Why do you think humans have a burning desire to reinvent the wheel?

[Naruzeldamaster]

I'm talking beyond just improving a product that is already good, like computer parts.
I'm talking like how we renamed 'twitter' to 'x' even nobody was having issues with calling it twitter (and most of us still do)

I don't think it's anything mystical personally, I just think it's human nature to want to be stronger/faster etc.

 

[Reaver]

I'm talking beyond just improving a product that is already good, like computer parts.
I'm talking like how we renamed 'twitter' to 'x' even nobody was having issues with calling it twitter (and most of us still do)

I don't think it's anything mystical personally, I just think it's human nature to want to be stronger/faster etc.

I couldn't agree more. I personally am looking forward to a future where I can replace old limbs and organs with cybernetics. I've wanted to be the Six Million Dollar Man since I was a kid so...Fingers crossed...

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

I couldn't agree more. I personally am looking forward to a future where I can replace old limbs and organs with cybernetics. I've wanted to be the Six Million Dollar Man since I was a kid so...Fingers crossed...

To be fair, in the case of Twittter, X IS faster to type (this was the 'main' excuse musk posted but later we found out other much more political reasons I won't get into.) than twitter but like, nobody was asking for it lol I'm sure most of us sane people have found other avenues to post stuff online.

I'm not sure cybernetics will get that far by the time we can enjoy it. But if it does I'm curious what the health regulations will be for it. What, will they have 'conceal and carry' licenses if we want to turn our fist into a rocket fist lol

Nothing stopping a silly hacker from hacking all the cybernetic arms and making us do the 'stop hitting yourself' joke...

A common joke me and a buddy make (Because it is a common joke about a female canon character's robotic arm) about my character's cybernetic arm is 'does it vibrate' and I'll let you do the math on why it's funny. (Since we try to keep it family friendly here lol)

 

[Reaver]

To be fair, in the case of Twittter, X IS faster to type (this was the 'main' excuse musk posted but later we found out other much more political reasons I won't get into.) than twitter but like, nobody was asking for it lol I'm sure most of us sane people have found other avenues to post stuff online.

I'm not sure cybernetics will get that far by the time we can enjoy it. But if it does I'm curious what the health regulations will be for it. What, will they have 'conceal and carry' licenses if we want to turn our fist into a rocket fist lol

Nothing stopping a silly hacker from hacking all the cybernetic arms and making us do the 'stop hitting yourself' joke...

A common joke me and a buddy make (Because it is a common joke about a female canon character's robotic arm) about my character's cybernetic arm is 'does it vibrate' and I'll let you do the math on why it's funny. (Since we try to keep it family friendly here lol)

The twitter thing--yeah--I'm not on any real social media except Youtube but I still call Meta Facebook. And as far as cybernetics go--you're probably right but at the rate at which AI is advancing perhaps it will be used to expedite the design and safe implementation of cybernetics in the medical field

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

The twitter thing--yeah--I'm not on any real social media except Youtube but I still call Meta Facebook. And as far as cybernetics go--you're probably right but at the rate at which AI is advancing perhaps it will be used to expedite the design and safe implementation of cybernetics in the medical field

I use Youtube the most (though not as a 'social media' platform) and Reddit (And Reddit I use sparingly for gaming communities) Discord I use fairly often but like, again, gaming ones lol

My most used one is Youtube and I use it to watch people play horror games and many other games. Youtube is AMAZING for finding video guides on how to solve a puzzle in a game. Though Xenoblade Chronicles X has this 'curse' where the person will randomly derp around doing 'extra' stuff for about 10 minutes before showing the actual thing in the title. Sometimes said extra stuff is needed, but other times it's not.

 

[Reaver]

I use Youtube the most (though not as a 'social media' platform) and Reddit (And Reddit I use sparingly for gaming communities) Discord I use fairly often but like, again, gaming ones lol

My most used one is Youtube and I use it to watch people play horror games and many other games. Youtube is AMAZING for finding video guides on how to solve a puzzle in a game. Though Xenoblade Chronicles X has this 'curse' where the person will randomly derp around doing 'extra' stuff for about 10 minutes before showing the actual thing in the title. Sometimes said extra stuff is needed, but other times it's not.

