

Diversity of thought and tech conferences - joejag
http://code.joejag.com/2013/diversity-of-thought-and-tech-conferences/

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ggreer
For me, the most useful tech talks are the result of a lot work by the speaker
(or the speaker's team). My favorite example is Charlie Miller's talk on
battery firmware hacking at DEFCON 19[1]. In 45 minutes, he detailed months of
time spent trying to get a laptop to explode remotely. He gave examples
firmware disassembly, research (he'd never done hardware stuff before), and
social engineering. Not only did the talk contain information about battery
security, but it gave a glimpse of the thought processes and tools he used.

Compare that to conferences about politics and philosophy. There's no
equivalent talk. They use debate formats because what else could they do? They
don't have much useful information to present.

1:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlSBQ5b6Pdw#t=0m35s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlSBQ5b6Pdw#t=0m35s)

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joejag
I agree, there's no doubt that a well executed classroom like talk is both
inspiring and informative.

What I'm arguing is that the community we are part of also has issues that
aren't clear cut, that we could debate to generate interest and inspire the
community.

There is no shortage of great political speeches.

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ams6110
How would this work any better than the never-ending flame wars that are
continually being waged in countless online forums?

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paulorlando
I like it. Look forward to seeing it in action.

