tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.comments2023-03-21T05:52:26.180-04:00Wit LabAtul Kapurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08170581954726734751noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-62922403828689451432012-08-13T09:13:07.464-04:002012-08-13T09:13:07.464-04:00my self Pulkit Chughmy self Pulkit ChughAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-78181692850864432852012-08-13T09:12:30.840-04:002012-08-13T09:12:30.840-04:00good BloG!!
see mine :- technologies-unlimited.blo...good BloG!!<br />see mine :- technologies-unlimited.blogspot.inAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-41398012911074041832011-12-21T22:59:25.648-05:002011-12-21T22:59:25.648-05:00I have used slide-to-unlock briefcases for half a ...I have used slide-to-unlock briefcases for half a century. A software copy of a device that has existed in hardware for a very long time is not an invention.Adam Reedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06823227714918675799noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-12319157800863265472011-12-09T21:00:10.594-05:002011-12-09T21:00:10.594-05:00One contrasting observation: psychologically, memo...One contrasting observation: psychologically, memory is a very good predictor of intelligence when assessing very young children. Thus, "Katie's" exceptional memory is a valid index of her intellectual prowess.<br />That doesn't change the fact that her performance is misunderstood by most.Mindy Newtonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-24078228317649474922011-12-01T20:45:31.111-05:002011-12-01T20:45:31.111-05:00I read this book a few years ago. One of the stor...I read this book a few years ago. One of the stories in it that you don't mention here, but which made a real impression on me, was his attempt to learn to speak Japanese. He learned some of the language, but quit the subject when he realized it's structural non-objectivity. The example in the book was, if you're asking someone if they want to see your garden, you have to say it's an ugly, poor garden, but if you want to see someone else's garden, you have to say it's gorgeous. So Feynman asked, "What about equations?" and he received the answer that this rule applies to equations as well. Feynman said, "But it's the same equation! How can it be awful when you write it, and amazing when the other guy writes it?" He was told that it didn't matter. So he basically said this was BS and gave up on learning Japanese.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-17849464565397375072011-12-01T18:29:07.280-05:002011-12-01T18:29:07.280-05:00I enjoyed reading these Feynman quotes. I read a g...I enjoyed reading these Feynman quotes. I read a great essay about him in The Objective Standard. He was a fascinating man.Joseph Kellardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05326208327549565725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-74914969301911288492011-11-23T15:28:59.901-05:002011-11-23T15:28:59.901-05:00A friend on Facebook posted the following quote by...A friend on Facebook posted the following quote by Ayn Rand:<br /><br />"Thanksgiving is a typically American holiday. In spite of its religious form (giving thanks to God for a good harvest), its essential, secular meaning is a celebration of successful production. It is a producers’ holiday. The lavish meal is a symbol of the fact that abundant consumption is the result and reward of production. Abundance is (or was and ought to be) America’s pride—just as it is the pride of American parents that their children need never know starvation."Atul Kapurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08170581954726734751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-10828680565652967382011-11-18T13:15:16.902-05:002011-11-18T13:15:16.902-05:00@Josh James Watt and Michael Boulton (they were in...@Josh James Watt and Michael Boulton (they were in business together, read The Lunar Men by Jenny Uglow if you're interested in the history of them and their time period) filed the patent before Watt actually had the condenser working as promised, so, yes, only a very few experimental engines were erected before the patent was scheduled to expire. Boulton then used some incredibly heavy-handed monopolistic practices to get the English government to do things like extend and broaden the patent, preventing other engine companies from building engines with any kind of condensor and thus essentially forcing them to stick with the old inefficient engines. Watt was hardly a hero of unrestrained capitalism. He and Boulton did quite a lot of restraining on their own.<br /><br />I personally suspect that the major problem with patents as they are often used is that they place too much emphasis on the value of the "original" idea as opposed to the amount of work (and thinking!) that goes into actually making use of said idea. It is similar to the communists who worship "toilers" but execrate "merchants"--not realizing that the merchant does contribute hugely to the productive process and earns his profits just as the "toiler" does.<br /><br />One of the things I've learned over my creative lifetime is that an idea sans implementation is essentially worthless, which is why patents (and copyrights) can and must focus on details of implementation, not just ideas or "methods". And yes, this may very well mean that the person first out the door with the idea may not be the one who makes the most money. What's wrong with that? You may come up with a revolutionary new theory in your garage, but if you aren't prepared to go into production, why are you inherently more deserving of profits than the person who figures out how to create a product and has invested years and millions in production facilities, retail relationships, and who-knows-what-else?