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Re:The Decline of Computers as a General Purpose Technology ... by delusional on Sunday October 22, 2023 @04:48AM (#37973842)
>I helped a lady on Friday at a midsized bank whose job it was to take a set of dates in an Excel file, search each one individually into an internal search tool, then Ctrl+f the result report and verify that every code listed in the original document exists in the report.

I happen to work in a midsized bank, and we have TONS of these sorts of manual processes. My favorite unintuitive fact is that 90% of them turn out to be some outdated compliance process that nobody remembered a person even did, and that is no longer necessary.

That also usually the reason why something is "too small of an impact". Having 2 engineers come in to figure out that something is obviously just busywork, and then try to run some political process to convince leadership, is very expensive.

Re:The Decline of Computers as a General Purpose Technology ... by ethbr1 on Sunday October 22, 2023 @09:11AM (#37975064)
When I stumble across things like this, I always remember this scene from Babylon 5 (and Peter Jurasik's delivery!)

(Context: they've found an attache and friend they thought was dead, alive but forgotten in a prison cell) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kCj-Rnd5SsA

Re:The Decline of Computers as a General Purpose Technology ... by leephillips on Sunday October 22, 2023 @01:46PM (#37977482)
That was pretty amazing. I have to watch this show some day.
Re:The Decline of Computers as a General Purpose Technology ... by ethbr1 on Sunday October 22, 2023 @02:07PM (#37977658)
150% would recommend. I've watched it through 3 times over the years. Can't say that for any other show!

If you do, commit to watching through the end of the second season, before you make a call.

It takes that long for the show to find its feet and the overarching plot to get really going.

And expect a lot of cheesy 90s stuff. Although way less than Star Trek!

But on the whole, IMHO, it's incredibly modern and prescient for when it was released. Far fewer disconnected "monster/problem of the day" than e.g. X-Files, and even those usually still have character interactions that do important world building.