Did you know?

[purple gelatinous cube o' Doom]

Check out this little presentation I found on my brother's AIM profile. Some of the facts that are presented are absolutely astonishing.

https://umconnect.umn.edu/didyouknow/

[reorith]

those are some interesting points. 14 different jobs by the time they're 38? dang.

[Ego Slayer]

Does that make anyone else's very soul cry, as it does mine?

Too many people.
Too many people.
Too many people...
Get them away...

[Don Julio Anejo]

Hm... I'm on my 5th job right now (I'm 19).

Crap. That means I'll turn 38 by the time I'll turn 23... :eek:

[Orzel]

can't wait 'til the demon/aliens attack.

On job # 4 at 23.

[StupidFatHobbit]

I think it's wonderful. It's an exciting century to be alive in. None of this stuff means "we're all doooooomed!", it means there are a whole lot more changes and challenges that people alive today will have to learn to deal with.

As for 14 jobs, I'm still a couple of years away from being 38 and I have had a lot more than 14 jobs, if you count everything from my first after-school job at age 12 right up to the present day. I'm really not sure why that one is shocking. Even if you only count the jobs you have as an adult, say from age 21-22ish when most people graduate university, and you stayed in each job for two years, that's already eight jobs by 38. Once you throw in all the holiday jobs, temp jobs, kid jobs and other little stuff, most people would easily exceed 14.

The story behind this slideshow is cool. The original was done by Karl Fisch, a schoolteacher in Colorado, for a faculty presentation. Somehow it went viral. Afterwards it got tidied up a bit, but the basic message is the same. Fisch's blog and stuff about the slideshow is here (http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2006/08/did-you-know.html) if anyone is interested.

[Midnight Son]

I'm 36 and have had 9 different jobs. I'd better hurry up. I think I'm falling behind.

[The Orange Zergling]

Does that make anyone else's very soul cry, as it does mine?

Too many people.
Too many people.
To many people...
Get them away...

Makes you feel small compared to everything else, doesn't it?

[evisiron]

That was cool. Thanks for sharing.

[Dragonrider]

The possibilities are incredible.....

[Occasional Sage]

I'm curious how they define "jobs" in terms of "14 by 38," since they also stress the short time people spend with one company. I've been with my present employer for about seven years now (I'm 31) and have no idea how they would count me. My first job I held in two locations: one job, or two? I've been promoted or have transferred to three more. The obvious answer is that they would count is as four jobs, but without citations I can't check the source and see what spin has been put on their numbers.

Also, in a simiar-but-not-so-serious vein, see this forcast of life in 2050 (http://www.marriedtothesea.com/111807/life-in-2050.gif).

[Sage of Laputa]

Oh man, that was fairly intense. It pretty much sums up that "The Singularity is Near." That was quite thrilling and worrisome at the same time.

[potatocubed]

Meh. It's an interesting presentation, but I see stuff like that and all I can think of are the rocket cars and household robots of the 1950s. I challenge anyone, scientist or not, to accurately predict the state of the world next week, let alone in 15 years.

I am, however, quite taken with the line "We're training students for jobs that don't exist, using technology that hasn't been invented, to solve problems that we don't know are problems yet." There's something very Lewis Carroll to it that appeals to me. :smallsmile:

Also, job number 5 at 27.

[Pyro]

Interesting presentation, although the one from the link took too long to buffer so I used the one found Here (http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/06/did-you-know-20.html)

Overall very cool.

[hyperfreak497]

Maybe it was just me, but I loved that background music...

[Leper_Kahn]

Did you know?

Yes, yes I did...

Just kidding. I have seen it before though. Great video.

[Mr._Blinky]

Maybe it was just me, but I loved that background music...

Ditto. I've heard it before, and keep trying to find a copy. :(

Anyways, you know what this all means?

...In a hundred years or so the human race will be obsolete.

[Lykan]

Ah... Yeah, my graphics comm teacher showed me this.

It's a bit eerie....

[Devils_Advocate]

Does that make anyone else's very soul cry, as it does mine?
It makes my soul sing.


Anyways, you know what this all means?