<br /><br />What patents often seem to do is to seize on one tiny part of an enormous productive process as the "generative" part, and accord it an overlarge share of the value. I'm not saying they should be abolished--far from it! I think, however, that they are an inferior tool for determining when something of value has, in fact, been stolen. They do not constitute a proper standard of proof of ownership.<br /><br />One reform that could seriously help right off the bat, though, is if the patent duration for "methods" (such as the slide-to-unlock business) was set at a radically reduced time duration, say TWO years instead of the standard length. This would give a revolutionary method-creator time to license and thus profit from his method, without irrationally tying up everyone who came up with a slightly different (and possibly superior!) implementation. If the original idea man's implementation really was inferior, the new one would rapidly take over on expiration of the "method" patent.Jennifer Snowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00039865566870992465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-15532712710653967832011-11-17T22:47:27.012-05:002011-11-17T22:47:27.012-05:00@Josh I am aware of the criticism. The error it em...@Josh I am aware of the criticism. The error it embodies is a reliance on a collective standard of value (social utility or innovation). Rather than advocating that patent laws be reformed such that inventors do not have to spend the rest of their lives defending themselves from looters, the claim is that we should do away with intellectual property rights altogether. Does it not ring a bell of a thick novel written by an immigrant from Russia?Atul Kapurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08170581954726734751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-52764147766305229942011-11-17T20:54:21.759-05:002011-11-17T20:54:21.759-05:00My understanding was the Watt's company produc...My understanding was the Watt's company produced relatively few steam engines while it's patent was in effect, and that they mostly made money by the royalties paid them by others. Once their patent expired, they produced many more steam engines, and enormously more steam engines were produced overall. I can't find the reference though. There is this blog post I found on it, but I'm sure it was in a book somewhere as well:<br />http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/do-patents-encourage-or-hinder-innovation-the-case-of-the-steam-engine/<br /><br />I'm not so sure about what effect the Wright's patent had on the history of aviation, but I don't think it is an open and shut case that patents actually encourage innovation or significantly increase the money earned by an inventor (particularly the former).Josh Jobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18415705808891817660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-26888534084836090962011-11-17T17:37:03.743-05:002011-11-17T17:37:03.743-05:00@Kyle I totally agree. I think ailerons were diffe...@Kyle I totally agree. I think ailerons were different from Wright brother's method of changing surface angle near wing-tips, and should have been granted a separate patent.<br /><br />If that happened, someone using ailerons would have rightly paid royalty to both Curtiss (who invented aileron) as well as to Wright brothers (for using wing-tip realignment as a means of controlling the aircraft).<br /><br />The opponents of Wright brothers, however, thought that the brothers deserve no royalty if someone uses ailerons.Atul Kapurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08170581954726734751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-77145684569357707522011-11-17T17:24:53.681-05:002011-11-17T17:24:53.681-05:00@Rrealist Good question. It'll be interesting ...@Rrealist Good question. It'll be interesting to find out what current patent laws say with regard to the issue of abstraction. I think that as long as a patent specifies what causal factors were introduced to obtain a previously unattainable effect, there is no danger of it being too abstract.<br /><br />In Watt's case, "condensation vessel separate from the cylinder" (the cause) is introduced to "eliminate condensation cooling from the piston cylinder" (the effect). It's impossible to make it any more abstract. For instance, he can't claim that the causal factor being introduced is "cooling to condense steam" because that alone wouldn't produce the unique effect that his engine achieves. Besides, that was already patented by Savery in 1698, and was an essential factor in existing engines.Atul Kapurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08170581954726734751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-23184747916928485922011-11-17T14:49:12.735-05:002011-11-17T14:49:12.735-05:00Identifying the essential can be tricky. It isn&#...Identifying the essential can be tricky. It isn't obvious how to go about changing the wing-tip surface angle of an airplane wing. Coming up with a specific implementation could require significant creative thought, and the value created by that thought should be protected by law.<br /><br />The 'slide-to-unlock' case is different -- once the widget concept is in place, the coding details that make up the implementation are not significantly creative in their own right, which means varying the implementation isn't relevant to whether one is infringing.<br /><br />Perhaps there should be multiple patents in play. I could see a justification for distinct patents for "controlling an aircraft by changing the wing-tip surface angles", "changing the wing-tip surface angles of an airplane by wing-warping" and "changing the wing-tip surface angles of an airplane by aileron".Kyle Haighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608497826478356055noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-64180212175910297272011-11-17T06:28:08.740-05:002011-11-17T06:28:08.740-05:00Interesting post.
