Reed's Ruminations: The Past, Present, and Future
Reflections on science, technology, and computing — leavened by personal experience
Tag: Peter Medawar
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A Feeling for the Code
A thing of transfixing beauty, the code pirouettes gracefully, dancing in my mind, conjuring the possible.
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A Conversation on Designing the Future
SF author Bruce Sterling and I recently had a public conversation about the future. I offered some advice to the students in the audience. 1. Hang out with people not like yourself. 2. Take some risks. 3. Make new and original mistakes.
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Presentations, Humor and Memes
I have been reflecting on the nature of technical presentations. The motivations are manifold, the potential audiences are diverse, the expected outcomes varied, and there are so many ways to sink irretrievably into the quicksand of somnambulant soliloquy.When done well, however, public speaking is a form of performance art. Enjoy it, and help your listeners…
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The (Scientific) Good News
I am no behavioral psychologist, but I suspect that all children are born with the insatiable curiosity that sustains scientific curiosity. All too often, though, I fear that our educational system punishes curiosity and rewards conformity. Only a small fraction remains sufficiently iconoclastic and self-confident to resist, asking those seemingly annoying questions that defy authority…