You Say You Want a Revolution?

Luke Muehlhauser is new to me but I'll have to check out his website more often. Follow this link and you'll see his excellent commentary on the effect of the Industrial Revolution on human prosperity.

You'll need to click on the graphic to see the rather small details here but this is the part I find most interesting, although it sounds macabre: The death rates per capita of major events in world history.

   An Lushan Rebellion                       5.6% of world population

   Genghis Kahn                                  9.5% of world population

   Black Death                                     9.7% of world population

   Worlds Wars + Spanish Flu             7%    of world population

I have to let that last one sink in for a moment. Both world wars plus the Spanish Flu epidemic (which killed a distant relative of mine) were less deadly than the Black Death and Genghis Kkan (as a percent of the population).

Transportation or Suicide?

I've been saying this for years and it's satisfying to see the technical world come around to my interpretation.

Is the transporter in Star Trek a suicide machine? If my molecules are disassembled, sent substantial distances, then reassembled then I have, in fact, died and been reborn. Or to think of it another way, I have died and a copy of me has been created.

Taking my body apart, atom-by-atom, is the definition of death. The transporter operator of a star ship has been killing people for a living.

I first came across this idea in an obscure science fiction story in the 60s, the name of which I've long ago forgotten. In the story, we send unmanned space craft to distant planets where they automatically build transporter receiver units. Once assembled, we begin transporting people and construction materials on the target planet.

It's a great idea only ... wait for it ... the people have to be willing to die and an echo of her or him is created on the distant world. That was the drama of that particular story.

I've proposed this dilemma to my family from time-to-time and the response is, "Shut up Dad. It's just a story."

October 20, 2017. Be there or be square.




Stalin's only weakness as the most evil dictator in history is that he had to complete with Hitler and Mao.

It's a Hairball!

CIO Magazine has an interesting take on IT operations that devolve into bottlenecks. Read the entire article: it's quick and interesting. It uses the snarky description of Hairball to discuss an uncontrolled development environment that evolves over time. (I think I'll steal that one.)

The article has one point with which I would quibble, the use of IT steering committees that become roadblocks instead of gates through which things move quickly. It says steering committees inherently become bureacratic tools for infighting. Maybe. A poorly organized one does. I've been a part of two that worked very, very well because they had a good charter, good participants, and good executive oversight. 

But, like I said, I quibble.

Capitalism! Is there nothing it can't do?

It looks like in the very near future, commercial space launches will be viable and SpaceX will be the leader.

The future: be there or be square!