This begs for research on how the neural system in the eye compresses raw data into information that can be transmitted through the limited bandwidth optic nerve. Collecting data is great but we can drown in data. We need information processing near to the source.

When I went to college 40 years ago I went took the opposite path of that proposed by the poster. I got an electrical engineering degree and a bachelor of arts in humanities as well in 5 years study. My career was in engineering but I firmly believe that it was the broader view of the world I had that set me apart and allowed me to excel. I worked primarily as an individual contributor but achieved a salary more commonly reserved for middle management. I am now retired from engineering and pursuing the other half of my education working in photography, video and web design. I have never regretted the extra work to get the arts degree.

It seems that this proposed law is trying to fix something that has already been resolved. When a video is uploaded to YouTube, Google's computers compare the sound to a huge archive of licensed music. If there is a match then the up-loader gets a notice that reports the match and tells them that their video will still be shown but that the content owner can show ads with it and receive the ad revenue. This works for most music publishers with a few exceptions Warner Music Group was blocking the sound of their songs. This may have changed recently with WMG not blocking but it now appears that UPMG may be blocking sound. This solution by the majority of content providers seems eminently logical allowing content owners to receive income and YouTube viewers to see creative performances with recorded but unlicensed music.

I worked in a small specialized high tech company that build semi custom process monitoring systems based on spectroscopy. We tried having direct sales force and independent sales representatives and a mix of both with varying success. For about a year we also compensated engineers with a sales override of 5% on the products they were specifically responsible for. While it wasn't a scientific test, sales that year were significantly better and went down when it was removed. The sales force got better help from the engineers and the engineers felt more appreciated. Or product group is still in business after over 30 years but I don't think it ever made a profit because the cost of providing a fully capable staff for such a complex product was never supported by our sales volume. We continue to exist because of the value we created for our customers. We were bought by a series of companies who each though they could add the magic ingredient to make us profitable with such a valuable product line. We are now a tiny footnote in a 40 billion dollar conglomerate. I personally am retired to New Mexico doing photography video and web design.

I read the comments to see if I needed to post something like this comment. There are worse things than doing work of dubious value. It was when the geniuses were so smart that they almost destroyed the economic world that things really got bad. Greed and more greed is our problem.

The only thing that I would ask her is if she plans to do any video editing. I have a Dell Studio 17 and now that I am recording and editing HiDef video the performance is not suitable. I plan to get a low end gaming desktop with one of the NVIDA cards that is supported by Adobe Premier Pro. I don't know if any of the reasonably priced laptops will be suitable.

Really long wavelengths is right. I worked with early versions of this in Infrared spectroscopy out to beyond 10um about 15-20 years ago. It was very brittle and hard to work with.

All my devices are solar powered as we live off the grid with a solar photovoltaic system. 2300 wats of panels 24kWh of batteries.

Candle light or firelight. Moonlight is too weak for my old eyes.

I live off the grid so my home solar panels, 2 generators and batteries will give me almost unlimited full operation. If the inverter fails I will have about 4 hours of laptop and internet use and the smartphone will extend at least internet for another few hours. Oh but will the cell towers be out as well? I still have a satellite internet connection that I could perhaps re-activate but that would be too much trouble. By that time I would just catch up on my reading. Physical books just laugh at a blackout.