 |
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
|
 |
Comments on Paul Krugman's Asimov Inspiration
Dr. Paul Krugman has an interesting connection with sf; his career choice was inspired by a well-known work by Isaac Asimov. (Read
the complete story)
"I heard him say he did not know how many people watch science fiction; then he changed his mind and corrected it to say he did not know how many people read science fiction. Did I just have a hallucination?"
( 10/14/2008 7:19:46 PM) |
"I think from now on whenever I see Krugman's picture in the paper the caption in my head is just going to be I AM HARI SELDON ... as in, 'The glass cubicle was no longer empty. A figure occupied it -- a figure in a wheelchair. It said, "I am Hari Seldon." The voice was old and soft. "It is fifty years now since this Foundation was established -- fifty years in which the members of the Foundation have been ignorant of what it was they were working toward. It is necessary that they be ignorant, but now the necessity is gone ..."'"
(i am hari seldon 10/14/2008 10:25:38 PM) |
"No, he said 'watch' first, and then changed it to read. I had to back up and then watch that part again. As far as I know, people don't read period anymore."
(Bill Christensen 10/16/2008 4:02:23 PM) |
"Btw, he's a terrible economist."
( 10/21/2008 6:43:38 PM) |
"The Nobel Committee seems to disagree."
(Bill Christensen 10/21/2008 7:29:01 PM) |
"Nobel to Krugman = Heavy Metal Grammy to Jethro Tull.
Tull and Krugman are both great, in their specific niches. (And I happen to agree, btw, w/ a lot of what Krugman says when, as is typical, he's outspoken in an area he's not an expert in; but being the economics equivalent of a shock jock is not a good reason to win a Nobel and his own work, while very good, falls a bit short imho.)
Neither Krugman or Jethro Tull should have won, and both awarding organizations lost a bit of credibility with their picks."
( 11/18/2008 8:25:25 AM) |
"I always look to random, unexplained, anonymous comments on the internet to tell me when the Nobel committee doesn't know what it's doing. From people who think 'terrible' is another word for 'very good.'"
(myself 8/2/2009 5:03:31 AM) |
"This guy is really creapy. Ever see him in person? "
(Ron Miller 2/17/2011 10:35:32 AM) |
"Asked to choose five books that he recommended for liberal economists, he had this to say about Asimov's Foundation series:
'This is a very unusual set of novels from Isaac Asimov, but a classic. It’s not about gadgets. Although it’s supposed to be about a galactic civilisation, the technology is virtually invisible. It’s not about space battles or anything like that. The story is about psycho-historians, who are mathematical social scientists and have a theory about how society works. The theory tells them that the galactic empire is failing, and they then use that knowledge to save civilisation. It’s a great image. I was probably 16 when I read it and I thought, “I want to be one of those guys!” Unfortunately we don’t have anything like that and economics is the closest I could get.
Obviously I try to do straight economics and I do it as well as I can. But this is for a purpose. That purpose is not to find better ways of making money—although I have no problem with people doing that. The purpose is actually to make a better world. I do feel that I am trying to do something that goes beyond just the analysis.'
Economist"
(Bill Christensen 12/16/2011 5:33:13 AM) |
Get more information on Paul Krugman's Asimov Inspiration
Leave a comment:
Tediously, spammers have returned; if you have a comment, send it to bill at this site (include the story name) and I'll post it.
|
 |
More Articles
Wearable Energy Harvester
'... he had tightened the chest to gain maximum pumping action from the motion of breathing.'
Drones Participate In Buddhist Rites
'...a prayer wheel swung into view and began spinning at a furious pace.'
Anna Indiana AI Singer-Songwriter
'She is a personality-construct, a congeries of software agents'
Video Manicuring ala Schismatrix
'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time'
'Feel the AGI' OpenAI Leader Now OpenWorship
'And are all the people willing to be governed by a machine?'
NASA Tests Prototype Europa Lander
Why have legs if they don't walk around?
Tailsitter Drone Aircraft For SAR
'...it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair.'
Forward CarePod The AI Doctor's Office
'It's an old model,' Rawlins said. 'I'm not sure what to do.'
Mika The Robot-Boss
'the robot-boss was busy at the lip of the new lode instructing and egging the men on to greater speed...'
Yamaha Motoroid 2 No Handlebars Self-Balancing Motorcycle
'He rode the bike with an intense lack of physical grace...'
San Francisco Autobus
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street...'
Should Your Car Decide If You Can Drive?
'Okay. Maybe the car was right...'
Lucid Dreams On Demand From Prophetic and Card79
'the peeper did not operate by virtue of its machinery alone, but by the reaction of the brain and the body of its user...'
Honda UNI-ONE Hands-Free Wheelchair Follows 100 Year-Old Design
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed...'
EBS-260 Handjet Free Hand Dot Matrix Printer
'McKie held a chalf-memory stick over the dusted surface.'
Sensitive, Soft Robot Skin
'...tinted material that had all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
BibleGPT - King James Version Padre Booth, ala Philip K. Dick
Tell me your torments.
Finger Sensors For Robot Hands
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
LiquidView Ersatz Windows, ala Philip K. Dick
'due to his bad financial situation he had given up trying to imagine that he lived on a great hill with a view...'
Omniphobic Liquid-like Surfaces And de Camp's Telelubricator (1940)
'So the surface, to the depth of a few molecules, is put in the condition of a supercooled liquid as long as the beam is focused on it.'
|
 |