Victor Rozek
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As I See It: When Machines Excel
October 20, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read moreEbola transmission, medical authorities assure us, occurs only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or animal. And even then, the virus can only enter the body through a crack in the skin or by coming in contact with mucus membranes. While there is no reason to doubt the veracity of that assertion, I found it difficult to square with the surprising number of medical professionals who have contracted the disease even though clad in full protective attire. I wondered if the virus was being transmitted in some other way?
My suspicions were probably a result
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As I See It: Lip Service
October 6, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read moreWhat if there was a bodily function that could help make or break your career? Sounds improbable since bodily functions are generally involuntary and occur outside our conscious awareness. But even though it is chemically induced in the brain, this particular function can also be initiated volitionally. And, when appropriately applied, it is socially welcome which, as we all know, cannot be said for all corporal processes. Yet for all its promise, it remains vastly undervalued.
In a tome on the subject Angus Trumble called it the “fabulously versatile contortion.” Indeed, with only subtle variances, it is capable of communicating
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As I See It: Eight Years From Now
September 22, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read more“What’s next?” It’s a question best left to deities and fortunetellers because our current pace of change tends to pour havoc on the prediction business. These days stability, to the degree it exists at all, is of the high-wire variety, always vulnerable to the next gust of wind. Even the near future can be elusive since drastic changes often occur in modest timeframes. Someone observing the American scene in this century, for example, might well be surprised to find how quickly social media came to dominate the collective consciousness. Or, for that matter, that Janay Palmer actually married Ray Rice.
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As I See It: I See England, I See France, I See Techie Underpants
September 8, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read moreImagine an ad featuring a nerdy-looking guy lying on his unmade bed, typing on his laptop, wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts with stars and galaxies spinning on his butt. The announcer tells you that this line of underwear was inspired by Einstein and features a flexible waistband because “The universe is always expanding.” Wouldn’t you just want to run out and buy a pair?
Me neither.
What if the company then claimed it was fighting discrimination against nerds, and that the guy in the ad was actually the CEO of a Silicon Valley startup? Don’t know about
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As I See It: IT At Play
August 25, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read moreDaniel Borson has a dream. It’s an unusual dream to be sure, shared only by a select few. In fact, just 31 others have achieved it, some by what can only be described as dubious means. But when you stalk great honor, you must be willing to rise above convention. Which in this case is not a problem. Daniel Borson wants to be a SLUG Queen, a dream that bears less resemblance to Dr. King than to Dr. Seuss.
Borson works in IT as a developer/analyst for the local water and electric utility. He has the distinction of having gone
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As I See It: The Final Escape
August 11, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read moreLauren, Danielle, Lily, Rosco, and Zosia have at least two things in common: they are siblings, and they no longer have a father. Their Dad had been rather successful by all accounts, able to secure the bounty of Silicon Valley for himself and his family. But it wasn’t enough. Or perhaps it was too much. His death aboard his yacht at the hands of a distasteful-looking, tattooed prostitute will forever filter whatever his children thought they knew about their Father.
Forrest Hayes’ demise had all the requisites of a media carnival: wealth, scandal, and drugs. Add to that a whiff
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As I See It: To Think Or Not To Think
July 28, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read moreBloomington, Indiana, is not the stuff of science fiction. Yet for the past 30 years, teams of scientists toiling in a non-descript house near Indiana University have been quietly conducting a decidedly Asimovian experiment. They have been teaching computers to think. Given the highly publicized achievements of IBM‘s playful R&D department–the spanking of chess champion Garry Kasparov by Deep Blue, and the Jeopardy dominance of everybody’s favorite know-it-all, Watson–it is tempting to believe that the challenges of creating thinking machines have largely been solved.
But those breakthroughs relied more on brute force than nuanced understanding. Dave Ferrucci, Watson’s daddy,
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As I See It: Midlife With Crisis
July 7, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read moreIf you want to screw up your life, there’s nothing like a Midlife Crisis to provide handy justification. The affair with the younger woman, followed by spending quality time with the wife’s attorney; the outlandish purchase, after which your kid discovers she won’t be going to Stanford after all; and the cosmetic surgery that makes your face unresponsive to human emotion. These are some of the ingenious ways we’ve developed to cope with the unavoidable process of aging.
Having said that, sometimes a properly managed Midlife Crisis can save your life. But more on that later.
The Midlife Crisis is
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As I See It: The Game Changer
June 16, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read moreWhat’s tougher than a diamond, but able to filter water; stronger than steel, but thinner than a butterfly’s wings? Give up? OK, it does sound improbable, unless aliens are involved. So let’s try this: What’s more flexible than a Yoga instructor, and predicted to thoroughly shake up the computer industry? No, it’s not Miley Cyrus. But it is made from the same element on which life depends. Even repulsive life.
It is, in fact, pure carbon, and not much of it at that. It’s as thin as thin can get and still be considered a material. In effect, it qualifies
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As I See It: The Dream Changer
June 2, 2014 Victor Rozek
… Read moreJack Kennedy joked that he had the best of both worlds: a Harvard education and a Yale degree. I have neither. Nor, I’ll wager, do you. Which means that if you’re a recent graduate you’re already lagging behind the competition. That wasn’t always the case, but sometimes good timing is more valuable than a good education.
Take me for instance. Like others of my generation, I rode the crest of the American experience. My life was formed (and transformed) by the availability of affordable housing, low-cost education, jobs with perks, and medical care that didn’t require choosing between illness and