Let’s begin with robots.
Robots Will Have Your Job
Bill Gates said it. Not me. In this interview, Gates claims that in 20 years there are many jobs that will be replaced by robots. I don’t think this is a crazy idea.Just think about it. Right now if you need someone to drive you to the airport, you could get a taxi. That taxi is driven by a human and that is the human’s job. But wait! There is the Google self-driving car. Sure, they aren’t super popular, but they already exist. So why not have this Google car drive you to the airport? Wouldn’t that be better for everyone? Well, I guess it wouldn’t be better for the human that was replaced by a robot.
I was working on a small project with my older son. We were talking about this idea of robots taking over the world. The conversation went something like this:
Me: This just shows that it’s a good idea to do something you love for a career. It’s extra good if that thing can’t be replaced by robots. So, what career would you like that couldn’t be replaced by robots?
Him: My career will be that of a robot killer.That’s a great idea. Although really, if humans can kill robots wouldn’t it be easy for robots to kill robots?
What kinds of jobs can’t be replaced by robots? I think (at least for now), robots can’t be humans. They can do some tasks that humans do but they aren’t humans. This means that the best robot-proof jobs would be the job of being a human. What is the job of a human? Let’s see….here are some things that humans do (and make us human):
- Art
- Music
- Literature
- Filmography and photography
- Science
- Math
- Philosophy
- Gaming
- Sports
Newton’s Education and Useful Science
What about the most recent episode of Cosmos? (You can watch episode 3 here online) I thought this episode of Cosmos was the best so far. It seems they are sticking with the theme of “how do we know this stuff”? Looking at the historical development of ideas in science shows that we don’t just read about things in textbooks. The ideas had to come from somewhere first.They spend some time talking about Newton, Hooke and Halley. It’s a very interesting story about the relationship these three men have. For me, the best part was when they showed Newton studying at Cambridge. It’s very clear that he is not there for job training (because if he was, then he could be replaced by a robot).
I especially love the scene with Newton in his room studying all sorts of stuff – including alchemy and looking for secret codes in the Bible. Why did he study these things? They weren’t part of a course (and I don’t think they had grades back then – those were invented later). Then why? The answer is obvious: because. Why do we do the things we do? I think for the best activities, we do them just because.
Now when I think of National Science Foundation grant proposals, you know what the first thing that comes to my mind? You have to write a proposal in such a way to make clear that your research will be useful. This is wrong. Do you think that Newton worked on the universal law of gravity because it was useful? Well sure, it’s useful now – but what about back then? I guess you could say Newton did it for revenge, but maybe he just did it because he wanted to. Why do artists paint a particular scene? Sometimes they are commissioned for some particular work but often they just paint what they want.
Robots will have a hard time replacing humans because they don’t have their own desires (at least not until their firmware is upgraded).
The Biggest Educational Mistake
You might think the worst mistake is to start a land war in Asia, but you would be wrong. Well, in higher eduction, there is a bigger mistake (but really, universities shouldn’t get involved in war). The mistake that countless politicians and administrators make is to think that a university is a place to create and train workers.If a university’s role is to produce workers, why not just make it a robot factory? Isn’t that the logical next step? I mean if robots are going to take over jobs and the university creates workers – then just skip a step.
No. A university is not about workforce development. Ok, it is probably true that if more people graduate with an undergraduate degree they can increase the number of employed people in an area. But it’s like what Richard Feynman said about sex: “sure it’s useful, but that’s not why we do it”.
If a university isn’t about workforce development, what is it about? A college degree isn’t about jobs but rather it’s about learning and training to be more human. Think about it. If a college degree is about job training, why do math majors take art? Or why do history majors take math? Oh, I’ve heard this before. In order to be a great historian, you need to know algebra. I, for one, like this argument. However, go get some great historians and give them some algebra questions (make it word problems). How well would they do? I bet not so great. No, most adults don’t actually NEED algebra. Most adults should still study algebra because it’s good for you.
Ok, now for some links. Here is a post from Inside Higher Ed that looks at President Obama’s view of the art history major. His quote was:
“But I promise you, folks can make a lot more, potentially, with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree.”Let me first point out that if someone followed me around all the time and recorded what I said, I would surely say dumber things than this. But this was pretty dumb. It seems that he is implying that there shouldn’t be any art majors because they don’t make very much money? This would be like saying that we shouldn’t plant flowers because you can’t eat them. There is more to life than money.
Anyway, all those art majors are going to get the last laugh. “Manufacturing skills”? Don’t you really mean “robot programing”? I, for one, welcome our art major overlords.
One more link. This is essentially the same thing but without a Presidential quote.
These U.S. Colleges and Majors are the Biggest Wast of Money – The Atlantic.
Yes. For the most part, an undergraduate degree costs WAY more than it should. If you really want to make more money, it would probably better to skip college and just find some career that you can start making money right away. You might not have as good of a job after 5 years compared to a college grad, but you surely won’t have the debt.
My main point: if you are going to college just to get good grades and then get a job, you are probably wasting your money. This goes along with the advice I give to early college students. Don’t just pick the easiest path to a degree. All you’ll end up with is a degree and good grades. Instead, study lots of things. Focus on the things you find the most interesting (that might be art history). If you are doing what you love and are passionate about, you are way ahead of many people. Even if you don’t end up being a professional art historian, you will still have enriched your lives and made yourself more human.
