Reed's Ruminations: The Past, Present, and Future
Reflections on science, technology, and computing — leavened by personal experience
Category: Current Affairs
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Commencement: The Inside Story
Let’s clear up a few things about the history and functions of those strange hats and robes, the archaic academic regalia one wears at commencement ceremonies. A mortarboard, despite the name, should not be confused with bricklaying or a brick hod. It’s a hat, albeit a funny looking one.
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Research and Innovation
As a lifelong researcher (at least my professional life), I periodically remind myself that the return on investment for basic research is sometimes long, but the payoff can be dramatic.
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Jaron Lanier: Time’s Thinker
Time magazine annually publishes a list of its 100 Most Influential People in the World. This year, my Microsoft XCG colleague, Jaron Lanier, was named to this list in the thinker category.
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Consumerization of IT and Research
When a corporate, government or university IT department of the 1970s debated an upgrade to its IBM S/370 mainframes, it is doubtful that the IT director was in any way influenced by the computing experiences or opinions of their teenage children. Today,smartphones, social networks, consumer email, cloud services, community software and tools are blurring the…
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Volcanoes, Travel and Social Networks
Many of us have had family, friends, colleagues or acquaintances stranded far from home by the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano. At one point, I joked with one friend that he should consider a land route to central Europe, catch the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok, kayak across the Bering Strait to Alaska, then drive down…
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March Madness, The Zone and The Magic
Over the past thirty years, I have asked scientists of varying distinction and age and across cultures and disciplines to explain the rationale for their intellectual passions. After some prodding and embarrassment, most tell a variant of the same story. It’s the shared tale of The Magic. I suspect you know it too.