Post by sneakers (Metro Houston) on Jan 26, 2019 20:50:48 GMT -5
Thursday, I attended a seminar put on by my now-former IRA asset manager. My assets dropped to the point where they could not manage them effectively with their regular strategy. Not because of bad performance, because I made some withdrawals to buy a house and to cover expenses, including those from Hurricane Harvey. Headed off for the land of self-management again. Got plenty of time now that I'm retired.
They did a slide about unlimited, disruptive technologies and the stock market.
They mentioned Moore's Law, which I was familiar with. CPU power doubling every eighteen months to two years. They pointed out your iPhone has more computing power than the vintage computers they now use as movie props that took up three rooms. I first got into STEM (but they didn't call it that back then) with an IBM System/360 Model 50 - about 169 KIPS on a good day and about the size of four filing cabinets.
They mentioned Kryder's Law, which I'd observed in practice but never heard a name for it. Memory prices per bit halving every eighteen months to two years. I can remember being in a computer store and seeing a five-megabyte (yes, MEGABYTE) hard drive for $3200. I thought at one time I'd be able to buy one. First hard drive I bought was twenty megabytes and $400. And I thought I'd never fill it up. Now, you can buy a four-terabyte hard drive for under $100 and a one-terabyte SSD for less than $200.
They mentioned the Shannon-Hartley Theorem; I'd heard of Shannon but not Hartley. Similar upgrades in communication technology. Who would have expected NETFLIX forty years ago? Or having all your entertainment come in your house by streaming? Certainly not me! I've gone from 300 bps (for $15 a month) to 250 mbps (for $60 a month) over the years.
They did a slide about unlimited, disruptive technologies and the stock market.
They mentioned Moore's Law, which I was familiar with. CPU power doubling every eighteen months to two years. They pointed out your iPhone has more computing power than the vintage computers they now use as movie props that took up three rooms. I first got into STEM (but they didn't call it that back then) with an IBM System/360 Model 50 - about 169 KIPS on a good day and about the size of four filing cabinets.
They mentioned Kryder's Law, which I'd observed in practice but never heard a name for it. Memory prices per bit halving every eighteen months to two years. I can remember being in a computer store and seeing a five-megabyte (yes, MEGABYTE) hard drive for $3200. I thought at one time I'd be able to buy one. First hard drive I bought was twenty megabytes and $400. And I thought I'd never fill it up. Now, you can buy a four-terabyte hard drive for under $100 and a one-terabyte SSD for less than $200.
They mentioned the Shannon-Hartley Theorem; I'd heard of Shannon but not Hartley. Similar upgrades in communication technology. Who would have expected NETFLIX forty years ago? Or having all your entertainment come in your house by streaming? Certainly not me! I've gone from 300 bps (for $15 a month) to 250 mbps (for $60 a month) over the years.
