Institutional pack rats :)
On Thu, Dec 5, 2013 at 11:54 AM, Daniel Rocha <[email protected]> wrote: > People with complex jobs will be without an option. That means, nearly > everyone. One thing it is making a course that teaches how to operates a > new machine within a few months to adapt to a new job. Another thing it is > losing jobs that requires youth energy and many years of training and > consider that happening in several complex fields. > > > > > 2013/12/5 Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> > >> This is somewhat off-topic, but it is a subject that has long interested >> me: how new technology is sometimes used to prolong the life of obsolescent >> technology. >> >> This article describes a new library at the University of Chicago. All >> the books are stored underground in a gigantic three-dimensional array >> accessible only by robotics elevators. >> >> QUOTE: >> >> "The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library's ASRS will shelve materials >> underground by size rather than library classification, in racks 50 feet >> high, with a capacity to hold 3.5 million volumes in one-seventh of the >> space of conventional shelves." >> >> Reducing stack space by a factor of seven is a remarkable accomplishment. >> >> I am sure that 50 to 100 years from now, all new books will be published >> in electronic form only, and all the books now in this library will be >> scanned. There will be no need to bring them up from the stacks by elevator >> in order to physically hand them over to students. Even today, that is >> essentially and obsolescent activity. >> >> E-book readers have finally achieved contrast as good as paper. I expect >> they will soon have resolution and color better than paper. They will be >> larger, and they may even become somewhat flexible, like paper. When that >> happens, there will be no point to printing paper books for most uses. I >> suppose people will want some paper books for small children, or for things >> they often read, or just as nostalgic decoration. But the vast majority of >> books will be electronic. Reference books already are electronic. >> >> There is nothing wrong with prolonging the life of old technology. It is >> a good idea. You might as well get the most out of your sunk-cost >> investments. It is probably cheaper to bring the books to the students now >> than it would be to scan them all, and e-books are still not as good as >> paper ones in some ways. >> >> There are many other interesting examples this. One of my favorites was >> the use of steam tugboats to improve the performance of sailing ships after >> 1850. The so-called extreme clipper ships would not have been possible >> without steam tugboats to bring them into harbor. These were the fastest >> and most beautiful commercial sailing ships ever made. We see pictures of >> them and we assume they represent sailing ships throughout the ages, but in >> fact they were only made for about 20 years. They were designed with modern >> knowledge of physics and engineering, so they look quite different from >> traditional ships. The Flying Cloud was one of the most spectacular. The >> Flying Cloud lasted 23 years which was much longer than most ships at that >> time. By modern standards most of them were disposable objects. Modern >> ships are intended to last for decades and dozens of trips, whereas the >> extreme clippers lasted only five years or so. The masts and rigging were >> so stressed by the extreme performance they had to be refitted after every >> voyage. You can see how they piled on sails in this picture: >> >> http://www.sailmsc.com/Boats/club/pix/flying%20club%20full%20sail.jpg >> >> http://www.sailmsc.com/Boats/club/flying_cloud.htm >> >> The use of steel hulls in sailing ships is another example of bolstering >> the old with the new. >> >> There was a long period during which both steamships and sailing ships >> were used, from the 1850s to the early 20th century. I do not think that >> fossil fuels and other energy sources will compete with cold fusion for >> that many decades. >> >> - Jed >> >> > > > -- > Daniel Rocha - RJ > [email protected] >
