Quotes

Various quotes. I don't claim originality here, as nothing is new under the sun. But, poignant.

• Most of mankind's problems would be solved by a drastic reduction in the population

• Putting dishes in the dishwasher is not a math problem

• A good day is a long jog, a meal of fresh steak, garlic, and a lot of work getting done

• It is easier to destroy than it is to create. Don't destroy.

Self Driving Cars

• Autonomous vehicles will never be reliable. Humans can't even get "traffic lights" right, let alone self driving cars.

This one is a bit of a madlib, but it shows the ludicrous nature of our entrepreneurs. Underestimating how difficult a problem can be. The phrase "traffic lights", could be replaced with a number of other of similar items that are much simpler than self driving cars, yet have completely been messed up in society.

Other items:

• "Keeping humans from over populating the planet"
• "School systems"
• "Corruption out of our elected officials"
• "Keeping from Poisoning the environment"

The idea that humans will be able to figure out self driving cars, or speech to text: computer tasks that have eluded people's efforts since computers became popular... It's as viable as traveling to another planet. No amount of processing power can replace a human being. Apples and oranges. Computers are tools for humans, but they are not always replacements for humans.

School

What if learning was more important than grades?

Strange Things Humans Eat

Be skeptical of everything on earth. Why? Because people eat cereal. Cereal is a horrible food, for the following reasons:

1. it is a grain, yet humans are anatomically carnivores
2. it's loaded with sugar
3. it's also loaded with vitamins (which is an arbitrary name for various additives. Forget about the word vitamin. Does it even exist? Can you really eat the sun (vitamin D)? Wouldn't it be different from actually sitting in the sun and absorbing sun rays through your skin? tl;dr: Vitamins are bullshit.

All that withstanding, there is a dedicated aisle at the grocery store to this poison food. It's like walking through the twilight zone. Bright colours, and mascots on every box to appeal to young minds. Nearly every product with 10-30g sugar per serving. It's unreal. Be skeptical of everything.

Vitamins

"But wait, Vitamins are real, it's backed by medical science, and everything they say is truthful...", you might say. My response is: Real to who. Wikipedia defines vitamins as "A vitamin is an organic molecule ... that is an essential micronutrient which an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its metabolism." According to who? What organisms are we talking about? Are these human organisms? Plant organisms? What about the bacteria living at the bottom of the ocean that subsist off of methane? Do these get enough vitamin D? Must not, since the sun doesn't shine through. Vitamins are bullshit. Yes, there are certain substances you need to survive, but they can not be conveniently labeled vitamins. The label (vitamins) is the lie. Eat meat, and you will be healthy. Take vitamin supplements, and you might poison yourself.

IT

They call it Windows, because it gives a company in Seattle, a Window into your computer, through the internet.

They call it intel, because it gives the us gub intel on users (via management engine). I mean - it's in the name...! It couldn't be more obvious.

Microsoft is a lot like Nazi Germany. But instead of "gas all the jews", it's "gas all the free software folks". In the 90's, they worked actively against free software. Embrace, Extend, Extinguish. Then in the 2010's, they said they were wrong, and started working with "open source". It's like WW2 ended without ever disbanding the Axis. Then 15 years later, the same folks are going to come back and tell us they changed their minds, and they like Jewish people now... Suuuuurrrrrre. By the way, Look at my lovely collection of proprietary formats. .xlsx, .docx, we have all the proprietary formats you could ever need. Free software? What's that? Recommended reading for anyone who has an issue with this statement.

Engineers since antiquity: The more complex and intertwined you make a machine, the more points of failure, and eventually it will collapse like a house of cards. Simple is better. Systemd: More lines of code, more features. More complex is better.

And then all the jocks moved into programming|electronics, and it was not acceptable to just have fun anymore. You were never good enough. The work wasn't perfect. You were a rookie. The joke is that, nobody, nobody really knows whats going on with all the systems and subsystems. It's simply not possible. Technology has progressed too far, and most people are specialists. The failure to keep things simple is partly to blame.

e.g. Do you know everything there is to know about software? Ok, what about hardware? Do you know everything there is to know about hardware? Ok, what about the chemistry? Do you know everything there is to know about the chemistry? Ok, What about the software? You can't have them all. Life is simply too short, and knowledge is obfuscated too much.

Hardware

Look at DVDs. Blu rays diluted, and are acting to kill DVDs. But DVDs were good enough. You don't need 4K to watch a movie. 4K is great to read license plates, but you can watch and enjoy a movie in even 480p, let alone 720p or 1080p... With blu rays, came a dilution, and then CD/DVD drives were phased out of computers. Blu ray wasn't the only reason, but it had a part. Change is not progress.

Blu rays should've never happened for movies. It was technology for the sake of technology, but it was not a tool that was needed. DVDs already solved the problem of how to store movies on a disc. The same thing is happening now with USB3 / USBC and USB2. Whatever technology you create, remember that it is a tool to solve a problem. If you can't solve a problem, you have not made anything useful. You may also create problems if you are not careful. If you have made a hard to use piece of technology, you have created a shitty tool. Technology in and of itself, is not something to be proud of. What matters is what problems it solves.

So while Blu rays have already done their damage to DVDs, we can still watch USBC attack USB2.0 connectors. USB C is needed only for niche applications, ones where cables are plugged in and out constantly, such as cell phones. No where else is USB C needed. Yet, there are efforts to make USB C the only cable. It's 20 years too late for that, I think. Going down that road will only serve to dilute and hurt USB in general. USB is even less universal.

Stock Market

Here's an idea: Many things man creates are tools. Now, look at the stock market as a tool. What problem does the stock market solve? What problems does it create?

Ask someone why they use the stock market. "To make money" is the only real answer. Even a middle school student can understand this. Put some money in stocks, and you will hopefully get more out.

It's a tool to make money. But that's crazy. If there was really a tool to make money, the world would be ruined, or otherwise full of greedy people trying to take advantage of it. Thus, you have the stock market.

Wireless Power Transmission

Is wireless power transmission possible?

Yes, it's called the Sun. Next question.

Time

The future's reality may not be anything like today's world.