

Peter Norvig's Address at the UC Berkeley Computer Science Commencement (2006) - armansu
http://norvig.com/speech.html

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Retric
The top two increases to GDP are inflation and population growth. Adjust for
both of them and your looking at ~2.5x growth over the fifty years from 1960 -
2010 which is about 2% growth per year.

PS: 2000-2010 it's flat to slightly negative despite better technology.

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muzz
What's your calculation to adjust for both?

from 2000 to 2010, nominal GDP increased by 45% (from $9.9T to $14.4T), or
3.8% annually

[http://www.bea.gov/iTable/iTableHtml.cfm?reqid=9&step=3&...](http://www.bea.gov/iTable/iTableHtml.cfm?reqid=9&step=3&isuri=1&910=X&911=0&903=5&904=2000&905=2010&906=A)

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rodrigoavie
"serve others", can't figure out exactly his intention by sayin' that but it's
a quite weird statement, IMO.

My opinion is: do what you want, if that pleases you, great! If that pleases
even more people, greater!

~~~
noibl
It's clearly stated that he's quoting Franklin -- "America's first great
scientist."

Here are some other statements about Franklin from Wikipedia which might
illuminate the meaning (and maybe Norvig's assessment of the quote's relevance
to computer science, information retrieval and Google):

 _Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of
the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-
governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and
religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment. In
the words of historian Henry Steele Commager, "In a Franklin could be merged
the virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the illumination of the
Enlightenment without its heat."[3] To Walter Isaacson, this makes Franklin
"the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in
inventing the type of society America would become."_

 _Franklin never patented his inventions; in his autobiography he wrote,_ "...
as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad
of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should
do freely and generously."

 _His inventions also included social innovations, such as paying forward.
Franklin's fascination with innovation could be viewed as altruistic; he wrote
that his scientific works were to be used for increasing efficiency and human
improvement. One such improvement was his effort to expedite news services
through his printing presses._

~~~
emmelaich
Great comment.

Everyone should read
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Autobiography_of_Benjamin_F...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Autobiography_of_Benjamin_Franklin)

Many good quotes and lessons therein.

