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Personally, I have a different problem: Too many stars are hurt during the playoffs (and the season as well, but not as important). Which means that it's just s

by Tarsul 2y ago

Personally, I have a different problem: Too many stars are hurt during the playoffs (and the season as well, but not as important). Which means that it's just sad and I have less reason to watch because in the end it mostly comes down to which teams are healthiest the most. (e.g. look at which teams Boston played last playoffs and what happened to the stars of their opponents...) Also, crypto and gambling ads annoy as well.

mdanger007 2y ago
Tech companies have the same problems as the NBA. there used to be career stars like Claude Shannon developing cultures of excellence out of teams like IBM, but just like Larry Bird and the Celtics, the free agent market and stars chasing the dollar has diminished the culture and thus the product.
- xhkkffbf 2y ago
  Didn't Shannon play for Bell Labs? Not IBM?
  - PaulHoule 2y ago
    Shannon worked for Bell Labs and then got traded to MIT.
  - mdanger007 2y ago
    Good call!
- chollida1 2y ago
  > but just like Larry Bird and the Celtics, the free agent market and stars chasing the dollar has diminished the culture and thus the product. Um Larry bird never went the free agent route. He always played for the Celtics who drafted him. He's one person who doesn't fit your narrative.
  - mdanger007 2y ago
    That’s the point
- dahart 2y ago
  This seems like very rose tinted glasses, and I think the summary is backwards. Shannon was an academic, and spent a little time at Bell Labs, but didn’t work at IBM. Business has always chased profits, by definition, it was absolutely no different in 1950. Bell & IBM had little pockets of ‘excellence’ in their research divisions that left behind a nice narrative of idyllic sounding work for a very few lucky people. But since then, the number of academics in tech has gone way up, the number of companies developing tech has gone way up, and the number of pockets where smart people can focus on inventing things is enormous today compared to 1950. I don’t believe either culture or product has diminished at all, I think it’s the opposite, things have gotten much better. Bell & IBM made telephones and accounting computers. Today we have games, AI, self-driving cars, mobile devices, the internet, digital arts, just to name a few. It might take time for the stories of the good places to work to percolate, but I think we have vastly more & bigger cultures of excellence today than Shannon ever dreamed of.
  - mdanger007 2y ago
    I appreciate your response, but I just don’t think any of the technologies you cite come close to the foundational technologies they rely upon like information theory or wire message transmission. Foundational technologies require time, culture and investment not just an influx of VC cash, and a few months of clever experimentation
    - dahart 2y ago
      Your top comment was about cultures of excellence in corporate research, and the economics of product development. Now we’re having a debate about the most impactful tech and/or researcher? Nothing on my small list of examples was done on VC cash in a few months. And my list was not exhaustive (indicated by “just to name a few”), I’m leaving it up to you to name today’s impactful tech. You don’t think any foundational technology development is happening in the world today? Why? I disagree. Let’s add quantum, smartphones, CRISPR, 3d printing and bitcoin to the list. What is your criteria or metric for declaring information theory above AI? AI is building on theories of intelligence and thought and latent information content in ways Shannon never thought of. We don’t know which of today’s papers will have the most lasting impression yet, let’s revisit this question in the year 2070. I simply pointed out that places to do good research like Shannon was doing are far more common now than when he was doing it.
83947584 2y ago
Is that actually a business problem though? For football fans injuries are part of the excitement.

by Tarsul 2y ago

mdanger007 2y ago

Tech companies have the same problems as the NBA. there used to be career stars like Claude Shannon developing cultures of excellence out of teams like IBM, but just like Larry Bird and the Celtics, the free agent market and stars chasing the dollar has diminished the culture and thus the product.

xhkkffbf 2y ago
Didn't Shannon play for Bell Labs? Not IBM?
- PaulHoule 2y ago
  Shannon worked for Bell Labs and then got traded to MIT.
- mdanger007 2y ago
  Good call!
chollida1 2y ago
> but just like Larry Bird and the Celtics, the free agent market and stars chasing the dollar has diminished the culture and thus the product. Um Larry bird never went the free agent route. He always played for the Celtics who drafted him. He's one person who doesn't fit your narrative.
- mdanger007 2y ago
  That’s the point
dahart 2y ago
This seems like very rose tinted glasses, and I think the summary is backwards. Shannon was an academic, and spent a little time at Bell Labs, but didn’t work at IBM. Business has always chased profits, by definition, it was absolutely no different in 1950. Bell & IBM had little pockets of ‘excellence’ in their research divisions that left behind a nice narrative of idyllic sounding work for a very few lucky people. But since then, the number of academics in tech has gone way up, the number of companies developing tech has gone way up, and the number of pockets where smart people can focus on inventing things is enormous today compared to 1950. I don’t believe either culture or product has diminished at all, I think it’s the opposite, things have gotten much better. Bell & IBM made telephones and accounting computers. Today we have games, AI, self-driving cars, mobile devices, the internet, digital arts, just to name a few. It might take time for the stories of the good places to work to percolate, but I think we have vastly more & bigger cultures of excellence today than Shannon ever dreamed of.
- mdanger007 2y ago
  I appreciate your response, but I just don’t think any of the technologies you cite come close to the foundational technologies they rely upon like information theory or wire message transmission. Foundational technologies require time, culture and investment not just an influx of VC cash, and a few months of clever experimentation
  - dahart 2y ago
    Your top comment was about cultures of excellence in corporate research, and the economics of product development. Now we’re having a debate about the most impactful tech and/or researcher? Nothing on my small list of examples was done on VC cash in a few months. And my list was not exhaustive (indicated by “just to name a few”), I’m leaving it up to you to name today’s impactful tech. You don’t think any foundational technology development is happening in the world today? Why? I disagree. Let’s add quantum, smartphones, CRISPR, 3d printing and bitcoin to the list. What is your criteria or metric for declaring information theory above AI? AI is building on theories of intelligence and thought and latent information content in ways Shannon never thought of. We don’t know which of today’s papers will have the most lasting impression yet, let’s revisit this question in the year 2070. I simply pointed out that places to do good research like Shannon was doing are far more common now than when he was doing it.

83947584 2y ago

Is that actually a business problem though? For football fans injuries are part of the excitement.