future

Apocalyptic bullshit

Submitted by skeptic on Fri, 2018-03-23 21:25

Humans love miserable apocalyptic predictions, even when they are bullshit.

Lately a report published in Nature did the rounds on social media with headlines like

    Pacific plastic dump
    garbage dump
    more than twice the size of France
    Dumped Plastic Defiles Nature

The safety razor singularity

Submitted by skeptic on Tue, 2013-07-09 21:53

You may have missed it. We just passed through the Safety Razor Singularity, when safety razors achieved an infinite number of blades. Given the properties of infinity, I assume that means they have achieved consciousness. I have locked my bathroom from the outside, just to be sure.

news of IT's death is greatly exaggerated

Submitted by skeptic on Thu, 2013-06-20 18:12

© Can Stock Photo IncI'm not picking on Forrester, really I'm not, but they keep coming out with these Chicken ITle articles declaring the demise of something or other. Last time it was the service desk, [UPDATE: WRONG. Wrong. Wrong. Sorry no it wasn't Forrester last time, it was Gartner announcing the end of service desk. My apologies to Forrester]. now it is the whole danged IT department which apparently will be gone within seven years. Just like the previous article it is bollocks, and for the same reason: the article doesn't actually say what the sensationalist headline does.

Let's not underestimate the resilience of people and societies

Submitted by skeptic on Wed, 2013-05-29 11:16

Luddites react against technology because they lack vision. It's not their fault they can't foresee the future. Nobody can. But in every single other technology shift, entrepreneurs found a use for idle labour, and the efficiencies of technology meant there was new wealth to buy those new services. Don't fear the robot.

Chicken ITle, robots, and a chessboard

Submitted by skeptic on Mon, 2013-04-08 21:27

© Copyright Canstock Photo IncToday our new blog character returns. Chicken ITle draws our attention to those who announce catastrophic consequences for IT if we don't all rush off and do something. Usually these sky-falling folk are either analysts or vendors, because both profit from fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD). But sometimes they are book authors, pumping a book.

The New IT Age

Submitted by skeptic on Mon, 2013-03-04 04:00

We have a bit of a "New IT Age" - or is that "New Age IT"? - going on. I don't mean that like Charles Araujo's Quantum Age of IT, as a major transformation of how we do IT. I mean it in the same way as "New Age" thinking: i.e. a total abdication of rational or critical thought. Peace, love, dope, and brown rice ... and bad science. We haven't seen crystal IT or aromatherapy IT or holistic pyramid IT, but some days I feel as if it is just a matter of time. Tweet this.

On exponential systems

Submitted by skeptic on Mon, 2013-01-14 03:58

It is hard to extrapolate what is going to happen from any set of data. One thing is for sure: in the real world, any simple model that shows a continuing increase will run into a real physical limit. And if it is an exponentially increasing curve that we are forecasting, that limit is going to come sooner rather than later.

How prescient is Ray Kurzweil and how useful are his predictions?

Submitted by skeptic on Thu, 2012-12-27 00:31

Even a blind squirrel finds a few nuts. But Ray Kurzweil missed the Cloud, Facebook, Twitter, SaaS, phone apps, and Angry Birds.

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