Reed's Ruminations: The Past, Present, and Future
Reflections on science, technology, and computing — leavened by personal experience
Tag: culture
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My Big Scientific Data Are Lonely
An old joke defines data mining as (insert possessive gesture here) data are mine. Sadly, this hoary saw is more often truthful than humorous. We must find a new way forward that defines the principles and processes for protecting intellectual property while also creating appropriate cultural and economic rewards for data sharing and sustainability. This…
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No, Maybe, Yes, Obviously: Telling the Future the Past
In high-performance computing, we have seen many technology transitions, as vector supercomputers were supplanted by symmetric multiprocessors (SMPs) then by commodity clusters. The latter were recently augmented by GPUs. Each of these disruptive discontinuities brings community challenges. Indeed, the Kubler-Ross model of the stages of grief is sometimes apt – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and…
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Innovation Friction
What enables some groups, companies and regions and even countries to be innovative over long periods, whereas others struggle to adapt to changing technologies, economic circumstances and social expectations? Technology change, despite its many challenges, is relatively easy. Culture change is far more difficult, for people and organizations cling to the familiar as if it…
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Small Planet, Large Planet
I still dream of the suborbital transport that is described so cavilierly in science fiction novels. A semi-ballistic suborbital flight could cross the Atlantic in less than an hour.
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Impact, Not Indicators or Artifacts
N.B. I also write for the Communications of the ACM (CACM). The following essay recently appeared on the CACM blog. Publish and/or perish; proposals and reports; research, teaching and service: these are the “death and taxes” equivalents for life in major research universities. Success — or at least promotion and tenure – is normally measured…
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Bridging Cultures for Collaboration
One group was dressed in t-shirts, shorts and sandals and would have blended nicely with the nearby beachgoers. The second group was dressed in conservative business suits that would not have drawn a second glance in the corporate world. Imagine my surprise when I saw members of both groups entering the building where I was…