creeps into my subconscious and not in a healthy way. He mentions the people he works with but the videos are still presented in a way that makes them feel like a single person production. I should've figure…

He also pollutes the environment with all of his projects. Filling his swimming pool with plastic balls for views.

How exactly is that polluting? Do you think he just abandoned the pool with the balls still present?

I can see an argument that its wasteful however.

Re: Mark Rober (former NASA) launches a 30 day Creative Engineering Class

#68

Post by MatthiasWandel »

djmips wrote: post #14

Gets a lot of mileage out of working at NASA for 8 years. Personally I'd save the $250 and just go watch Ben Krasnow @ YouTube Applied Science.

if you are a self starter or a self directed learner, an online course is not the way to go. Start with a desire to do something, then search online for how to do it.

Re: Mark Rober (former NASA) launches a 30 day Creative Engineering Class

#69

Post by TedShiller »

hojjat12000 wrote: post #62
TedShiller wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He also pollutes the environment with all of his projects. Filling his swimming pool with plastic balls for views.

I don't think any body cares about that. Specially when you can collect the plastic balls (because it's in your pool) and recycle it (which I'm sure he did, I don't think he dumped it in his kitchen trash can). He also uses biodegradable glitter.

If you read HN you know that recycling doesn’t work. If I care about the environment I’m not going to buy millions of plastic balls for views

Re: Mark Rober (former NASA) launches a 30 day Creative Engineering Class

#70

Post by fastball »

avmich wrote: post #29
fastball wrote: post #22

I've enjoyed Mark Rober's content over the years, but I'm skeptical for two reasons: 1. I think people frequently underestimate how useful it is to do the "boring" parts of engineering (or any discipline). The unfortunate reality is that a lot of learning (that can be applied generally) comes from failure / mistakes, and you don't really get that if you're taught "this is how you can make this particular cool thing".…

> Creativity is near impossible to teach After "Borrowing Brilliance: The Six Steps to Business Innovation by Building on the Ideas of Others" I'm not so sure about that. The idea this book talks about - I think central, but not the only one - is that creativity at least closely related to combinations and transfer between fields.

Right, that's kinda my point. Creativity isn't taught – it's enabled by 8 years of working at NASA and such, as Mark Rober has done.

But he can't communicate all of the skill transfer he is doing in a way that your brain will change to see things the way he does – no one can.

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