microcode, compilers, and supercomputer architecture

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Mon Apr 5 14:06:36 1999

Buck Savage wrote:
> You argument, again, is the value that you place on your time, and not the
> quality of your intellect. I maintain that the computer, no matter the
> skill
> of the algorithm, is always to fall short of human productivity. In this, I

Don Maslin wrote:
> Gee! You mean that we as a society are spending all this time and all
> this money on something that does NOT improve human productivity. How
> disappointing!

:-)

People sometimes tell me about all the time they've saved using computers.
I ask them where the saved time is. Do they keep it in a jar in a desk
drawer, or what?

I think what he was trying to say was limited to computer performance of
"intellectual endeavors", although he didn't explicitly state that. However,
it's not clear to me that there is any rigorous way to determine what subset
of the set of problems that can be solved using a computer are "intellectual"
in nature.
Received on Mon Apr 05 1999 - 14:06:36 BST

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