...In a hundred years or so the human race will be obsolete.
Here's hopin'! Without all that progress, we'd all be dead by then anyway, and just replaced with another crop of souped-up apes. I'd rather be replaced by something superior to that. Ideally, far superior. Why not shoot for the sky?

And that's not even taking into consideration the potential development of stuff that will allow us to not be dead by then.

ONWARDS TOWARD ASCENSION!! :smallsmile:

... Um, with all due caution, of course. :smallredface:

[Reinboom]

Very interesting presentation.. though I must also point at the 1950's thought of what the world now would be like.
Most of this is growth comparison and estimates assuming that it doesn't slow down. I believe it shall always keep growing, just, not as fast as it is currently.
The china and india things with the high IQ are creative comparisons, and mean rather little. Given that they just have a rather large population, it should only be compared in percents instead of direct value. I would imagine, if in a hypothetical world where all classrooms contain exactly 20 children, that in general IQs would be near the same curve in most countries. Perhaps excelling a bit in a few and lacking a bit in others - but otherwise rather similar.

[Dhavaer]

That thing was really, really slow on my computer for some reason.

3rd job at 20.

[ApatheticDespot]

...So we should all be terrified of Asians and computers? And should one day there be Asian Computers, Gods help us all!

I honestly have no idea what that presentation was trying to say, I mean it leaps from unwashed hoards of Chinese nerds to employment statistics to the cost of fiber optic cable? Even ignoring the whole racism thing, it was bizarrely disjointed and its information was frankly dubious at best (speaking as a computer science student planning to go into AI research, the idea that we're only 5 years away from a computer which can be considered an instance of cognition at all, let alone one superior to the human brain sounds a tad silly).

Am I missing something here? Is it really just saying we should all be racist Luddites, or am I just being unobservant again?

[Dallas-Dakota]

Here's just one of my theories.

Y = Ability to inhabit other worlds.
X= time to develop space travel
When X has passed over there will be an industrial time before then, it will still be running after X, X is 99% of the time deadly to the enviroment, Humanity is still curious, and they will try to inhabit other worlds, either for fear of Earths destruction or overpopulation, They first realize they have to develop observing systems to observe other worlds and their climates etc. that will take around R years, space travel is still going on and has destroyed the climate for S%, then there is 3 % chance of finding such an climate and the ability to reach it is there, then about 20% of that 3% is able to do that, that concludes that around 0,6% of the times another world will be inhabited, then Earth will be soonly destroyed by the industries, that will leak out for human is to curious to let that be a secret, and there will be mass panic, in that time between V(the time the secret got out) and the time of earths destruction there will be a mass launch of objects cabable of travelling in space, 80% of those will be rushed off and not done correctly and crash into eachother or burn up in the sun or land on an unhabitle planet, they are dead, you then have the 20% has proper Space rocket(for lack of better word) only 10% of them will have the proper coordinates, and 5% of that 10% will be smart enough to follow the ones who does(government spacecrafts etc.), that leaves us with 15% of the people who have left earth, 10/15% will die of lack of food, burn up in the atmoshpfer of W(the new planet), or land incorrectly on W, only 20% of those times/people will land correctly, only 1% of that, lets say the maximum, 5% will be able to start an new civilazation so thats 20% of that, that will so be around 200 worlds inhabited before Humanity has found an way to mass-produce items and use that way, overall, when that happens, humans will continue to inhabit planets until they meet another new species that doesnt allow them, or when the sun dies out.

So, Yup, there is hope, only a fools hope:smalltongue:

[Rare Pink Leech]

...So we should all be terrified of Asians and computers? And should one day there be Asian Computers, Gods help us all!

I honestly have no idea what that presentation was trying to say, I mean it leaps from unwashed hoards of Chinese nerds to employment statistics to the cost of fiber optic cable? Even ignoring the whole racism thing, it was bizarrely disjointed and its information was frankly dubious at best (speaking as a computer science student planning to go into AI research, the idea that we're only 5 years away from a computer which can be considered an instance of cognition at all, let alone one superior to the human brain sounds a tad silly).

Am I missing something here? Is it really just saying we should all be racist Luddites, or am I just being unobservant again?

I agree with you completely. I'm really not sure what the purpose of this was, other than fear mongering.

