Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

All this computing power, datacenters, rising prices for hardware, land, water, electric power, etc. for what? To plan a party? This is utter waste. Come on, stop it!

Wired recently had an article on the full story of OpenClaw (is that the name they eventually decided to use?). That is the agent orchestrating thing that, according to Wired, revolutionizes something related to computing that needed revolutionizing.

Wired interviewed Peter Steinberger on how all this happened. One statement about Mr. Steinberger, “He figured that a digital assistant with access to your apps and data could automate a huge range of tasks. To plan a party, for example…”

To plan a party? To plan a party? TO PLAN A PARTY? Are you kidding?

Per the summary above, we are devoting all these resources so that software can run software can run software so someone can plan a party. Really? Utter waste.

There are much better things to do with all those resources than connect emails, calendars, recipes, etc. to plan a party. How about expeditions to some other planet or to the bottom of our oceans or simply to the middle of our great forests. And then there is medical research. Oh, that. Perhaps those problems are too difficult or too something-or-other so we plan a party.

Per the article, Mr. Steinberger strikes me as a smart and well-meaning persons. Perhaps he could have cited some other problem-solving examples. Some problems are interesting and pressing. That doesn’t make them worth the consumption of resources.

Let’s do better.