The exponential age

[pendell]

seen on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY)

Welcome to the exponential age. This year, the amount of unique information generated will be measured in exabytes (10 to the 19th -- a billion is 10 to the 9th). That is more information than has been generated in the past five thousand years.

There are more honor students in India than there are American students, period.
...
The top ten jobs in demand today did not exist in 2004.


All in all, there's are opportunities never before seen in the world if you're quick and adaptable -- but it's also very easy to be left behind if you don't stay on top of the game. Gonna be tough the older I get, but I'll be trying too. Good luck to everyone!

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Knaight]

Welcome to the exponential age. This year, the amount of unique information generated will be measured in exabytes (10 to the 19th -- a billion is 10 to the 9th). That is more information than has been generated in the past five thousand years.
This is questionable at best, and depends on how one wants to classify "unique information generated". It's a largely arbitrary figure due to how nebulous "information" is, and while it might be true based on the definition used in the video, it doesn't necessarily mean much.


There are more honor students in India than there are American students, period.
That's to be expected due to the population difference. Moreover, that's a very questionable interpretation of what was actually said. "The 25% of India's population with the highest IQs...is greater than the population of the U.S." is merely an obtuse way of saying that India's population is greater than4 times that of the U.S. The "highest IQs" bit is irrelevant, any fluid measuring system will produce that result. For instance:

"The 25% of India's population with the lowest income is larger than the population of the U.S."

"The 25% of India's population that most appreciates the color green is larger then the population of the U.S."

"The 25% of India's population that has the least desire to feed peanuts to martians on Pluto is larger than the population of the U.S."

All of these statements take a larger population, stick in a percentage of a trait that is variable and fluid and thus has an upper quartile, and make it look like something can be said about India simply because of it's population. The first actually seems reasonable at first glance, but is every bit as valid as the other two. Also, India has a population of 12.1 hundred million. The U.S. has a population of 3.1 hundred million. 25% of 12.1 is 3.025, which rounds to 3.0, as such the 25% figure is wrong.


The top ten jobs in demand today did not exist in 2004.
This is largely due to reclassification. What bits are covered by what job get mixed up, the new packages of old work get renamed, and it is called a new job, despite only minor changes.

[Tirian]

This is questionable at best, and depends on how one wants to classify "unique information generated". It's a largely arbitrary figure due to how nebulous "information" is, and while it might be true based on the definition used in the video, it doesn't necessarily mean much.

Yup. I mean, it doesn't even pass the giggle test that the amount of information generated this year will be greater than the total created over the past five years. The tipping point of human-generated mathematical calculations is shockingly recent, but it'd be closer to five years than one.

The whole video needs a [citation needed] sticker slapped on it, and half of it needs a [who cares?] sticker too. I don't know if I should be more scared that India has a larger population than us or that Bermuda is so small! :smallsigh:

[Knaight]

The whole video needs a [citation needed] sticker slapped on it, and half of it needs a [who cares?] sticker too. I don't know if I should be more scared that India has a larger population than us or that Bermuda is so small! :smallsigh:

Honestly, a lot of that is how it's spun. All the quote on India actually tells us is that the population is at least 4 times that of the U.S., which is incorrect anyways. The way they phrased it is clearly supposed to look like "The U.S. is being surpassed in intelligence and falling behind", and the whole thing is a deceptive mess of a non sequitor. The Bemuda quote is similar, as all that actually tells us is that Bermuda is tiny and at least modern, where it is spun as "hey look, the big economies are becoming irrelevant technologically".

[Karoht]

The whole video needs a [citation needed] sticker slapped on it, and half of it needs a [who cares?] sticker too. I don't know if I should be more scared that India has a larger population than us or that Bermuda is so small! :smallsigh:
Agree to both stickers.
Although to answer the [who cares?] part, I'm always interested in the sheer amount of computing power (and by extention, information generating power) of the planet as a benchmark for sort of where our progress and rate of progress sits. But, following Moore's Law tends to provide the same or very similar estimation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law

The Exponential Age is kind of a cool name. And following the curve of many progression charts, it might even be an apt name. Exponential energy use, population growth, water and food use, information processing capabiltiy, etc. There are quite a few curves in this day and age which are Exponential. At worst that sounds very exciting or distressing, depending on your outlook. Either we're hurtling towards our doom at an exponential rate, or we are hurtling towards a bright and shiney future at an exponential rate.
It's not all that relevant to some and of only passing interest to others, but some probably enjoy thinking about such.

But the statistics regarding India (if they can even be called statistics, let alone relevant statistics) and such are indeed a waste of time, and seem largely there to provoke some kind of reaction. I'm not an American, but if I was, why would I care IF India was producing vastly more and smarter people than USA? What does it mean, why is it relevant. This sounds more like some kind of fear mongering, akin to the type you hear when people talk about China and economic growth on Fox News.