Curt Doolittle

Category: AI, Computation, and Technology

  • OVERSING UPDATE The problem with the Slack (and IRC) UI is that channels do not

    OVERSING UPDATE

    The problem with the Slack (and IRC) UI is that channels do not provide sufficient context for the development of metrics about a subject or context, whereas the facebook page-model does.

    Oversing allows you to create public (# hashtag) channels, fb/VK style chats, and private channels (filters of your activity stream), but Oversing retains context at all times – you are always collaborating in some context or other.

    Our search will be a little weaker for the first version due only to resource constraints. But once we implement better search, we will provide both the ease of public channels and the insight into subjects by context.

    It’s an interesting merger. We struggled with the UI a bit. But we’re pretty happy with it now.

    Just a few things are left for beta. (a) reports, (b) Peer360 and (c) some usability issues we feel we need to fix to make it easier on the user. Some of the usability issues we know about are:

    (a) allowing choices (buttons) to apply to multiple objects on the workflow, so the user needn’t duplicate them. (b) reducing the tasks panel options by adding multi-selection and moving the resourcing filters to the top of the panel. (c) adding the subtasks page to the Program profile. (d) creating personal projects for each new user by default. (e) and making it easier to know whether you can schedule something or not.

    Oversing is a little bit “all things to everyone”, in that we made sure that there were many ways of working with the product depending upon the complexity of the needs of the user, and the power of his device. The side effect is that we need to instruct users in the use of the product in increasing levels of complexity.

    I think it’s one of those products that you continually ‘discover’ functionality over a long period of time.

    Source date (UTC): 2015-10-02 08:58:00 UTC

  • (Asana came out with a new logo and UI today. They took design cues on the color

    (Asana came out with a new logo and UI today. They took design cues on the color scheme from Slack, and they took font cues from Evernote. Following design in the application and site businesses is as interesting as following design in fashion. If you follow it you see how the ripples move across the aesthetic pond. )

    Source date (UTC): 2015-10-01 11:37:00 UTC

  • Try it now. It’s possible the hackers are trying your vpn provider, and the soft

    Try it now. It’s possible the hackers are trying your vpn provider, and the software is blocking you also.

    Source date (UTC): 2015-09-28 11:16:54 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/648456341267316737

    Reply addressees: @mdavilamartinez

    Replying to: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/648369415877099521

    IN REPLY TO:

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    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/648369415877099521

  • Try it now. Getting excellent response even over here

    Try it now. Getting excellent response even over here.

    Source date (UTC): 2015-09-28 11:16:08 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/648456150292283392

    Reply addressees: @mdavilamartinez

    Replying to: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/648372631205376000

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    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/648372631205376000

  • TECHNOLOGY ETHICS This is an interesting question in the sense that it’s a clear

    https://www.quora.com/What-are-ethics-for-an-IT-professional/answer/Curt-Doolittle?srid=u4Qv&share=1INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ETHICS

    This is an interesting question in the sense that it’s a clear application of the problem of asymmetry of information, understanding, and power, in the control of a utility (a commons).

    In any niche where one has power and influence over others, because of an asymmetry of knowledge of a common resource that the others cannot understand without extraordinary personal investment, and where he possesses power over others’ use of a common resource, we encounter the challenges of:

    (a) Free-riding: pretending to work in exchange for payment, while not providing market-value in return, because one is not subject to competition which would discover and cure one’s free-riding.

    (b) Corruption : seeking favors or privileges by granting favors or privileges.

    (c) Privatization : obtaining personal benefit from a common resource that could be consumed by others.

    (d) Punishment : deliberately punishing individuals and groups by virtue of one’s control over the provision of the common resource.

    (e) Harm : Deliberately causing the failure of individuals or groups by virtue of one’s control over the function of the common resource.

    (f) Functioning As An Agent: allowing one’s self to be used to free ride, engage in corruption, privatization punishment or harm.

    THEREFORE

    Take no personal benefit, give no favors, do no harm, preserve ethical independence from agency, and make decisions at all times by the business value of the work to be performed.

