Posted on 06/17/2025 1:00:18 PM PDT by Cronos
I've had an interest in the Akka framework for many years. In my morning e-mail, the company behind Akka is offering training in their agentic AI frameworks. If you are a fan of Scala and have an interest in Akka, the ground floor is right there to jump in. My own interest in Scala was forced into "hobby" mode because my DoD customer base was solidly wed to Java. The recent advent of data science tasks has re-energized interest in use of Scala and Python. The good stuff just came along too late in my career.
My middle son finished high school with a 4.33 GPA and went directly into the USMC. He was in boot camp when 9-11 occurred. He was landing at the Kuwait Airport on his 18th birthday with rifle and bayonet. Upon return, he earned a BA in Business Administration and later a BA on Physics. He is an excellent test taker and rapidly acquired real estate sales and broker's licenses. He also acquired a Class A CDL and drove flat bed trucks. What pays the bills is broker price opinions. He does 5 to 10 per day. Getting properties listed, sold and closed happens less frequently in this market. At age 42, he still doesn't own a car, a house or much of anything. It's a pretty disappointing state of affairs. My youngest at 38 is managing a Valvoline shop. It keeps food on the table.
I worked for 37 years developing expert software for running numerical controlled manufacturing machines, computerizing engineering design.
Never got laid off. Actually on my last job at a national research laboratory, I asked to get laid off for generous severance pay, but my azzhole boss would not lay me off. So I quit the job and retired at age 56. It turned out to be the best decision ever. I played golf full time at Royal Oaks country club in Washington State and had time of my life. All my health issues disappeared walking up to 30 miles every week playing golf.
I'll turn 69 in August. Last year was rough with the Whipple surgery for ampullary cancer. Probability says it will be back for me by next June, so I'm hoping for a decent year of retirement before things go south again. Congrats on your retirement and return to health!
I am over age 85. Blessed with good health. No medical expense since surgery in 1990 for gall bladder.
Everybody will become a salesperson.
You are so full if crap that it staggers the human mind.
The LLM/agentic is vaporware to fool managers/executivrs: it must be carefully curated and have its hand held or it will make trivially obvious mistakes which are paradoxically very difficult to correct.
And that’s leaving out the out-and-out hallucinations.
That's an excellent span of time in good health. Prior to 1991 I had 7 cases of pneumonia, Valley Fever and cancer. A nice long period of health until early 2024. Ampullary cancer, Whipple surgery, abdominal abscess and MRSA pneumonia. Aside from being pretty beat up by 2024, things are getting better. Making the best of the current situation. Absent the budget cutbacks, I would still be writing software for my customers. Take care. Savor the good health.
I appreciate you even reading it. Because I have found that nine times out of ten when I put forth effort like that no one even reads past the first sentence anyhow. Firewalls immediately shut their minds down so it ends up being wasted effort.
This board just does not have the level of deep thinking and exploration of topics like other boards where topics and ideology are debated productively in serious depth. Sometimes you have to use the language of the indigenous.
I have had serious discussions here with a few, but finding someone willing to actually have productive discussion is far and few between. Then there are the interrupters and agitators that want to make sure no one can have any productive dialog about topics.
So unfortunately it ends up being a playground shouting match to even get some minimal common sense across at all. This is not a think tank, it is a two sentence echo board... The attention span is too short for in depth reasoned communication.
Yet if you look back through my time line you will find that I do go into depth when someone is actually interested in knowing more detail. And when I do I just get crickets back. Nothing zip, no acknowledgement at all for my efforts. It was wasted time and effort.
Sometimes the environment dictates the rules of engagement. It is what it is... But in return I would like to say that you do a very good job on here yourself, yes I actually paid attention and took the time to contemplate what you are sharing. Unfortunately I am probably one of the few who appreciate your work. :)
“I think that that level of control could result in a Butlerian Jihad type of rebellion and the smashing of a great many things.”
I see now, sorry for misunderstanding. I am all in for resistance but I think there might be a better reference than Butlerian Jihad.
The Luddites actually did this as an example.
https://theconversation.com/whats-a-luddite-an-expert-on-technology-and-society-explains-203653
I thought about this story overnight. For me the greed is the worst part. Why not throw it away on the team instead of in the trash?
Twenty five years ago I got gas and right after I looked at the amount on the pump the power went out. So now I had gas in my tank but could not pay for it because the registers were down.
I was on my way to work and they wanted me to wait until the power was back on and pay for it before I could leave. I was now imprisoned by “their” dependency on an electronic system and electricity as were you and the team. Luckily I had cash and over paid them more than the amount I owed and left even though they were threatening to call law enforcement.
But that was when I realized that all this dependency on electricity and electronic devices could literally imprison us against our will at the flip of a switch. Now we are at a point where we can’t even do everyday business without the internet, electronic devices, and phone apps. We are far too dependent on it and we will completely cease to function in mass when the power or phones go out.
We are already enslaved now... And AI is going to compound it a hundred fold.
“”””Now we are at a point where we can’t even do everyday business without the internet, electronic devices, and phone apps.””””
And some folks have become so addicted to their car’s GPS that they can no longer drive around the block without being told to take a right at the next stop sign.
“And some folks have become so addicted to their car’s GPS that they can no longer drive around the block without being told to take a right at the next stop sign.”
Absolutely, it is insane. At my business I have had folks literally break down in tears and panic because their phone went dead and their source of GPS was disabled. The verbal directions towards where they wanted to go was a simple “Go down this road until you hit a stop sign and make a right and it will take you directly there.”
In tears and panic they would say “I cant get there without my GPS working, I cant go anywhere without it working, I will get lost and die.”
Ironically before all this technology my Father would joke with folks when they asked directions. Being a jokester he would tell them “You can’t get there from here”. Believe it or not some would actually believe him and get scared that they were stuck there. The thought that you can get anywhere from anywhere just never computed in their brains. Of course you can...
The current mental and psychological dependency on GPS has now proven my Father correct against all rationality and logic... This psychology now has me scared.
Wow you have done really well to survive all of that 👍👍
If you are a sci-fi fan or reader it is instantly recogniable and completely apt for it’s command “Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.”
Dune...
Thanks for the story.
I have thought about that incident every time I see worker incompetency e.g. when a cashier cannot count out change.
I remembered that I explained that the register was simply a record keeping system after all. I asked him to get a notepad and write everything down to enter into the register later if that must be. He was convinced he would be fired for going against his boss’ instructions!
“He was convinced he would be fired for going against his boss’ instructions!”
The “boss” should have been down there immediately and done that very same thing... In fact the Boss should have had a contingency plan for when the power goes out and the employees should have been trained... That is how it used to be... :)
If it was mine I would have even had a generator ready to go when needed. Even if it was just for lights and electronics. Walk in coolers will stay cold for many hours without power.
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