And Now a Word From Our Conscience - Autodesk University 2011, Hits and Misses, Pt 3:
LAS VEGAS, NV (Autodesk University), Nov 28, 2011 -- The mad rush to put professional tools in the hands of non-professionals was given a face and a voice Monday afternoon when Autodesk CEO Carl Bass excitedly told of an inventor who flew his "aerocopter" to a height of 3,000 ft. "I don't even know if this guy was an engineer," says Carl, who was on the panel of judges for the contest in which this device was featured.
Autodesk CEO Carl Bass wants to empower all those who want to design.
Clearly, Autodesk wants to empower individuals with software. It is making software available to all who want it, a lot of it is free or cheap, a lot of it runs on cheap tablet PCs. It's a way to reach way to reach people who may never have been Autodesk customers before. I get that.
But it make engineers like me cringe. If you are a Professional Engineer, you have even sworn to protect the public. But how do you protect the public when you are not even in the design process? When the inventor has the tools to design an aero copter and the tools to build it, how do you protect the public from itself?
Carl admires the inventor who risks his own life to commandeer this aerocopter. Should such endeavors be regulated? Carl does not think so. He's a Libertarian. I am reminded of the Darwin Awards, in which someone rigged his lawnchair to dozens of balloons and tried to lower himself down to earth by shooting the balloons with a BB gun. See Darwin Awards.
What a dope! It's funny. Unless the dope falls on your head.
It liberated my mind. Thanks for the intelligence shared.
Posted by: gout treatment | February 15, 2012 at 04:50 AM
History is littered with inventors that took risks, that made life or death decisions, that chanced their own to prove a point. Look up Rudolf Diesel. Revolutionised the internal combustion engine. But nearly killed himself in the process...
Posted by: Alistardean | December 12, 2011 at 03:09 PM