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Interestingly, I also work remotely from a rural farming area and have found that the farming community is a lot like the tech community. They, like you, love t

Interestingly, I also work remotely from a rural farming area and have found that the farming community is a lot like the tech community. They, like you, love the future and technology. Robotics is huge in agriculture right now. Tractors that drive themselves, cows that can milk themselves, how software can be used to improve the bottom line, etc. are hot topics, and come up frequently among my farming friends. In my eyes, if there is any competition, it isn't who has the biggest truck, it is who makes the most effective use of modern technology. In addition to being a developer, I also farm. Maybe I have a different perspective than you by being able to speak their language? It makes a big difference, in my opinion. I also enjoy being around programmers for the same reason. I find you can get into much deeper discussions more quickly when you have a shared background.

simoncion 12y ago
It's possible that austenallred can't relate well to farmers. It's also possible that he's like me in that he lived in a small town that had very few (or no) farmers. I've lived in The Sticks, surrounded by farmers.[0] I've also lived in small towns that contain no more than a couple of farmers. I'm not claiming that every small town lacks farmers, but I do know that some of them do. [0] It's hard to say that you're surrounded by people when your second-closest neighbor is a ten minute drive away, but that's the nature of back-country.
- randomdata 12y ago
  austenallred stated it was a farming community, but you are right that not all small communities are farming communities.
  - simoncion 12y ago
    Oh, geez. Some times I forget how to read. Sorry. :(
- austenallred 12y ago
  It was definitely a farming community; almost the entire town either farmed alfalfa for the biggest farm in town (my father-in-law's, incidentally), or had very small dairy farms. You either had a very small farm/ranch, herded sheep, or were a "sprinkler boy." It was/is definitely on the "dying" side of the innovation curve, though somehow those types hold on seemingly indefinitely on almost nothing (which I certainly respect). Certainly no robotics, no one would even know what "software" is. A couple people had iPads; they called them "machines." I guess not all small towns are identical :)
  - simoncion 12y ago
    At times, I forget how to read. Sorry about that. The phenomenon of zombie towns is one that mystifies me.
zachalexander 12y ago
> cows that can milk themselves What
- randomdata 12y ago
  Perhaps stated more accurately as: Choose when to milk themselves. A robot does the actual act of milking. With context of robotics already setup, I made assumptions based on that when making that statement. If I said that around farmers, they'd know exactly what I was talking about. I guess that goes back to being able to speak the language of the people you are interacting with. But if you're looking for more general information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_milking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_milking
- belorn 12y ago
  We used to assume that robots would have hands and feet and walk among us to do the number of boring jobs we wished someone else would do for us. What happened is that we started to carry them around (smartphones), or in this case, get animals to walk to the stationary robot so it can do the job it was designed for. We live now in the future, minus robotic hands and feet.

simoncion 12y ago

It's possible that austenallred can't relate well to farmers. It's also possible that he's like me in that he lived in a small town that had very few (or no) farmers. I've lived in The Sticks, surrounded by farmers.[0] I've also lived in small towns that contain no more than a couple of farmers. I'm not claiming that every small town lacks farmers, but I do know that some of them do. [0] It's hard to say that you're surrounded by people when your second-closest neighbor is a ten minute drive away, but that's the nature of back-country.

randomdata 12y ago
austenallred stated it was a farming community, but you are right that not all small communities are farming communities.
- simoncion 12y ago
  Oh, geez. Some times I forget how to read. Sorry. :(
austenallred 12y ago
It was definitely a farming community; almost the entire town either farmed alfalfa for the biggest farm in town (my father-in-law's, incidentally), or had very small dairy farms. You either had a very small farm/ranch, herded sheep, or were a "sprinkler boy." It was/is definitely on the "dying" side of the innovation curve, though somehow those types hold on seemingly indefinitely on almost nothing (which I certainly respect). Certainly no robotics, no one would even know what "software" is. A couple people had iPads; they called them "machines." I guess not all small towns are identical :)
- simoncion 12y ago
  At times, I forget how to read. Sorry about that. The phenomenon of zombie towns is one that mystifies me.

zachalexander 12y ago

> cows that can milk themselves What

randomdata 12y ago
Perhaps stated more accurately as: Choose when to milk themselves. A robot does the actual act of milking. With context of robotics already setup, I made assumptions based on that when making that statement. If I said that around farmers, they'd know exactly what I was talking about. I guess that goes back to being able to speak the language of the people you are interacting with. But if you're looking for more general information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_milking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_milking
belorn 12y ago
We used to assume that robots would have hands and feet and walk among us to do the number of boring jobs we wished someone else would do for us. What happened is that we started to carry them around (smartphones), or in this case, get animals to walk to the stationary robot so it can do the job it was designed for. We live now in the future, minus robotic hands and feet.