You should check out my livestreams sometime. I played Ghost of Tsushima yesterday. I had a few viewers including MoSSurl.

 

[pmmg]

To be fair, in the case of Twittter, X IS faster to type (this was the 'main' excuse musk posted but later we found out other much more political reasons I won't get into.) than twitter but like, nobody was asking for it lol I'm sure most of us sane people have found other avenues to post stuff online.

Dude, you're getting sloppy. X is his brand. not much more to look at there, and 'All the sane people'? Really . Sure wish I could find that magic platform where all the sane people went. Maybe it was Reddit, or bluesky

Plenty of sane people left on X.

Anyway...there are many reasons to change a brand. Perhaps because the brand has attached to it a mindset or baggage that the brand owners wish to change. Why change the name of the Redskins?

Ten reasons I can think of...

1) Acquisitions and mergers
2) Ego
3) To escape controversy
4) To speak to a different audience.
5) To increase reach
6) To avoid copyright and trademark issues
7) To change company mindset
8) To gain attention
9) Pressure from other stock holders
10) Cause I just plain old, thought of a better one I should have used instead (Pete's Super Submarines)

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Dude, you're getting sloppy. X is his brand. not much more to look at there, and 'All the sane people'? Really . Sure wish I could find that magic platform where all the sane people went. Maybe it was Reddit, or bluesky

Sounds like someone is getting sloppy at trying to stir the pot, but let's ignore that bit. Blue Sky (which, I don't use, so I can't speak for it) and Reddit have their own issues. But that doesn't stop the 'hidden gem' communities on there from being good. I mostly visit Reddit sparingly for the gaming communities. And honestly the ones that aren't auto modded to heck are fine for the most part. Just don't go in guns blazing critiquing the game in question with too 'honest' an opinion. (I've learned that the hard way ^+^;

Plenty of sane people left on X.

And plenty of folks 'left' X because of the branding change, or how Musk was running it. Or personal reasons neither you or me know about.

Anyway...there are many reasons to change a brand. Perhaps because the brand has attached to it a mindset or baggage that the brand owners wish to change. Why change the name of the Redskins?

Ten reasons I can think of...

1) Acquisitions and mergers
2) Ego
3) To escape controversy
4) To speak to a different audience.
5) To increase reach
6) To avoid copyright and trademark issues
7) To change company mindset
8) To gain attention
9) Pressure from other stock holders
10) Cause I just plain old, thought of a better one I should have used instead (Pete's Super Submarines)

Let's go ahead and remove the political controversy stuff about Musk from this then.

Regardless of his personal/Business reasons of changing Twitter to X. (Even if it's something silly like 'X just sounds cool' )

A lot of folks (Even the normal users) still use 'twitter/tweet' to talk about 'x' because a lot of the users there think the name change was unneeded. There's also a lot of confirmation of a good number of people leaving the platform entirely because of the change. Or they don't like how Musk is running the platform, which is also a thing. There's also people who parody twitter/X with their own social media pages. A youtuber I watch has their Personal website called 'Formerly known as X' and I'm pretty sure the joke is obvious enough.

My personal gripe with the new name (again removing the political stuff): Twitter / Tweet branding was memorable and Catchy and even those that didn't use social media knew what it was. X doesn't make me personally think of a website or social media, I think of the third to last letter in the alphabet. I imagine a lot of older people would recognize Twitter sooner than X too. Now the younger generation, I wouldn't know, I'm not 'hip with the kids' and I don't aim to embarrass myself tryin to be lol Though if I can get along with them through gaming I'd be fine with that.

 

[pmmg]

And plenty of folks 'left' X because of the branding change, or how Musk was running it. Or personal reasons neither you or me know about.

