Gartner identifies 7 major projects CIOs should consider during next 3 years – Nov 2010
I have terrible news – funny 404 alternative
Freeman Dyson’s Brain – Stewart Brand, Wired, Feb 2006
On the technology singularity - The technical tricks these people are talking about are only a small part of the human experience. They vastly overestimate their own importance.
On paradigm shifts - The Galileo revolution in astronomy was a prime example. The telescope was a tool that turned everything upside down.
On failure - You can’t possibly get a good technology going without an enormous number of failures. It’s a universal rule.
Against theory - There was an attempt at a theory of airplanes, but it was completely misleading. The Wright brothers, in fact, did much better without it. [Just go ahead and try stuff out] That’s what nature did. And it’s almost always true in technology.
On science vs invention - It’s as great a part of the human adventure to invent things as to understand them. It’s a shame [inventors] don’t get nobel prizes. I would abolish the PhD system. The PhD system is the real root of the evil of academic snobbery. People who have PhDs consider themselves a priesthood, and inventors generally don’t have PhDs.
On being connected – [Ester] said “You don’t come to Harvard to study. You come to Harvard to get to know the right people.” That’s exactly the secret of her success, of course. That’s why she can run these meetings. She knows everybody by sight, and that’s not trivial.
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