3 ms·

We start optimizing software, and then we start optimizing requirements, and then computing is finally finished, the same way spoons are finally finished.

by jl6 5y ago

agumonkey 5y ago
you can also optimize society because every time a human gets in the loop, trillions of cycles are wasted, and people / software / platforms are really far from efficient. actually if companies and software were designed differently (with teaching too, basically an ideal context) you could improve a lot of things with 10x factors just from the lack of resistance and pain at the operator level
- MR4D 5y ago
  This is a really good point you make. A simple example for me is how the ATM replaced the bank teller, but the ATM has been replaced with cards with chips in them. It’s a subtle, but huge change when magnified across society.
  - agumonkey 5y ago
    are chips an issue ? having worked in various administrations, the time / energy / resources wasted due to old paper based workflow is flabbergasting you'd think after 50 years of mainstream computing they'd have some kind of adequate infrastructure but it's really really sad (they still have paper inbox for internal mail routing errors)
api 5y ago
Computing will never be finished like spoons in the software realm because software is like prose. It's a language where we write down our needs, wants, and desires, and instructions to obtain them, and those are always shifting. I could definitely see standard classical computer hardware becoming a commodity though. There will also be room for horizontal expansion for a LONG time. If costs drop through the floor then we could see desktops and servers with hundreds or thousands of 1nm cores.
imtringued 5y ago
The hardware will be finished. But the food we eat (the software) will keep changing.
GuB-42 5y ago
Are spoons really finished? I am sure plenty of people are designing better/cheaper spoons today. I love looking at simple, everyday objects and look at how they evolved over time. Like soda cans, water bottles. Even what may be the oldest tool, the knife is constantly evolving. Better steels, or even ceramic, folding mechanisms for pocket knives, handle materials, and of course all the industrial processes that gets us usable $1 stainless steel knives. Computers are the most complex objects man has created, there is no way it is going to be finished.

We start optimizing software, and then we start optimizing requirements, and then computing is finally finished, the same way spoons are finally finished.

by jl6 5y ago

We start optimizing software, and then we start optimizing requirements, and then computing is finally finished, the same way spoons are finally finished.

agumonkey 5y ago

you can also optimize society because every time a human gets in the loop, trillions of cycles are wasted, and people / software / platforms are really far from efficient. actually if companies and software were designed differently (with teaching too, basically an ideal context) you could improve a lot of things with 10x factors just from the lack of resistance and pain at the operator level

MR4D 5y ago
This is a really good point you make. A simple example for me is how the ATM replaced the bank teller, but the ATM has been replaced with cards with chips in them. It’s a subtle, but huge change when magnified across society.
- agumonkey 5y ago
  are chips an issue ? having worked in various administrations, the time / energy / resources wasted due to old paper based workflow is flabbergasting you'd think after 50 years of mainstream computing they'd have some kind of adequate infrastructure but it's really really sad (they still have paper inbox for internal mail routing errors)

api 5y ago

Computing will never be finished like spoons in the software realm because software is like prose. It's a language where we write down our needs, wants, and desires, and instructions to obtain them, and those are always shifting. I could definitely see standard classical computer hardware becoming a commodity though. There will also be room for horizontal expansion for a LONG time. If costs drop through the floor then we could see desktops and servers with hundreds or thousands of 1nm cores.

imtringued 5y ago

The hardware will be finished. But the food we eat (the software) will keep changing.

GuB-42 5y ago

Are spoons really finished? I am sure plenty of people are designing better/cheaper spoons today. I love looking at simple, everyday objects and look at how they evolved over time. Like soda cans, water bottles. Even what may be the oldest tool, the knife is constantly evolving. Better steels, or even ceramic, folding mechanisms for pocket knives, handle materials, and of course all the industrial processes that gets us usable $1 stainless steel knives. Computers are the most complex objects man has created, there is no way it is going to be finished.