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I think the most important thing is it proves it can be done. At one point it was thought impossible to run a 4 minute mile. There were all kinds of scientific

I think the most important thing is it proves it can be done. At one point it was thought impossible to run a 4 minute mile. There were all kinds of scientific sounding explanations why it just couldn’t be done. Then someone did it. Shortly after that, lots of people did it, because now people knew it was possible. If this is for real, it proves it can be done. Tons of money, work, and innovation will follow once people know the problem can be solved.

jncfhnb 3y ago
I’ve heard this repeated. I vaguely recall it at least being a point of discussion in the novel Misery. But… that seems like such a stupid idea. What evidence could they possibly have suggested?
- deleted 3y ago
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- zimpenfish 3y ago
  I think over time it's developed into one of those Just So stories whereas the reality is probably a bit more prosaic[0] [0] https://www.scienceofrunning.com/2017/05/the-roger-bannister-effect-the-myth-of-the-psychological-breakthrough.html https://www.scienceofrunning.com/2017/05/the-roger-bannister...
- rasz 3y ago
  Dont know about the mile thing, but I can bring another anecdote - modem speeds and breaking 33.6Kbit barrier on ~3.5KHz BW limited wires. Oral History of Brent Townshend (inventor of 56Kbit PCM modem mode) [Computer History Museum] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqudP6ojEDI&t=6049 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqudP6ojEDI&t=6049. Transcript: they've been trying to get modems to go faster and there's this whole thing called shannon information theory which says theoretically given all the parameters of that copper line and what's going on that the maximum speed would be 35 kilobits per second you can't go faster than that it was theory they're you know 95 percent of the way to the theoretical limit and michael had this engineer that worked with him andy norrell which is like a genius engineer um he's really amazing understands modems and everything perfectly and and michael recounted you know every six months or so you talk to andy and say you know you're sure there's no way that we can go faster andy would say no you can't go faster than that this is the limit there's not any way and so so michael was on the phone with me and i said i have a way of going faster and you know well you know a lot of people think so but we think it's max p and i say well i've got these credentials i've been working at Bell Labs he said wait a second i got to get somebody else in the room too i get andy and you know andy comes in on the conference call and michael asking you know is there any way to go faster than 33 he says no 35 is the limit and you know theoretically and i said well you can do it like this you know i say in like three sentences you could do this and this and this and then he says oh yeah that would work

jncfhnb 3y ago

I’ve heard this repeated. I vaguely recall it at least being a point of discussion in the novel Misery. But… that seems like such a stupid idea. What evidence could they possibly have suggested?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
zimpenfish 3y ago
I think over time it's developed into one of those Just So stories whereas the reality is probably a bit more prosaic[0] [0] https://www.scienceofrunning.com/2017/05/the-roger-bannister-effect-the-myth-of-the-psychological-breakthrough.html https://www.scienceofrunning.com/2017/05/the-roger-bannister...
rasz 3y ago
Dont know about the mile thing, but I can bring another anecdote - modem speeds and breaking 33.6Kbit barrier on ~3.5KHz BW limited wires. Oral History of Brent Townshend (inventor of 56Kbit PCM modem mode) [Computer History Museum] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqudP6ojEDI&t=6049 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqudP6ojEDI&t=6049. Transcript: they've been trying to get modems to go faster and there's this whole thing called shannon information theory which says theoretically given all the parameters of that copper line and what's going on that the maximum speed would be 35 kilobits per second you can't go faster than that it was theory they're you know 95 percent of the way to the theoretical limit and michael had this engineer that worked with him andy norrell which is like a genius engineer um he's really amazing understands modems and everything perfectly and and michael recounted you know every six months or so you talk to andy and say you know you're sure there's no way that we can go faster andy would say no you can't go faster than that this is the limit there's not any way and so so michael was on the phone with me and i said i have a way of going faster and you know well you know a lot of people think so but we think it's max p and i say well i've got these credentials i've been working at Bell Labs he said wait a second i got to get somebody else in the room too i get andy and you know andy comes in on the conference call and michael asking you know is there any way to go faster than 33 he says no 35 is the limit and you know theoretically and i said well you can do it like this you know i say in like three sentences you could do this and this and this and then he says oh yeah that would work