Encounters at a 1996 wacky-computer-people conference:

• the veteran — started working at a weapons lab in 1953; developed and ran pre-FORTRAN era models of hydrogen bombs; told of doing data reduction on decks of punch cards from early tests in the South Pacific; now frail, tired, used a walker to navigate the room; napped in a corner, ignored by all the young hot-shots (and where will they be in a few decades?) ...
• the computer scientist — seduced away from a PC company to a media conglomerate; felt guilty, but had to abandon work on software development environments for kids, since there was no money to continue the project ...
• the new father (& semi-famous author) — goofily gregarious in a group, but in private worried that he wasn't "mensch enough" to homeschool his children ...
• the social activist — talked about bringing computers to disadvantaged high schools (a presentation that was spurned by the majority in favor of video game demos) ...
• the civil servant — modest and self-effacing, a late-night philosopher who spent most of his time driving visitors around town and managing major procurement contracts, so that others in his labs could do research ...
• the international technologist — frustrated in attempts to work with the US Government by stupidity and ignorance on the federal side of the table; talked movingly about challenges of Third World technology development, and noted with anger that two thirds of the audience left at the beginning of the session ...
• the millionaire mathematician — an extreme introvert, almost too shy to introduce himself, but blossomed into quiet talkativeness one-on-one about his research and discoveries ...

... in short, a fine crew of deep, thoughtful, concerned people, worried about important issues.

But far outnumbering them, alas, were flocks of self-promoters whose agenda focused on passing out business cards and making quick spiels, in hopes of attracting money for their ventures ... plus a slightly smaller herd of megalomaniacs, each of whom was sure s/he knew The Answer — and insisted on explaining it in detail to anyone who was polite enough to listen.

Wednesday, December 20, 2000 at 19:53:48 (EST) = 2000-12-20

TopicProfiles - TopicProgramming

(correlates: MovieReview, HardestPossible, LearningInconsistency, ...)