Cracked collected 26 predictions about the future that missed the mark.
Posts Tagged 'wrong'
26 Hilarious Predictions About the Future
Published June 29, 2017 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: Arthur C. Clark, funny, future, hindsight, humor, Marconi, Nicholas Negroponte, predictions, Thomas Edison, wrong
Inexact CPU Makes Errors With Increased Efficiency
Published May 30, 2012 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: 'Inexact' computer chip, Apple, Avinash Lingamneni, Cagliari, computer, deviation, error, error tolerant, Inexact cpu, Italy, Mac, microchip, processing, Rice University, silicon, technology, wrong
Rice University announced work on a computer chip that is intentionally not 100% accurate, that gains efficiency through these errors. Although, I can imagine some applications where this may be acceptable, but it seems to be a bad idea, in general.
Researchers have unveiled an “inexact” computer chip that challenges the industry’s 50-year pursuit of accuracy. The design improves power and resource efficiency by allowing for occasional errors. Prototypes unveiled this week at the ACM International Conference on Computing Frontiers in Cagliari, Italy, are at least 15 times more efficient than today’s technology.
The concept is deceptively simple: Slash power use by allowing processing components — like hardware for adding and multiplying numbers — to make a few mistakes. By cleverly managing the probability of errors and limiting which calculations produce errors, the designers have found they can simultaneously cut energy demands and dramatically boost performance. One example of the inexact design approach is “pruning,” or trimming away some of the rarely used portions of digital circuits on a microchip. Another innovation, “confined voltage scaling,” trades some performance gains by taking advantage of improvements in processing speed to further cut power demands. In their initial simulated tests in 2011, the researchers showed that pruning some sections of traditionally designed microchips could boost performance in three ways: The pruned chips were twice as fast, used half as much energy and were half the size. In the new study, the team delved deeper and implemented their ideas in the processing elements on a prototype silicon chip. “In the latest tests, we showed that pruning could cut energy demands 3.5 times with chips that deviated from the correct value by an average of 0.25 percent,” said study co-author Avinash Lingamneni, a Rice graduate student. “When we factored in size and speed gains, these chips were 7.5 times more efficient than regular chips. Chips that got wrong answers with a larger deviation of about 8 percent were up to 15 times more efficient.”
21 Surprising Common Misconceptions
Published August 16, 2011 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: belief, Evidence, facts, horns, misconception, misleading, old wive's tale, urban myth, Vikings, wrong
BuzzFeed presents a very interesting list of common misconceptions. I found several of them thought provoking, such as – #1. There’s No Evidence That Vikings Had Horns On Their Helmets, or, #17. Sugar Does Not Cause Hyperactivity In Children. The list cites no sources for the assertions – a serious shortcoming – I don’t have the time to do the research.
It’ll Never Work!
Published February 24, 2011 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: Albert Einstein, doubting Thomas, failure, John von Neumann, Lee DeForest, pessimism, Peter Ustinov, Robert Goddard, Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Edison, Western Union, Wilbur Wright, wrong
This page from lhup.edu has many quotes from throughout history, from a wide variety of doubting Thomases who were quite certain that something or other was a terrible idea, doomed to failure. My favorite is near the end – If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can’t be done.– Peter Ustinov
The 7 Worst Tech Predictions Ever
Published January 23, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: future, prediction, tech, technology, wrong