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For this posting, let's go all over the place! In a semi-random walk of items that share one trait. They're... well... interesting! Starting with --
A wide-ranging interview – covering future interactions with extraterrestrials and artificial intelligence agents, the Kardashev scale of planetary civilizations, possible means to deal with climate change, ‘Brin’s Corollary’ of cameras ... on MacObserver.
A wide-ranging interview – covering future interactions with extraterrestrials and artificial intelligence agents, the Kardashev scale of planetary civilizations, possible means to deal with climate change, ‘Brin’s Corollary’ of cameras ... on MacObserver.
Hear me blather on the Future Thinkers Podcast about transparency, reciprocal accountability and future societies.
== Random Musings ==
The most Interesting Man in the World is on his (one way) trip to Mars? Okaaaaay then. Any nominations for a successor?
The most Interesting Man in the World is on his (one way) trip to Mars? Okaaaaay then. Any nominations for a successor?
Teen
pregnancy in the U.S. has fallen to an all time low… though there are substantial
regional differences. And the problem is worst in states that prescribe “abstinence only” sex education.
The 100 jokes that shaped modern comedy. No Monty Python... the list focuses on American humor.
Does the Web now contain everything? Far from it. Let me give one example. Late in 1979, when I was in grad school, our PBS radio station ran a hilarious special called “Unpacking the Eighties.” I believe the writer/singer/actor was “Jesse” or "Jerry" something. Over the years I have searched for it. And nowadays, one would imagine someone would have cached it online somewhere… or at least mentioned it! But there’s zilch via any search method I have used. And mind you that was a media item of some substance, nationally broadcast.
On the other hand... Books that top US college students are required to read: My nonfiction The Transparent Society ranks 6th at Brown! Just below... Karl Marx. Interesting. Anyone know which professor(s) at Brown are assigning it? Nice to know there are intellects out there with great taste.
The 100 jokes that shaped modern comedy. No Monty Python... the list focuses on American humor.
Likewise my brief-run television pilot the Architechs. The History Channel long ago stopped selling DVDs or downloads. (There were actually TWO pilots, both of them so way cool.) Since HC has no interest in (or memory of) the show, I had hoped someone would have put it up online by now, for all to enjoy. Especially since the ideas in the Fire Prevention and Escape pilot could save thousands of lives. Alas, it hasn’t even been done on bit-torrent or Russian pirate sites. Alack. (Not that I am encouraging such rapscallion goin's-on.)
== Are there too many PhDs? ==
Speaking of academe... one member of my blog-munity wrote:
"The rise of
the Ph.D. is more a cause for alarm than celebration as it reflects educational
inutility & creeping credentialism. Encouraged
by poor job prospects in a contracting economy, the Ph.D. candidate forgoes
gainful employment & pursues a specialized educational career path which
qualifies them for little more than education and research.
University diploma mills churn out a
surfeit of Ph.D.'s, depressing the relative value
of this degree even further. "Only 12.8% of Ph.D. graduates can attain academic positions in the
USA", and "In
the UK, almost 80% of people achieving PhDs in science will eventually find
careers outside science". See: Does Science Produce Too Many Ph.D.'s? in Discover.
Where this grouchy fellow has
a point is that many science graduate student PhD candidates submit themselves to being used as driven labor,
80 hour weeks at pennies per hour, sometimes for magnificent mentors - the
smartest and best people our species ever created - and sometimes for
slave-driving egotists. (There is a slight field-correlation, with physics
being more of the former and biology containing more of the latter.)
To which I
reply, so? This is exactly the kind of retro pattern that nostalgia junkies moan for! Master-Journeyman-Apprentice stuff. All the way to
medieval gowns in which the newly minted "doktor" gets to wear a
monk's cowl! It goes way, way back. You guys should love it!
What's
changed is that this path is now open to many, many more (and boy do they come,
flocking) -- and the process is more moderated and fair (though I experienced
unfairness that made me test the system... and I won, big. Oh, I'd make
changes.)
Jiminy Cricket, if
there are more doctorates than academic slots, guess what. It's freaking
competitive! It's a market and you knew it was when you applied to graduate
school. And even so, they come in droves. Why? Because the Big Prize is the
best job, ever, in the history of the species! Pushing the envelope of
knowledge while nurturing scientific skill and curiosity in both future winners
and and those who won't attain any
prized professorships...
"That is what PhD means. And sure, that's credentialed. So sue me. Better yet, hire me. For enough to make up for those 5 years as a lab (or theory) slave -- which also happened to be the best and most fascinating and most wonderful years of my entire f***ing life."
Dig it. In
1930 Galbraith and others predicted that industrial productivity would render
the 40 hour week obsolete and millions would have to find new ways to occupy their
time, outside the tsunami-productive factories and farms. Galbraith looked foolish for
a while. But perhaps he was just 100 years premature. And if so?
I can think
of worse ways to occupy our very brightest than spending their
youths seeking a "credential" that says "I spent some of this
time and wealth at the very frontiers of human knowledge."
== And finally... ==
So how does a David Brin quote make one better at playing the spectacularly complex card game of bridge? Hmmmm.
Here's a Tech Trick... Want the simplest way to take a slug of text from somewhere and strip it of all codes and formatting and links, so you just have the text you actually want? I need this all the time and found a great way. If you have gmail, open a new message, then paste the code-polluted text into the email's SUBJECT LINE. You can then immediately SELECT ALL and CUT and you will have the stripped version of the text, ready to insert anywhere without noxious codes embedded "helpfully."
(Seriously, it is getting worse! I cannot paste a URL into an email anymore without gmail and /or Yahoo "helpfully" replacing the Http address with the title and thumbnail of the website. Who would want that... ever? I have never wanted it once, ever. But can I make them stop? Also, is there a simpler way to unlink email addresses that Word "helpfully" makes active, without going through multi-step menus?)
(Seriously, it is getting worse! I cannot paste a URL into an email anymore without gmail and /or Yahoo "helpfully" replacing the Http address with the title and thumbnail of the website. Who would want that... ever? I have never wanted it once, ever. But can I make them stop? Also, is there a simpler way to unlink email addresses that Word "helpfully" makes active, without going through multi-step menus?)
Productivity hint! I use QuickKeys, so many complex productivity steps are all one-flick stabs of my index finger onto keys on the numeric keypad. Quickeys saves me at least 15 minutes of lifespan, every single day. I barely recall how to mouse drag a cursor onto a scroll-down menu, anymore.
...And now you all see what I do with random snippets that don't fit into my normal posting categories. Goulash! Yum. Hope you enjoyed it.
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