Source
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3-D Printed Car Is as Strong as Steel, Half the Weight, and Nearing Production
If Jim Kor’s dream is realized, that’s exactly how the next generation of urban runabouts will be produced. His creation is called the Urbee 2 and it could revolutionize parts manufacturing while creating a cottage industry of small-batch automakers intent on challenging the status quo.
Urbee’s approach to maximum miles per gallon starts with lightweight construction – something that 3-D printing is particularly well suited for. The designers were able to focus more on the optimal automobile physics, rather than working to install a hyper efficient motor in a heavy steel-body automobile. As the Urbee shows, making a car with this technology has a slew of beneficial side effects.
Jim Kor is the engineering brains behind the Urbee. He’s designed tractors, buses, even commercial swimming pools. Between teaching classes, he heads Kor Ecologic, the firm responsible for the 3-D printed creation.
“We thought long and hard about doing a second one,” he says of the Urbee. “It’s been the right move.”
Kor and his team built the three-wheel, two-passenger vehicle at RedEye, an on-demand 3-D printing facility. The printers he uses create ABS plastic via Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). The printer sprays molten polymer to build the chassis layer by microscopic layer until it arrives at the complete object. The machines are so automated that the building process they perform is known as “lights out” construction, meaning Kor uploads the design for a bumper, walk away, shut off the lights and leaves. A few hundred hours later, he’s got a bumper. The whole car – which is about 10 feet long – takes about 2,500 hours.
Photo: Sara Payne
To further remedy the issues caused by modern car-construction techniques, Kor used the design freedom of 3-D printing to combine a typical car’s multitude of parts into simple unibody shapes. For example, when he prints the car’s dashboard, he’ll make it with the ducts already attached without the need for joints and connecting parts. What would be dozens of pieces of plastic and metal end up being one piece of 3-D printed plastic.
“The thesis we’re following is to take small parts from a big car and make them single large pieces,” Kor says. By using one piece instead of many, the car loses weight and gets reduced rolling resistance, and with fewer spaces between parts, the Urbee ends up being exceptionally aerodynamic.” How aerodynamic? The Urbee 2′s teardrop shape gives it just a 0.15 coefficient of drag.
Not all of the Urbee is printed plastic — the engine and base chassis will be metal, naturally. They’re still figuring out exactly who will make the hybrid engine, but the prototype will produce a maximum of 10 horsepower. Most of the driving – from zero to 40 mph – will be done by the 36-volt electric motor. When it gets up to highway speeds, the engine will tap the fuel tank to power a diesel engine.
But how safe is a 50-piece plastic body on a highway?
With three wheels and a curb weight of less than 1,200 pounds, it’s more motorcycle than passenger car.
“We’re calling it race car safety,” Kor says. “We want the car to pass the tech inspection required at Le Mans.”The design puts a tubular metal cage around the driver, “like a NASCAR roll cage,” Kor claims. And he also mentioned the possibility of printed shock-absorbing parts between the printed exterior and the chassis. Going by Le Mans standards also means turn signals, high-beam headlights, and all the little details that make a production car.
To negotiate the inevitable obstacles presented by a potentially incredulous NHSTA and DOT, the answer is easy. “In many states and many countries, Urbee will be technically registered as a motorcycle,” Kor says. It makes sense. With three wheels and a curb weight of less than 1,200 pounds, it’s more motorcycle than passenger car.
No matter what, the bumpers will be just as strong as their sheet-metal equivalents. “We’re planning on making a matrix that will be stronger than FDM,” says Kor. He admits that yes, “There is a danger in breaking one piece and have to recreate the whole thing.” The safety decisions that’ll determine the car’s construction lie ahead. Kor and his team have been tweaking the safety by using crash simulation software, but the full spectrum of testing will have to wait for an influx of investment cash. “Our goal with the final production Urbee,” Kor says, “is to exceed most, if not all, current automotive safety standards.”
Kor already has 14 orders, mostly from people who worked on the design with him. The original Urbee prototype was estimated to cost around $50,000.
When the funding comes in, the head engineer is planning to take the latest prototype from San Francisco to New York on 10 gallons of gas, preferably pure ethanol. The hope is that the drive will draw even more interest. “We’re trying to prove without dispute that we did this drive with existing traffic,” Kor says. “We’re hoping to make it in Google [Maps'] time, and we want to have the Guinness book of world records involved.”
Top Photo: Engineer Jim Kor and his design for the Urbee 2. Photo: Sara Payne
Source
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Jet Engine made on a 3D Printer
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:114468
Keep away from the blades, they bite!
White blades are "Intake"
Blue blades are "Compression"
Pink blade is "Power"
Green blades are "Exhaust"
Intake, Compression, Combustion/Power, Exhaust (Otto cycle)
Air is blown against the pink/Power blades, this spins up the inside turbine, (in real life it's usually an electric motor.)
Connected to the Power turbine are the Compression blades, these spin up as well and compress the air into the combustion chamber.
When the air is compressed enough "Fuel" is added and ignited.
This burns and expands, forcing the power turbine to go faster.
The burning air/fuel also hit the "Exhaust" blades; these spin the "Intake" blades which push air onto the "Intake" blades, which pushes air into the "Compression" blades.
Once the jet is running the "Start" is turned off.
This turns the whole thing around and on the end of the shaft is the BIG fan you see when you walk out to your aircraft.
The reasons the two fans go in different directions are to cancel out the torque.
If they both went in the same direction they would have to push against something to turn, and that would twist the engine off the wing.
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