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This piece and the [EM Briefcase](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8228755 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8228755) made me realize how much IEEE Spect
by the_french 12y ago
This piece and the [EM Briefcase](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8228755 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8228755) made me realize how much IEEE Spectrum appears to be PR. Is this normal, are we being duped?
- tzs 12y agoWhat seemed PRish to you in those articles?
- chillingeffect 12y agoIt's not exactly pure PR/propaganda, but it's definitely the most consumer-oriented of IEEE's publications. I'd place it somewhere between mags like Popular Mechanics and full-on topic-specific engineering journals. I actually find it quite good in general, though I don't like reading about war tech; I'm sure the U.S. military pushes hard to get stories in it. And most people don't realize that most technology follows a military->big business->everyday consumer path. Which is why anyone who is not completely narcotized realizes self-driving cars won't be hitting the suburbs until they're thoroughly deployed in the military and internal to big business. So we are being duped in the way that our daydreams are supporting research that we'll be the last ones to enjoy... just look at the internet and cellphones. The military and big business had them for decades before "us".
- the_french 12y agoOne of my issues is that this article discusses the Zumwalt's main failures as being too 'avant-garde' where it was a classic example of a jack of all trades, master of none. The whole ship was supposed to have swappable 'mission packs' that would let it do anything while being stealthy, fast, cheap, modern etc... The article has a very pro-Zumwalt / Bath Iron works (mentioned several times) spin to it. The EM Briefcase was written by the president of the company cited in the article (Metatech). It sounds a lot like PG's suits essay.