It does a raise a question: when...Interesting post.<br />It does a raise a question: when is a specification too abstract to be patented?Realist Theoristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02443210652365042245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-46611889239382651102011-08-28T09:40:56.027-04:002011-08-28T09:40:56.027-04:00Just to clarify, I came here through a link on Ani...Just to clarify, I came here through a link on Anirudh Bhati's profile and posted this there too.Ramitnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-67975394381072419132011-08-28T08:47:10.661-04:002011-08-28T08:47:10.661-04:00There are no universal remedies to a problem such ...There are no universal remedies to a problem such as corruption. We have no proven formula that is sure to work.<br /><br />However, the fact is that we are a relatively young nation especially compared to large developed nations.<br /><br />Typically a mature society will result in a developed nation and not the other way round. For a society to become mature, it needs time but more importantly, it needs guidance and education.<br /><br />This guidance in a budding society can be given through laws. Had we been a more mature society, I would have supported your view that we need lesser laws.<br /><br />But I dont think we have reached that stage yet.<br /><br />Take for example a crossing where we can legally cross only upon the green signal. Typically we see the car in front of us break the rule almost every time there is no policeman.<br /><br />The same Indians when living in US become better citizens. They follow regulations even if noone is watching. They stop at the crossing even if there is no signal at all!<br /><br />To me this is the effect of living in a mature society.<br /><br />Until we become that mature society, we do need some more laws and their strict implementation or their may be chaos.<br /><br />The other point I would like to make is that for all of us filling pages, this group went ahead and actually did something on the ground. I concede that a majority may not even know the difference between the versions of Lokpal Bill but the massive support is not for Lokpal Bill. it is against corruption. I think if someone else with a different path but the same goal would have seized the moment, people would still have supported.<br /><br />The moment is still there to be seized. Lets go ahead and take steps whether we support Anna or not.Ramitnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-13698095111099017232011-08-25T23:53:25.848-04:002011-08-25T23:53:25.848-04:00I just deleted a comment.
Please be careful befor...I just deleted a comment.<br /><br />Please be careful before posting. Criticism is fine, but it must be directed towards content and ideas, and not be an ad hominem. A good example of what I will remove is: "You haven't read Jan Lokpal".Atul Kapurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08170581954726734751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-21197860350586743462011-08-25T21:31:30.212-04:002011-08-25T21:31:30.212-04:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.shashinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-14927441580978139732011-08-25T12:18:52.637-04:002011-08-25T12:18:52.637-04:00All that it will do is to see that one more layer ...All that it will do is to see that one more layer will be created in the looters hierarchy, viz. Lokpals . Who will select the thousands of Lokpals that will be needed to police the millions of bureaucrats.<br />It is quite easy to get carried away by noise and media hype. Are we sure that we do not contribute towards corruption. How many of us are giving genuine figures for Income tax, property registration etc.<br />About the extra constitutional methods used by the agitators, the less said the better.sampathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10001451116469998502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-8623915885308634782010-03-25T18:35:25.617-04:002010-03-25T18:35:25.617-04:00Very nice post! This kind of method is also been t...Very nice post! This kind of method is also been taught in schools. Like a state board educational system in India where they teach history and other subjects with a lot of "facts" and "dates" which you would not really find interesting to know or make anything out of it. Finally, the whole purpose of learning history is not really achieved. This is the sad state of today's education system.Harshahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08995388406562224412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1500026736324137854.post-42470452732853627842010-03-18T01:23:25.250-04:002010-03-18T01:23:25.250-04:00All the best with your blog.All the best with your blog.Realist Theoristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02443210652365042245noreply@blogger.com