by Dwayne Phillips Reduced complexity optimizes for simplicity. Increased complexity optimizes for simplicity in another form. Which simplicity is “best” is a matter of situation. Apple has recently moved to their own “Apple Silicon” processors. In general terms, Apple switched from Intel’s processors to ARM’s processors. ARM processors are a form of RISC. Intel processors […]
Entries Tagged as 'Technology'
RISC, CISC, and General Systems Thinking
September 23rd, 2021 · No Comments
Tags: Choose · Computing · General Systems Thinking · Systems · Technology
The Wonder of Carbon Paper
July 12th, 2021 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Today’s copy machines make and store digital copies that go somewhere to someone. Carbon paper still makes a copy for safekeeping that goes to only those I designate. Copiers—”xerox machines” we used to call them—are now digital. When you make a copy, a there is a digital record of the original somewhere. Hence, […]
Tags: Copyright · Intellectual Property · Technology · Tools · Writing
The Technology Imperative, Part II
April 8th, 2021 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips We just cannot resist applying the latest technology to something. This is the second in my series on the “Technology Imperative.” (I have learned that there are books and papers with this title elsewhere.) The first part in the “series” was blogged in the year 2010. Oooops, not much continuity, but here […]
Tags: General Systems Thinking · Government · Technology
A Fundamental Problem with Machine Learning
April 5th, 2021 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Despite all the promise and all the already fulfilled promise, there is a fundamental problem with machine learning. Machine learning is that part of artificial intelligence that time and technology favors. We have the stuff needed to make machine learning work right now. Machine learning “works” because you feed in a million […]
Tags: Data Science · Ethics · General Systems Thinking · Neural Network · Pattern Classification · Systems · Technology
Researchers and Paying for Research
February 8th, 2021 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Research is expensive. Someone pays the bills. Sorry about the lesson in economics. The future of companies is often in the research they perform in the back rooms. Not glamorous, but often necessary. And those smart folks in the back rooms cost lots of money. The company has to be making enough […]
Tags: Economics · Research · Technical Debt · Technology
Figuratively and Literally
February 4th, 2021 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips We often use a “figure of speech” to describe something. Well, that’s nice, but I know that such-and-such cannot literally do something-or-other. Can we please have some literal descriptions? I have recently been reading constantly about a very popular software app. I won’t mention which one because that would take us off […]
Tags: Communication · Fairy Tales · Technology · Work · Writing
The New Economy, The New Technologists
January 7th, 2021 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Productivity leaps are possible and happening. I am sorry to write that fortunes can be made while employing just a few persons. I recently learned of a game called Among Us from a company called InnerSloth. In November of 2020, there were 500 million people playing the game. InnerSloth has four employees. […]
Tags: Cloud Computing · Economics · Jobs · Software · Technology
Skimming and Diving
December 28th, 2020 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Sometimes we skim the surface to gather an overview. Sometimes we dive in deep to discover the details. I like an overview. I like the nitty gritty details. Which do we like? On which day? For me, the overview is easier. I learn the general idea. I tell people that “all I […]
Tags: Concepts · Energy · Fear · Ideas · Technology
Senior Leadership(?)
December 3rd, 2020 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips A bit of history and lost opportunity. The Android operating system is 13 years old in November of 2020. Gosh. Horrible memories back to 2007 and early 2008. Senior government managers looked at the mobile landscape back then and declared: The future was the Microsoft phone and its operating system. Junior government […]
Tags: Google · History · Judgment · Microsoft · Technology
Hire a Technician (Clerk) or a Scientist
July 27th, 2020 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips What type of person are you trying to hire? The questions you ask answer this question. Please listen to yourself. Do you want a scientist or a technician or a clerk? Technicians and clerks are easy to find. Ask what tools they’ve used. Finding a scientist or analyst or other thinker … […]
Tags: Jobs · Questions · Science · Technology · Tools