Reed's Ruminations: The Past, Present, and Future
Reflections on science, technology, and computing — leavened by personal experience
Category: Random Musings
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A Question to Ponder
What probability of successful return would you accept to be the first human to set foot on Mars? The question speaks to the centrality of our humanity, our insatiable curiosity and our hope to be remembered for having done something new, for having made a difference.
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Science: It’s About the Wide-Eyed Wonder
The next time you see a small child, staring in wide eyed, open mouthed wonder at some action or object, remember and savor the experience. It is why you are a scientist or an engineer, asking questions and staring in amazement at the answers the experiments reveal, still a child at heart.
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Why We Compute
Why do we, as researchers and practitioners, have this deep and abiding love of computing? Why do we compute? I suspect it is a deeper, more primal yearning, one that underlies all of science and engineering and that unites us in a common cause. It is the insatiable desire to know and understand. From terascale…
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Globally Interconnected, Globally Worried
In a world of global interconnectedness, we are united not only by ubiquitious and nearly instantaneous communications but also by coupled economic systems. The European sovereign debt crisis , pressure on the Euro, the fractious debate over raising the United States’ debt limit and the interdependence economies and global trade mean that we truly are…
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What Really Matters
With a seven year old’s theological certainty, I knew she in heaven, and the preacher did too. The only question in his mind and mine was whether the rest of us were good enough to get there with her. With the bar set this high, the preacher and I both had some serious doubts.
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On Licking the Cookies
Licking the cookies refers to claiming action or skill in an area but in a way that prevents anything from happening. It is intended to conjure an image of a cookie plate, where one licks the cookies then returns them to the plate, rendering them inedible by all.