Thats not what you wrote but i accept your correction.

 

[pmmg]

My personal gripe with the new name (again removing the political stuff): Twitter / Tweet branding was memorable and Catchy and even those that didn't use social media knew what it was. X doesn't make me personally think of a website or social media, I think of the third to last letter in the alphabet. I imagine a lot of older people would recognize Twitter sooner than X too. Now the younger generation, I wouldn't know, I'm not 'hip with the kids' and I don't aim to embarrass myself tryin to be lol Though if I can get along with them through gaming I'd be fine with that.

Personally, I think the rebrand to X was a mistake. I think he should have gone with Twitter-X, if it had to change.

But the stated reason for the change is the feeling was people thought of Twitter as a place to tweet, 240 characters or less, and he wanted to rebrand to break that perception. Musk has stated that he wants the platform to be a super-app, which includes video, banking and commerce.

I personally think he changed the name mostly because X is his brand and he wanted to pull it more into his image. (And if I could read his mind, I think he finds the letter to be the sexiest part of SE'X'Y, which he uses as a theme for his cars).

Musk also has a stake in AI, and things that come from X may have uses in his other companies. So, its hard to quantify its real value to the world, and to Musk, his companies, and his greater ambitions. If X's grok, becomes the dominant AI (and it certainly is a contender), it may be a much bigger thing than was foreseen at its purchase.

But X is still deeply in debt. It was not a profitable company when he bought it, and it has a big hole to climb out of.

I dont have an account on X, and generally avoid the big things, like X, Facebook, and Reddit. Probably I should not, and I will consider them harder when I ever get more into marketing. If I ever get more into marketing.

I mention BlueSky, solely because that is where many (most) went thinking they would be happier disassociating from Musk, and through Extension, Trump. But X is still where it is at. Its too big to ignore. If you are thinking the crazies stayed and the sane left, you have a large lesson in life to learn.

I would advise less of lowest common denominator stuff, and a more objective approach. There is good and bad in everything. It is not a true statement to say only the sane did one thing and by extension the un-sane did another. People on X are for the most part, not insane. (Course, every place with a large enough following has some level of crazy).


Beyond Mr Musk, do people reinvent the wheel?

Many places have iterations of their products. Microsoft, Linux, Apple, Car companies, watch makers....

The iterations always promise better and newer features, and often advertise as redesigned from the ground up, but in spite of it all, many still use MS-DOS, and PowerShell never quite caught on like they would like.

Was it a new wheel? Or was it just marketing?

I can recall when Intel was making the Pentium chips (586) other companies, Cyrix, were quick to say they had a 686 chip. But...mostly their stuff caused blue screens and did not significantly out-perform the 586 chips. Intels plan was to be fully AI by their 786 iteration, but...somewhere along the way they dropped the X86 naming scheme. Now we have the I5 and I7. That was a rebranding, but no one seemed to care. It did break them out of the notion that if they got fast enough, AI would magically pop itself up.

Iteration is good thing, and the ability to make new iterations is what moves us from stuff that is starts off clunky, and takes us towards a sweeter well running machine. Look at the nuclear power industry.

We have been capable of safe, efficient, low cost, and long lasting nuclear power for decades, but it was stopped cold by fears of nuclear as a dangerous word. We are moving to Generation 4 nuclear, and generation 3 is already incapable of melting down, such as with 3 mile island. In fact, every nuclear plant that has melted down, has been a generation 1 plant. And most plants running in the world are generation 1 and 2. Why? cause the industry has not been allowed to quickly iterate by public concern. But...with each iteration, it gets better.

Its true everywhere. You dont see too many coal fired ocean ships anymore, or cars with cranks in front to get them started. Stuff just moves on.


Anyway, I think reinventing the wheel is seldom an accurate statement. More accurate would be something like standing on the shoulders of giants. Yes, things change, but they are slow improvements on what has already been.

True breakthroughs are not re-inventions. They are probably just inventions.