4 ms·

The hedgehog and the fox

23 points by chunkyslink 10y ago

sneak 10y ago
> In the last 20 years or so, there were a few important things that drove everything else in tech. The internet would reach everyone, and so would mobile phones and then smartphones. Half of the humans are not on the internet.
- golergka 10y ago
  > They have a lot further to run - smartphones will go from close to 3bn to over 5bn users, for example - but there's nothing very contrarian to them. The author addresses that literally one paragraph later.
Aelinsaar 10y ago
I would strongly recommend that anyone who hasn't read the original essay, do so.
- alimw 10y ago
  The original essay is about War and Peace. Therefore read War and Peace first of all :)
  - Aelinsaar 10y ago
    It's not really that the original relates to this blog post, as much as it's just one of the best essays written in the English language in a long time. (big IMO)
svag 10y ago
By reading just the title, I thought that this was related to some old games, [Sonic the Hedgehog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog) and [Titus the Fox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_the_Fox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_the_Fox)... :)
- gluelogic 10y ago
  That was my first thought too. Sonic the hedgehog and his sidekick Tails was a fox.
IANAD 10y ago
Current hedgehog fodder: * Subscription as alternative vs. reducing life on newer technology. While being wasteful works in today's "make everything in China" world, long-lasting high-quality products that consumers "rent" make more sense than throwaway products financially and environmentally. * Mining first-world trash. Third-world countries do this manually, but isn't commercialized in first-world. * Developing products and services that rely on greater levels of energy than currently available. Energy, propulsion, etc. advances will be made more quickly in coming years. * Undersea and underground living: greater use of heat, heat or pressure differential as energy sources, related horticulture, and mining - but there are problems to be solved: how do we adapt things we need for overground living to deep underground and deep underwater? * Space, the final frontier, e.g. transport: SpaceX, distribution: Blue Origin, mining: Planetary Resources, touring: Virgin Galactic, propulsion systems: Orbital Sciences, etc. - but there are many niches to fill. * Solving world problems of hunger, poverty, unsafe water, lack of shelter, violence - e.g. agricultural transforming, fair redistribution as a service, clean water as a service in the third world, alternative building materials, guns/tasers/billy clubs replaced with net guns.
r00fus 10y ago
I think one of the "hedgehog" facts that wasn't mentioned (but alluded to in a comment on the post) is that the Internet will be balkanized. The Great Firewall of China will become the norm. It's what countries and media companies wanted with DVD region codes. VPNs will fight this but eventually get banned or constrained. Thoughts?

23 points by chunkyslink 10y ago

sneak 10y ago

> In the last 20 years or so, there were a few important things that drove everything else in tech. The internet would reach everyone, and so would mobile phones and then smartphones. Half of the humans are not on the internet.

golergka 10y ago
> They have a lot further to run - smartphones will go from close to 3bn to over 5bn users, for example - but there's nothing very contrarian to them. The author addresses that literally one paragraph later.

Aelinsaar 10y ago

I would strongly recommend that anyone who hasn't read the original essay, do so.

alimw 10y ago
The original essay is about War and Peace. Therefore read War and Peace first of all :)
- Aelinsaar 10y ago
  It's not really that the original relates to this blog post, as much as it's just one of the best essays written in the English language in a long time. (big IMO)

svag 10y ago

By reading just the title, I thought that this was related to some old games, [Sonic the Hedgehog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog) and [Titus the Fox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_the_Fox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_the_Fox)... :)

gluelogic 10y ago
That was my first thought too. Sonic the hedgehog and his sidekick Tails was a fox.

IANAD 10y ago

Current hedgehog fodder: * Subscription as alternative vs. reducing life on newer technology. While being wasteful works in today's "make everything in China" world, long-lasting high-quality products that consumers "rent" make more sense than throwaway products financially and environmentally. * Mining first-world trash. Third-world countries do this manually, but isn't commercialized in first-world. * Developing products and services that rely on greater levels of energy than currently available. Energy, propulsion, etc. advances will be made more quickly in coming years. * Undersea and underground living: greater use of heat, heat or pressure differential as energy sources, related horticulture, and mining - but there are problems to be solved: how do we adapt things we need for overground living to deep underground and deep underwater? * Space, the final frontier, e.g. transport: SpaceX, distribution: Blue Origin, mining: Planetary Resources, touring: Virgin Galactic, propulsion systems: Orbital Sciences, etc. - but there are many niches to fill. * Solving world problems of hunger, poverty, unsafe water, lack of shelter, violence - e.g. agricultural transforming, fair redistribution as a service, clean water as a service in the third world, alternative building materials, guns/tasers/billy clubs replaced with net guns.

r00fus 10y ago

I think one of the "hedgehog" facts that wasn't mentioned (but alluded to in a comment on the post) is that the Internet will be balkanized. The Great Firewall of China will become the norm. It's what countries and media companies wanted with DVD region codes. VPNs will fight this but eventually get banned or constrained. Thoughts?