EEVblog #1000 - Fundamental Mailbag Retro Teardown Shootouts are Bullshit

[oldway]

My sincere congratulations for these 1000 (even more) interesting and wonderful videos.

[gildasd]

Engineering wise, isn't video 1024 far more relevant?
If every one is considered a bit of Dave, then that will equal 128 Bytes of knowledge.
And you can go to the Moon with 1.13687e-13 Pebibytes...

[RGB255_0_0]

I was excited by the IG post where you showed all the scopes, thinking you'd do a shootout where you'd spend the time because of the special circumstances being #1000. I was slightly disappointed but enjoyed the video.

Congratulations Dave 

[Arjan Emm]

nicely done dave. A good bit of all the different sort of videos you do.

[exe]

Congratulations!


Good video, I love it.

[Fungus]

I actually used some BJTs as diodes the other day at Arduino club.

Everyone was really impressed by my encyclopedic knowledge!   

I enjoyed seeing the Keysights and Insteks doing really badly in the noise test. 

PS: Thanks for all the videos! I've learned a lot, even got jobs thanks to stuff I learned here.

[rsjsouza]

Dave, congratulations on the "officially named" 1000th video (you actually posted many more). It was very entertaining!

[Brumby]

Engineering wise, isn't video 1024 far more relevant?

Engineering wise, 1000 is more appropriate.  It's 10 raised to a power which is a multiple of 3.

The only time 1024 comes into the picture is when you take the subset of engineering that relates to binary circuits.  If Dave's channel was a computer one, then you would have a stronger argument - but it's much broader than that.

[EEVblog]

I was excited by the IG post where you showed all the scopes, thinking you'd do a shootout where you'd spend the time because of the special circumstances being #1000. I was slightly disappointed but enjoyed the video.

I really only had a couple of minutes to show something on those 11 scopes, so options are rather limited.

[SL4P]

Dave - Did you really shoot the workshop segments at 6am++, or is the BTTF clock 12-hour without am/pm indication !

[Fungus]

Perhaps her message is not primarily whether the energy transfer concept will work or not,
but,
instead to not give up just because someone dislikes your idea,
and that "experts" should not be trusted further than you can throw them.

Yes, I agree. I thought the general message that engineers and experts are often blinkered in their thinking was absolutely spot on. Also, being naïve in one's approach can sometimes give a person an advantage compared to someone else who has been conditioned to reach (premature) conclusions through formal training. The other powerful message is 'don't give up' on innovation if you get a few knockbacks.

Yep. Ohms law is only for linear-thinking pussies. There's ways around it if you have enough imagination.

Flying faster than light? That's easy! All you have to do is imagine it (and google for "rocket ship")!

[G0HZU]

Perhaps her message is not primarily whether the energy transfer concept will work or not,
but,
instead to not give up just because someone dislikes your idea,
and that "experts" should not be trusted further than you can throw them.

Yes, I agree. I thought the general message that engineers and experts are often blinkered in their thinking was absolutely spot on. Also, being naïve in one's approach can sometimes give a person an advantage compared to someone else who has been conditioned to reach (premature) conclusions through formal training. The other powerful message is 'don't give up' on innovation if you get a few knockbacks.

Yep. Ohms law is only for linear-thinking pussies. There's ways around it if you have enough imagination.

Flying faster than light? That's easy! All you have to do is imagine it (and google for "rocket ship")!

I'd like to nominate Fungus for the 'strawman argument of the month' award please

[Kjelt]

I think Fungus has a good point.
Sure there is a possibility that an expert can be hindered by his knowledge.
IMO the risk is way higher that a non expert tries to do something trivial that is over and over proven non-feasible like a pepetuum mobile.
I think Daves examples of SolarRoadWays and now this 2% efficient ultrasonic charger startups proof that you at least need some basic understanding and knowledge of the matter before you can become succesfull.

[Kjelt]

Or to add to re-invent something that has already been invented long ago.
How many patent applications get rejected because there is prior art and the person has not even taken the time to do a decent patent search ?

[EEVblog]

Congrats Dave on the millenium post. 

Tedtalk 

"as a non expert I had an advantage because I could look at a problem from different angles because I just did not know it was possible"

Four years later she still does not know it is not possible or is she continuing because of loss of face ?