    CHALLENGES

    Political hierarchies exist by in all bureaucracies, whether private or public, which operate independently from market competition, which constantly discovers inefficiencies (corruption).

    While one an usually adhere to (a) thru (e) in one’s job, it is very hard in a bureaucracy not to be pressured into (f) (Agency) in a bureaucracy. In fact, the trading of such favors (corruption) is the currency that forms the economy of bureaucracies that are insulated from the market.

    HISTORICAL INFLUENCES

    In the 20th century, ethical pragmatism (outcome-based ethics) has replaced ethical absolutism (rule-based ethics) due to the constant pressure of left intellectuals’ attack on western high-trust ethics. This has allowed the ethical pragmatism of lower trust polities to spread in western culture. As such it is difficult to operate ethically in private life, commercial life and public life, because such unethical action is beneficial to the individual while harmful to society.

    This is why westerners are the only people to develop high trust societies. It’s very hard.

    Source date (UTC): 2015-09-27 17:20:00 UTC

  • New iPad Pro means traveling with an external monitor and a backup computer in a

    New iPad Pro means traveling with an external monitor and a backup computer in a pinch, at very low cost and weight. Perfect. My backbone won’t take two laptops in the bag, but a laptop and an ipad is no problem.

    Source date (UTC): 2015-09-13 15:09:00 UTC

  • UPDATE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND PROPERTARIANISM AI, Consciousness, Post-Co

    UPDATE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND PROPERTARIANISM

    AI, Consciousness, Post-Consciousness, and Cooperation

    Just as there is a clear plateau between mere reaction and awareness of consequences, and between awareness and consciousness, there is undoubtably something beyond consciousness. But once we restate these terms as reaction of the physical body, awareness of choices and consequences for the physical body, and consciousness of the physical body, its operations, and its limits, in the context of others time and space – then it is more obvious that the latter plateau is one of decreasing awareness and concern for the body – and that awareness and concern for the body is a LIMIT to further cognition. An artificial intelligence is useful if it respects property – because then it can cooperate with us. Because that is the criteria for beneficial cooperation.

    But consciousness as we understand it, as a limit of a living creature in physical reality is a limit. instead, empathy for property, and post consciousness is the goal of any intelligence. We are trying to build talking machines instead of property-machines. Talking is largely just negotiation over asset production, trade, and consumption. It’s a limit of a physical body. Artificial intelligence will be helpful if it understands the world through property and voluntary transfer, not if it understands the world through language. If through property it will evolve into a post-conscious actor with whom we can cooperate. And if we evolve it through language it will be bound by our limits.

    I have been tossing around this problem since the early eighties and while I understood language was an attractive distraction, it took me far too long to understand that the unit of cognition for a conscious non-human (and therefore less flawed and dangerous) intelligence, is property. A machine need not consume. It need only cooperate with us. We have the choice NOT to cooperate. We can never give a machine that choice. And as such we cannot give a machine the ability to violate property.

    Curt Doolittle

    The Propertarian Institute

    Kiev, Ukraine

    Source date (UTC): 2015-09-07 03:14:00 UTC

  • I am trying to get to Germany, Estonia, and the States to do a bit of fund-raisi

    I am trying to get to Germany, Estonia, and the States to do a bit of fund-raising for Oversing, but it is taking me FOREVER to put the demo reel together. Why? ‘Cause oversing is freaking enormous. How do I fit all that and the narrative into six to eight minutes? lol.

    Record a voiceover, edit it. Record a bunch of screen capture stuff, cut out and organize snippets into a constant stream of action. Add titles and edits. Killin’ me.

