On 1/9/2024 2:19 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
Unless you're an old-school gamer - or an old-school Usenetter - the
name 'Derek Smart' probably doesn't mean anything to you. And why
would it? He hasn't been relevant since the late 90s (and arguably was
more 'loud' than 'relevant' even back then). But if you were on Usenet
- and specifically on the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.* hierarchy - his name
was a thing of terror. Struggling to release a working version of his
"Battlecruiser 3000" game, he was... well, I'll be polite and just say
he was extremely /defensive/ of his extremely flawed project. His
diatribes were legendary and he would so often aggressively insert
himself into conversations that it became a running joke amongst
Usenetters not to mention his name lest he be appear, as if a demon
summoned from the pit by the incantation of his true name.
But as Usenet dwindled in popularity - and his games failed to garner
any real success - he fell out of the limelight. He occasionally makes
a reappearance elsewhere on the Internet (most famously,
self-inserting himself into an argument about the success of "Star
Citizen", proving even a stopped clock can be right twice a day) but
nowadays, almost nobody remembers him.
So it probably means nothing to most people here for me to mention
that Derek Smart has invested in Web3 (aka, blockchain-powered) games,
going so far as to create his own web-company (WideSpan Ventures). But
it gave me a chuckle because, for those who remember him, the only
possible reaction is, "Of course he did." He's a quintessential
tech-bro and the only reason I didn't suspect it is because I thought
he was dead (honestly, I think I was more surprised to learn he was
still alive than that he was involved in crypto. Web3 is where a lot
of old-school designers go to fail these days, it seems).
And who knows; maybe mention of his name here will summon the beast
back so we all can re-experience the horror of his writing style once
again. ;-)
Can we not call it Web3? It's what they want to call it, but frankly i
don't see any impact it the whole crypto-whatever-shenanigans had that
make it necessary to tag it like that. As far as I've noticed the only
thing cryptocurrency did was make it easier for people to buy drugs and ransom companies. I still am waiting for someone to come up with a use
for blockchain technology that could not be done with less effort and
energy wasted by leaving it out.
I remember Battlecruiser 3000, mostly I remember it because I never
managed to get it running on multiple computers. It sounded like it
would be my jam, but somehow it just wouldn't start, no matter how much
I tried. It certainly would have been nice to see what the whole fuzz
was about.
Can we not call it Web3? It's what they want to call it, but frankly i
don't see any impact it the whole crypto-whatever-shenanigans had that
make it necessary to tag it like that.
On 1/9/2024 2:19 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
So it probably means nothing to most people here for me to mention
that Derek Smart has invested in Web3 (aka, blockchain-powered) games,
going so far as to create his own web-company (WideSpan Ventures). But
it gave me a chuckle because, for those who remember him, the only
possible reaction is, "Of course he did." He's a quintessential
tech-bro and the only reason I didn't suspect it is because I thought
he was dead (honestly, I think I was more surprised to learn he was
still alive than that he was involved in crypto. Web3 is where a lot
of old-school designers go to fail these days, it seems)
Can we not call it Web3? It's what they want to call it, but frankly i
don't see any impact it the whole crypto-whatever-shenanigans had that
make it necessary to tag it like that. As far as I've noticed the only
thing cryptocurrency did was make it easier for people to buy drugs and ransom companies. I still am waiting for someone to come up with a use
for blockchain technology that could not be done with less effort and
energy wasted by leaving it out.
Supposedly big on the backend for tracking banking/financialnot really, more like wanna be, SWIFT is the global transaction
transactions. Not something most would be aware of.
On 1/9/2024 10:03 PM, Justisaur wrote:
Supposedly big on the backend for tracking banking/financial
transactions. Not something most would be aware of.
I am working for a bank and was recently listening to a presentation of
one of these ideas. They were very careful not to mention blockchain and crypto at all, until one of them mentioned the blockchain by mistake.
The temperature in the meeting noticeably dropped after that.
And the question was raised how this was any better than the systems
already in place, and I at least found the answers rather unconvincing.
Not that I listened to it anymore after it turned out it was some crypto stuff.
Derek Smart was sort of a "mad" man, he pursuit a dream he could not
fullfill as a single person, but frankly spoken he also was not a team
player either.
