I missed this earlier, but last week Peter Thiel had a long and pessimistic essay on the stalling of American innovation.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
Skills That Recent IT Grads Are Lacking
Seven of them. It’s probably a problem with technical degrees in general, not just IT.
It’s The Space Settlement, Stupid
I have some Columbus Day thoughts this morning over at Pajamas Media.
“The Other Man In My Marriage”
…was Steve Jobs.
I remember that Popular Electronics cover well. I was a subscriber, and I wanted one to play with, but couldn’t justify the money for it at the time (I had just been laid off from my job as a VW mechanic in the 1973 recession, and had decided to go back to school). I remember wondering what I would actually do with something that could only be programmed by toggle switches from a front panel in assemblermachine language.
The EPA
Why it’s rational for Republicans to oppose it. It’s good policy and good politics.
A cleanAn ultra-clean environment is a luxury good. We’re broke.
Is Wireless Internet Intrinsically Unreliable?
Or is it just me?
[Saturday morning update]
To answer questions in comments, I have a Linksys and my Verizon FIOS modem/router. Both connections can be flaky, though the Verizon is usually a stronger signal. They’re both on a different floor (below) than the Roku, and almost opposite corners of the house. I could run ethernet, but it would be a pain.
Haptic Exoskeletons
…that allow the paralyzed to walk. Not a flying car, but it seems pretty twenty-first century.
“Steve Jobs Was A Kind Man”
A Cure For Diabetes
…using your own stem cells? That would be huge.
Hitting The Sweet Spot
The true genius of Steve Jobs:
There are, fundamentally, two subspecies of entrepreneur. One starts from the present, and visualizes the next logical step from where things are now. This type figures out how to make something better, cheaper, or more widely available, and manages to clear the financial, regulatory, and market barriers to getting it into the marketplace. The other visualizes a different world, one in which things are different and better from the way they are now, and then figures out what path of evolution brings us to that world, and, as the last step, what is the least ambitious step possible that will move things toward that goal.
Spaceflight needs a Steve Jobs. It’s not clear yet whether Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos fit the mold. But someone or some group of someones has to create the vision of abundant affordable in-space infrastructure that will finally replace the Apollo model.
[Update a few minutes later]
The man who sold the future.