1970 In from three to eight years we will have a machine with the
general intelligence of an average human being. (
Marvin Minsky)
1988 Computer viruses are an urban myth. (
Peter Norton)
1993 I view the landslide of C use in education as something of a calamity. (
Niklaus Wirth)
2000 Supercomputers will achieve one human brain capacity by 2010, and
personal computers will do so by about 2020. (
Ray Kurzweil)
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion,
butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance
accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give
orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem,
pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently,
die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
Robert A. Heinlein
Any computer project will take twice as long as you think it will even
when you take into account Hofstadter's law. Hofstadter's law (
Douglas
Hofstadter)
The computer allows you to make mistakes faster than any other
invention, with the possible exception of handguns and tequila.
Mitch Ratcliffe.
[Proofs that odd numbers are prime]
- Mathematician: 1 is prime, 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, therefore, by induction, all odd numbers are prime.
- Physicist: 1 is prime, 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is a bad data point, 11 is prime, 13 is prime...
- Engineer: 1 is prime, 3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, 9 is approximately prime, 11 is prime, 13 is prime...
- Computer Scientist: 1 is prime, 1 is prime, 1 is prime, 1 is prime, 1 is prime,
Here is a recipe for managing complexity with simple
elements, taken from the book "Out of Control - The New Biology of
Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World" by
Kevin Kelly.
This comes out of robot research, and (of course) biology:
- Do simple things first
- Learn to do them flawlessly
- Add new layers of activity over the results of the simple tasks.
- Don't change the simple things.
- Make the new layer work as flawlessly as the simple.
- Repeat, ad infinitum.
"Complexity is grown from simple systems that already work."
"Pascal gives you a water pistol filled with distilled water. C not only
gives you a loaded .357, it points it at your head as a default. Why do
you think Pascal is taught in school? And which would you rather have
when there was a hungry bear in the area?"
Jim Harkins
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
Joseph Campbell
- Once over the hill, you pick up speed.
- I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.
- If it weren't for STRESS I'd have no energy at all.
- Whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.
- Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.
- Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.
- If you're too open minded, your brains will fall out.
- If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.
- Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.
- Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.
- A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
- Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.
- Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
- Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.
- Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
- By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.
- Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.
There are 4 men who want to cross a bridge. They all begin on the same
side. You have 17 minutes to get all of them across to the other side.
It is night. There is one flashlight. A maximum of two people can cross
at one time. Any party who crosses, either 1 or 2 people, must have the
flashlight with them. The flashlight must be walked back and forth, it
cannot be thrown, etc. Each man walks at a different speed. A pair must
walk together at the rate of the slower man's pace.
- Man 1: 1 minute to cross
- Man 2: 2 minutes to cross
- Man 3: 5 minutes to cross
- Man 4: 10 minutes to cross
For example if Man 1 and Man 4 walk across first, 10 Minutes have elapsed when they get to the other side of the bridge. If Man 4 returns with the flashlight, a total of 20 minutes have passed, and you have failed the mission. GOOD LUCK. (
BridgePuzzleSolution)
A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man
down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised
my friend I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."
The man below says, "Yes. You are in a hot air balloon, hovering approximately 30 feet above this
field. You are between 40 and 42 degrees N. latitude and between 58 and 60 degrees W. longitude."
"You must be an engineer," says the balloonist.
"I am," replies the man. "How did you know?"
"Well," says the balloonist, everything you have told me is technically correct, but I have no
idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost."
The man below says, "You must be a manager."
"I am,", replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?"
"Well," says the man, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You have made a
promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem.
The fact is you are in the exact same position you were in before we met, but now it is
somehow my fault."
An atom walks into a bar looking glum and orders a double. The bartender says, "Hey pal,
you look terrible, what's wrong?"
The atom says, "I lost an electron today."
The bartender says, "Are you sure?"
The atom says, "Yeah, I'm positive."
A neutron walks into a proton bar, protons everywhere, orders a drink and
asks how much.
The bartender says, "For you, no charge."
KnightsTour14Squares
A patented impossible device
And why it's impossible
char *p="char *p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
See also:
http://www.eleves.ens.fr:8080/home/madore/computers/quine.html
Ma nishtana ha-laila ha-zeh mi-kol ha-leilot?
--
DaleBrayden - 08 Jul 2002
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