Reed's Ruminations: The Past, Present, and Future
Reflections on science, technology, and computing — leavened by personal experience
Category: Personal
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The AI Whispered Your Name …
You have probably been the unwitting protagonist in the following social horror movie. A stranger approaches you and begins chatting animatedly, like an old acquaintance or confidant. Meanwhile, you nod vaguely, half-listening while seized by internal panic. You frantically attempt to triangulate a face, name and a context. It is a study in cognitive dissonance,…
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Geek Versus Chic
For much of my time at Microsoft, I wore two hats. As head of the eXtreme Computing Group (XCG), I oversaw research and advanced technology prototyping. Simultaneously, I also headed the Technology Strategy and Policy Group (TSPG), navigating the interplay between business and global regulation. This duality kept me in a state of near-constant motion.…
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RENCI and the Digital Antique Shop
In 2004, I moved to North Carolina to found the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI). My goal was to bring a new approach to computationally mediated problem solving, one rooted in multidisciplinary teams and focused on important and vexing societal problems – health, environment, society, and economics. In a phrase, to be a catalyst for innovation.…
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A 21st Century Student Experience, Looking Back
N.B. Back in 1999, when I was a computer science professor and department head at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), I considered all that I knew about technology and research trends in computing, wireless communications, networking, modeling and simulation, and I asked myself, “What could life be like for my typical student in…
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Courtside at the Digital Revolution
During the past fifty years, I have been privileged to see the digital revolution courtside, as well as play the game myself. It’s a journey from physical media – punched cards, paper tape, and typewritten documents – to digital media, high-speed computing (megaflops, gigaflops, teraflops, and petaflops), high-speed broadband, powerful consumer devices, and globe-spanning AI…
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HPCDan Ports Reed’s Ruminations
N.B. As I began this piece, I realized I was also deep in thought about being a witness and participant in the larger digital revolution. This post covers the mechanics and the pain of the blog migration. My next post will cover the memories of the digital revolution and my […]