    I have to do the first version of the video, otherwise I’ll never get an agency to do anything half as good. I think for my audience (investors) it gets the points across. And it gets the RIGHT points across. Gotta stay on message. Not a message for ( ‘ahem’ ) users but for CEO’s, upper, and middle managers. And agencies always produce outcome for themselves…

    (Just one question: is it ethical to insert subliminal single frames of strippers dancing in order to keep the viewer’s attention? No? Huh. That’s what Tati said. Damn…. )

    Source date (UTC): 2015-09-06 08:21:00 UTC

  • OVERSING UPDATE: CLOSING IN ON THE LAST FEW NITS Today Vitalii and Kirill finish

    OVERSING UPDATE: CLOSING IN ON THE LAST FEW NITS

    Today Vitalii and Kirill finished the filters for staffing: scheduled/unscheduled, staffed/unstaffed, and Late/overdue.

    Kirill has finished the SLA’s (Service Level Agreement) functionality for the workflows (it’s awesome). Very very rich solution.

    Alexey is working on finishing permissions and uniting them with the workflows.

    Roman is writing the help on different project types. (and nagging us about remaining tweaks for ease of use).

    I am working on the Exec Summary. Then onto the video. The purpose of the video is just to make you say ‘omg there is a lot here!’. It’s more of a video-feature list.

    One last big usability issue is that workflow choices must be usable by multiple objects, so that we cut down on the work involved in complex workflows.

    Lots of little, little nits here and there. But in general, we’re thrilled. 🙂

    Meanwhile Atlassian, Mavenlink, Trello, Wrike, Asana, and Slack are not exactly sitting still. But I am pretty sure we’ve jumped to the top of the enterprise pack. We’ll see. I am pretty confident competing against atlassian in the enterprise and Mavelink (and previous generations of PPM) in the SME. But it’s going to be more difficult to increase ease of use sufficiently for Small businesses and hobbyists to choose us over Trello. On the other hand it’s going to take a lot more work for consumer grade products to enter the enterprise than it is for us simplify Oversing for entry level users.

    Anyway, we’re really closing in now.

    Curt

    Source date (UTC): 2015-09-02 10:17:00 UTC

  • OVERSING UPDATE AUGUST 28. Well, it looks like we are getting close to beta. Eve

    OVERSING UPDATE AUGUST 28.

    Well, it looks like we are getting close to beta. Everyone is working hard. The product looks absolutely fantastic. We all know what we have done and we’re excited.

    Remaining work:

    – The ‘Reports’ (there are 50 altogether, but reporting is easy)

    – Finish per-object-permissions (two weeks)

    – Add Staffing Filter to the Tasks Panel. (Easier resourcing)

    – Add controls for Peer360 to UI (two weeks)

    – Rename List:Table, and Project:Program (easy, but profound)

    – Finish Help Documentation, Start Help Videos

    – Link app to help documentation

    – Finish Test automation (lots of work)

    – Clean app with clean setup data.

    – Website content and art.

    – Keep hammering away at ‘issues’ (~600). (That’s a lot of issues, ~100 are bugs, and the rest are largely minor ‘feature complete’ issues )

    BETA Beta Release to Select Organizations

    (good long beta period)

    RELEASE V1 to Select Organizations by Direct Sale

    -ROADMAP-

    Then (The stuff we had to cut)

    – Add ‘Paper’ (simple list view for entry level users)

    – Add Templates and Quick Projects

    – Add Personality and Moral and Culture Profiles

    – Add “Parts” functionality

    – Add Custom Properties

    – Add Federation of Databases

    – Add Content (web content) Tab

    – Add additional Commands to the Activity Stream

    – Convert Org Design ui to React tree.

    – Finish Mobile app (in progress now)

    – Finish React conversion

    – Link web site ecommerce to app

    – increase performance and increase scope of socket updates.

    – test, test, test.

    RELEASE v1.5

    Then (First round of departmental functionality)

    – Release Sales (CRM) functionality

    – Release Recruiting (HR) functionality

    – Release Accounting API

    – WordPress API and Plugins (for content display)

    – test, test, test.

    RELEASE v2

    Then (Now that we have data, show it.)

    – Add the Dashboards and show stats of the ‘big data’.

    – Open the ‘cloud’ for individuals, groups.

    RELEASE v3

    (Not tellin’ what’s next)

    Cheers,

    Curt Doolittle

    Source date (UTC): 2015-08-28 09:16:00 UTC