Fruitless Endeavors

: > It's unfortunate that someone with such a long history and undoubtedly a : > wealth of experience chooses to spend their time in these fruitless : > endeavors rather than using that energy for something useful. The greatest danger to good computer science research today may be excessive relevance . . . [C]ommercial pressure . . . will divert the attention of the best thinkers from real innovation to exploitation of the current fad, from prospecting to mining a known lode -- Dennis Ritchie Communications of the ACM, August, 1984 One way to reveal the real problems that need to be solved is to exacerbate them the conditions that cause them. Bad ideas and wasted time have a valid place in this business.