In the beginning, it was implied that the west should be terrified of China and India because they will be the next superpowers, run by armies of geniuses. Like someone else pointed out, sure, China has more honour students than the United States has children ... but according to Wikipedia, China's population is also nearly 4.5 times larger than the States', and I'd be willing to bet that demographically, there is a much higher percentage children in China than the States.

The next part, about how we're being trained for jobs that don't yet exist, is also fear mongering, but I think this is the most valid one, especially considering this was made by an educator.

The last part, about predictions in technology, was actually pretty interesting, but once again, it was fear mongering. While reading it, all I was thinking was "so this guy wants us to unplug all of our advanced electronics?"

I watched this yesterday and am only commenting on it now, so I hope I covered all the main themes. At any rate, I can see how he connects them all and brings them into one presentation, but the link's pretty strenuous.

[Azrael]

14 different jobs by the time they're 38?I started my 6th real job when I graduated from College at age 22. And that's not counting the 4 not-quite jobs (cleaning pools, mowing lawns, etc etc) that would probably meet the criteria for being "a job" for the majority of the posting population here.

[Vernal]

Did you know that my home computer's hard drive failed while watching "Did you Know"?

Sigh.

[Exeson]

Does anyone know where I can download the background music for this? Its awesome!

[Ceska]

It did load awfully slow and I agree with Rare Pink Leech on all accounts. Those I did know were presented pretty poorly and those I didn't know were either meh-ish or unbelievable (as in with 97% probability wrong). Especially the new information with 1^18 per year or something was probably wrong. It's more like copying old information and apply it to new methods or presenting it in a different way for most of the time.

But the one with China's birthrate was nice, it showed quite well how low it actually is.

[ApatheticDespot]

I agree with you completely.
Why thank you, thats the nicest thing I've heard all day.


Anyways, you know what this all means?

...In a hundred years or so the human race will be obsolete.

I wouldn't count out those wacky meatbags just yet, Mr. Blinky. Just this morning my Cognitive Science prof mentioned a proof that might change your mind. Or be long winded and only tangentially relevant, you be the judge!

Warning! Technobabble ahead!

Consider a computer which changes states at the speed at which an electron can change valence shells in an atom (really, REALLY damn fast. It's essentially the fastest an electronic computer can be, around 20,000 times better than our present best). Now imagine that the computer has been operating non-stop since the beginning of the universe, all 15 billion years of it. The number crunching power of such a beast boggles the mind. The proof states that that ungodly monster of a computer would still not have had time to determine if just 138 propositions are logically consistent with one another.

Technobabble ends here. Mostly.

God I hope I remembered that right, it would be embarrasing if I wrote all that fancy gobbledygook and it turned out to be wrong. (Or failing that I'd settle for this post just not being read by anyone who knows what I'm talking about enough to prove me wrong :smalltongue: )

Anyway, the basic moral of the story is that throwing stupidly huge amounts of processing power at a problem isn't all there is to it. The fact is, your brain builds a coherent understanding of the world out of WAY more than 138 propositions without taking the lifetime of galaxies to do it. If you're trying to compete with a computer as say an archivist, you're going to get thwumped, no question, but for most tasks worth doing the safe money is still on the brain. Sentience is not just a question of mips, and that supercomputer the slideshow says will outpace the entirety of humanity in 2049 will still just be an astoundingly sophisticated abacus.

I'm not saying that mechanized cognition isn't possible, far from it, but it is still a very long way off, and when it gets here it won't be automatically better than us at the things we're actually good at. Deep Blue isn't a better chess player than Gary Kasparov, hell, Deep Blue arguably doesn't even play chess at all.

Ok, rant over. Sorry 'bout the babbling, folks, just don't like Luddites (I don't mean Mr. Blinky, incidentally). They provoke storms of ire and text.

[Vernal]

Does anyone know where I can download the background music for this? Its awesome!

I believe that the music is the soundtrack from "Last of the Mohicans"
This is my recollection which may be faulty because my computer died while viewing the clip.

[Crispy Dave]

I find it funny that he talks about whats going to happen in the future because in the next 10 years the U.S.A is going to have been destroyed any by 50 years the whole world is going to be either destroyed or rules by one nation(probably china)