On 1/10/2024 2:23 AM, Werner P. wrote:
Derek Smart was sort of a "mad" man, he pursuit a dream he could not
fullfill as a single person, but frankly spoken he also was not a team
player either.
Derek Smart literally could not be polite to another person to save his
life.
I
seem to recall he was claiming to have a Ph.D. but wouldn't say from
what school? lol
On 1/10/2024 3:43 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
I
seem to recall he was claiming to have a Ph.D. but wouldn't say from
what school? lol
A PHD from the school of hard knocks. That stands for Piled Higher and >Deeper if anyone's unfamiliar.
On Thu, 11 Jan 2024 06:56:53 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:
On 1/10/2024 3:43 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
I
seem to recall he was claiming to have a Ph.D. but wouldn't say from
what school? lol
A PHD from the school of hard knocks. That stands for Piled Higher and
Deeper if anyone's unfamiliar.
Most of the people I know personally who have a doctoral degree from a legitimate accredited school (very few actually, I can count on one
hand the number of people I'm talking about), I can literally just
Google their name and find their dissertation or at least an excerpt
from it online.
In all the flame wars I remember glossing over, I don't think anyone
ever even asked him the topic of his dissertation, or some proof it
existed.
Besides, anyone who hasn't written a 300+ page novel-sized
dissertation and can provide proof of it, if not the entire thing,
cannot be considered a legit PhD.
If he ever did do this at all, I can only imagine the plagarism
involved.
On 1/11/2024 4:15 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jan 2024 06:56:53 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:
On 1/10/2024 3:43 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
I
seem to recall he was claiming to have a Ph.D. but wouldn't say from
what school? lol
A PHD from the school of hard knocks. That stands for Piled Higher and >>> Deeper if anyone's unfamiliar.
Most of the people I know personally who have a doctoral degree from a
legitimate accredited school (very few actually, I can count on one
hand the number of people I'm talking about), I can literally just
Google their name and find their dissertation or at least an excerpt
from it online.
In all the flame wars I remember glossing over, I don't think anyone
ever even asked him the topic of his dissertation, or some proof it
existed.
Besides, anyone who hasn't written a 300+ page novel-sized
dissertation and can provide proof of it, if not the entire thing,
cannot be considered a legit PhD.
If he ever did do this at all, I can only imagine the plagarism
involved.
He was just ahead of his time, practicing to be an AI.
On 1/12/2024 6:55 AM, Justisaur wrote:
On 1/11/2024 4:15 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:Can you prove he _isn't_ an early AI?
On Thu, 11 Jan 2024 06:56:53 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:
On 1/10/2024 3:43 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
I
seem to recall he was claiming to have a Ph.D. but wouldn't say from >>>>> what school? lol
A PHD from the school of hard knocks. That stands for Piled Higher and >>>> Deeper if anyone's unfamiliar.
Most of the people I know personally who have a doctoral degree from a
legitimate accredited school (very few actually, I can count on one
hand the number of people I'm talking about), I can literally just
Google their name and find their dissertation or at least an excerpt
from it online.
In all the flame wars I remember glossing over, I don't think anyone
ever even asked him the topic of his dissertation, or some proof it
existed.
Besides, anyone who hasn't written a 300+ page novel-sized
dissertation and can provide proof of it, if not the entire thing,
cannot be considered a legit PhD.
If he ever did do this at all, I can only imagine the plagarism
involved.
He was just ahead of his time, practicing to be an AI.
On 1/10/2024 2:23 AM, Werner P. wrote:
Derek Smart was sort of a "mad" man, he pursuit a dream he could not
fullfill as a single person, but frankly spoken he also was not a team
player either.
Derek Smart literally could not be polite to another person to save his
life.
Am 12.01.24 um 17:18 schrieb Dimensional Traveler:
Can you prove he _isn't_ an early AI?Yes... he failed the turing test!
Can you prove he _isn't_ an early AI?Yes... he failed the turing test!
Am 12.01.24 um 17:18 schrieb Dimensional Traveler:
Can you prove he _isn't_ an early AI?Yes... he failed the turing test!
On 1/15/2024 5:16 AM, Werner P. wrote:
Am 12.01.24 um 17:18 schrieb Dimensional Traveler:That sounds more like proof that he _is_ an early AI.
Can you prove he _isn't_ an early AI?Yes... he failed the turing test!
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