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Occam's razor suggests that the reason the current ideas seem boring is that you don't understand yet which ones have big potential. Microprocessors seem a gre

by pg 18y ago

Occam's razor suggests that the reason the current ideas seem boring is that you don't understand yet which ones have big potential. Microprocessors seem a great idea in retrospect, because we've seen now what they turned into, but initially hardly anyone cared about them, even within Intel.

Shamiq 18y ago
I'm sorry, I don't follow how you're applying Occam's Razor here.
- pg 18y ago
  If something is true of every period, you can explain it without recourse to a theory about why it's true of this particular period.
markessien 18y ago
It may not be possible to understand what they can become, but one can look at the industry and know roughly what will happen. Let's say some guy comes up with some really great hubcaps.He can grow to become the best hubcap maker in the world. But he's still just making hubcaps, and most people don't care about them. But the people who do stuff in media, for example music or tv, always have potential to change the industry. Same with anything communication related. These are core industries that are fundamental to human beings - so startups in those areas always have huge potential. Like muxtape for example, or justin.tv, those startups can change the world. They are not changing the world yet, but I can see that with the right things in place, they can change the world. It's the same with microprocessors, anyone who was in the field knew that if size went down, price went down and so on, microprocessors would make a huge difference. They did not predict the apps that would be enabled because of them. Why did they not? Microprocessors created a platform, and a platform opens a brand new field for new people to create ideas within. When a startup works on something that creates a new type of platform, then breakout ideas can happen on the platform. Hubcaps are not a platform that others can build on. They're the end of a line.
- Shamiq 18y ago
  Hubcaps as platforms sounds like the most interesting idea I've heard in a long time (I understand this was not the point you were trying to make). --Hubcap based games: Who can log the least number of hours? (if it spins,we can measure distance traveled) --Hubcap based communications: My cars recognize and exchange information (shopping lists, to-do lists, language courses) --Hubcap based entertainment: Quickly transfer songs/files/etc. -- hooks into your audio system. --Hubcap based computing: Use those idle cycles while your sitting at the light to help with gene folding. --Hubcap based energy: Spinners? Naw, they just charge my car's battery (self-powered units). Braindumps are fun!

by pg 18y ago

Shamiq 18y ago

I'm sorry, I don't follow how you're applying Occam's Razor here.

pg 18y ago
If something is true of every period, you can explain it without recourse to a theory about why it's true of this particular period.

markessien 18y ago

It may not be possible to understand what they can become, but one can look at the industry and know roughly what will happen. Let's say some guy comes up with some really great hubcaps.He can grow to become the best hubcap maker in the world. But he's still just making hubcaps, and most people don't care about them. But the people who do stuff in media, for example music or tv, always have potential to change the industry. Same with anything communication related. These are core industries that are fundamental to human beings - so startups in those areas always have huge potential. Like muxtape for example, or justin.tv, those startups can change the world. They are not changing the world yet, but I can see that with the right things in place, they can change the world. It's the same with microprocessors, anyone who was in the field knew that if size went down, price went down and so on, microprocessors would make a huge difference. They did not predict the apps that would be enabled because of them. Why did they not? Microprocessors created a platform, and a platform opens a brand new field for new people to create ideas within. When a startup works on something that creates a new type of platform, then breakout ideas can happen on the platform. Hubcaps are not a platform that others can build on. They're the end of a line.

Shamiq 18y ago
Hubcaps as platforms sounds like the most interesting idea I've heard in a long time (I understand this was not the point you were trying to make). --Hubcap based games: Who can log the least number of hours? (if it spins,we can measure distance traveled) --Hubcap based communications: My cars recognize and exchange information (shopping lists, to-do lists, language courses) --Hubcap based entertainment: Quickly transfer songs/files/etc. -- hooks into your audio system. --Hubcap based computing: Use those idle cycles while your sitting at the light to help with gene folding. --Hubcap based energy: Spinners? Naw, they just charge my car's battery (self-powered units). Braindumps are fun!