It's got to be latter.
She simply must know that it can't work as intended.
It's been 5 years, 10's of millions of dollars, she had the best ultrasound experts in the world working for her (sorry, with her), and all she has to show for it is a huge brick with hobby level tracking technology that charges a phone under ideal conditions at the most hideous efficiency and expense.
The desperation in her voice of trying to justify it away that they have "won" the critic war is clear in the latest interviews

Now almost everyone has left (all of the experts have), she has literally a huge new building that is empty, and her former VP of engineering is publicly ripping her a new one on why it will never work. She knows the end game now, but her only option will be to persevere until it all goes tits-up or the investors are finally able to throw her out and sell what's left of the tech and/or pivot it.

She needs to be either proven right (won't happen of course), or she needs to go down trying so she can blame everything and everyone but the stupidity of the entire concept.

[madires]

Sure there is a possibility that an expert can be hindered by his knowledge.
IMO the risk is way higher that a non expert tries to do something trivial that is over and over proven non-feasible like a pepetuum mobile.
I think Daves examples of SolarRoadWays and now this 2% efficient ultrasonic charger startups proof that you at least need some basic understanding and knowledge of the matter before you can become succesfull.

There's also the Dunning–Kruger effect. A "basic understanding" might become dangerous

[EEVblog]

I think Daves examples of SolarRoadWays and now this 2% efficient ultrasonic charger startups proof that you at least need some basic understanding and knowledge of the matter before you can become succesfull.

But she was "successful". She shot to fame over the last 5 years, got lauded around under the banner of "genius" and was even called "the next Elon Musk", and got to spend near $30M of other people's money whilst still retaining a ton of ownership and all the power.
She'll be able to milk that forever, even when this thing fails.

[Fungus]

Sure there is a possibility that an expert can be hindered by his knowledge.

An "expert" in ultrasonics will be able to tell you the efficiency of this to several decimal places.

A non-expert can see the problem of size and having to hold just right.

An idiot can see that Qi is 1000000% better.

[RGB255_0_0]

Sticking a Qi charge within the stadia seating would be more beneficial, though I wouldn't sit on my $800.

But I get the impression uBeam and other wireless charging technologies that are doomed before the second pint of Guinness was that they are supposed to work over a longer distance than 1-2cm.

[Kjelt]

There's also the Dunning–Kruger effect. A "basic understanding" might become dangerous  

Well I myself try to stay away as much as possible from psychology and their findings.
The last 6 years more "proven" psychology experiments and studies (even from the 80s and 90s that build careers) are now being found worthless and wrong because they fail miserable in tests that try to repeat their outcomes.
More fraude has been committed in this field than any other and they are only re-testing the tip of the iceberg.
That is probably why psychology is not and never will be a real science.

[tszaboo]

Now almost everyone has left (all of the experts have), she has literally a huge new building that is empty, and her former VP of engineering is publicly ripping her a new one on why it will never work. She knows the end game now, but her only option will be to persevere until it all goes tits-up or the investors are finally able to throw her out and sell what's left of the tech and/or pivot it.

How does this work? You make a startup, have an average idea, raise millions of VC money. That 30M would pay ~10 expert with 250.000 salary for 3 years. Renting , prototypes, equipment, another few million. There is 10-20 million left.
It always bothered me: Where does the money from all these failing startups go? I just cannot imagine it. For 30M, in a traditional business, you can create jobs for ~100 people, and a self sustaining company. Those are the numbers that I'm seeing for investments from big firms into factories.

Where do they waste all those money? Does it just end in their pocket?

[Fungus]

It always bothered me: Where does the money from all these failing startups go?

There's stuff on youtube with Meredith riding the vomit comet, having lunch with Bono, etc.

Where do they waste all those money? Does it just end in their pocket?

Yep. New cars, first class flights to give Ted talks, expensive hotels, etc. can get rid of millions of $$$ in a matter of months (if you let them). And with nothing to show for it.

Hell, one trip to Vegas can do that and you don't even have to gamble, just tick the "front row seats and VIP everything" box.

[nctnico]

Hiring engineers is more expensive than factory workers. Besides that money will be spend on lawyers and patents.

[nixfu]

Nice Job.

#1000 was epic.

[StillTrying]

There's stuff on youtube with Meredith riding the vomit comet

That'll be from when she worked for NASA.