There is a great divide between ambition and reality. That slide represents the ambition of every intelligence agency everywhere. Achieving it is another story.

The thing is to separate the creative or skilled form the rote. That's what robots do in manufacturing, with a few skilled workers and machines replacing lots of manual labor. There is no reason that much software creation won't follow the same model. There already are libraries and other tools that remove the need to custom craft code, using automation to build programs is simply a next step. Rather than a bunch of low level coders writing code, more skilled coders will use automation to craft solutions and build their own code where the automated code doesn't do the job. Automation will change the skill set and role of the programmer, much as robot manufacturing has done. Low skilled labor intensive jobs will move to to lower cost locations; textile manufacturing did that and programming has started doing that with offshoring of work.

You are already seeing that at he GP level where an NP is replacing an MD as the main caregiver; mainly because an NP makes 2/3 of what a GP does. A GP essentially treats symptoms and if they go away you're cured; the real value is in the GP or NP knowing when to send you to a specialist. It's bit more complicated than simply looking at test results, however since things such as physical characteristics, odors, twitches, etc require observation and possibly questioning beyond mere test results and that is where a human is still better than a machine. Humans can also detect something that is not part of the original complaint by observation as well, which is why you see a pairing of machine skills with human skills.

I think it is more like "don't think because you learned a reasonably valuable skill that that skill can't be devalued through, or replaced by, automation." It's a pattern that has repeated itself throughout history as machines replaced human labor.

I also think that is a more likely scenario. Many programming jobs are little more than glorified assembly line work where some basic stock code is adapted to a specific job. That's why a lot of it is outsourced since it really doesn't require a sophisticated level of skill, merely the ability to generate the same stuff over and over. The real code writing, as you point out, still will require skills humans possess. In some ways, it's how manufacturing is returning to the US. Instead of an assembly line full of people you have a bunch of robots overseen by a much more skilled technician.

As for the newspaper articles case, that is a bit different. There, good enough and cheap beats out better and more expensive. In such cases, humans will be replaced by machines. That's why we have those damed "Touch 1 for ..." systems instead of a human answering the phone. It also means that many devices, once they reach a certain level of good enough will see less and less improvement and thus less demand for programmers.

No. That's not surprising since the NSA has had some pretty serious computing power fro quite some time. The challenge is picking out the conversations of interest since there simply is too much data to sift through and get timely actionable information.

No need for a warrant, request for the information or dealing with foreign governments, they can simply intercept and decrypt anything of interest; including already collected calls.They can also then provide them to allies that may be able to intercept or have calls of interest in exchange for information. Finally, if they make special secure SIMS that are not used widely, well, those are compromised as well. Finally, collecting intelligence is fun.

Except that this is not an IT project, but an espionage project. It just happened to have an IT component; one very different than the create a web site / database / payroll system project.

I did when I went to grad school. I called the admissions office and politely declined their offer once I got into my #1 choice. I must admit, since the school was our #1 rival at my undergrad it was a bit enjoyable to turn them down; but I felt I ought to let them know as they had people on the waitlist.

Sounds like dorkbot has a legal course of action for trademark infringement and tortuous interference with business since no one would want to go to their meetings for fear of catching some virus.

BTW - what is the HTML tag for sarcasm for the humor impaired?

The problem is when you introduce non-linearity in a document editing process you often wind up with competing edits, edits to old versions that now must be reconciled, etc. It's a lot more difficult than simply changing a few lines of code because it is process that must work properly with the appropriate controls and approvals and the human side is where the screws occur. Software can control edits but cannot ensure the are the correct and final ones.

Exactly, and since they are acting on Revleap's behalf then Revleap is responsible for their actions, including violation of terms of service. Revleap is paying them to carry out an action and thus responsible for what they do. A reasonable person would find that Revleap should be aware of their existence, given their offering to post positive reviews so the "we didn't do, someone else did it" argument would fail. Which is why I would think a tortuous interference claim would be more likely than a simple breach of contract.

A contract requires three things (in the US):

Offer, Acceptance and Consideration; all of which can be met by creating a Yelp account for posting on Yelp. As for identifying both parties, the person signing up knows who they are and who Yelp is; if they chose to use a false ID that is not Yelp's fault and not a reason to void the contract. Using a false name doesn't absolve someone of performance under a contract. If they re below the age of consent for a contract that is a different story, but that is not the case with the OP.

Despite your belief to the country, a mouseclick can constitute acceptance of a contract; it's not something foisted on the gullible by lawyers. You do that every time you click Buy on a website, for example.

Separate from a mouse click, the act of posting would indicate acceptance of the contract. Yelp made an offer - you can signup and post if you follow these rules, your signing up and posting constitutes acceptance of that offer. I could see not being bound by any terms if you didn't sign up or even if you signed up and did not post; but once you post it's pretty clear you accepted the terms and conditions of their offer.

Personally, and IANAL, I think it's more of a tortous interference claim bases on TFA.

You left out:

5.a Spend an inordinate amount of time explaining and defending your estimate to the point the CTO and CFO forget about the initial problem

Delete steps 6 - 9

The greatest document version control solution will ultimately prove to be useless without considering the human, i.e. user, part of the solution. Unless you have clear procedures in place detailing how to maintain version control, teach people how to use the software, explain to them why version control is important (and yes that means you, Mr or Ms senior executive who doesn't have time or the need to follow procedures that are in place to prevent the last screwup you caused by ignoring them), and have someone who maintains the document library and keeps it in shape so it actually is easy to use, your solution will fail. Without that, people will download the latest, make edits, save a copy and upload the edited version. After a while they will simply edit the saved copy and, if you're lucky, upload it as a new document.Others will download a document, make edits, save a copy and send it out without ever checking the document back in so no one else can edit it; those people will find an older version and simply edit it.

I've been there and seen it done very poorly and very well; the key difference is those who do it well have someone who knows how to make it work, can educate people and convince them why it is important, and actually make it work. Those where it fails simply put in a technology solution and then wonder why it didn't works they search for the next technology solution.