So what's the purpose of a file system? For that matter what's the purpose of the device driver stack underneath it? They both serve one purpose: To map data in and out of a processor's address space so that it can be operated on. Everything else is a necessary evil to that end, everything else adds latency to the one job that a storage stack is trying to achieve. Once upon a time ago when I was working on management drivers for what became Optane, it was believed that Intel would be able to deliver 64TiB DDR4 style, non-volatile, byte addressable memory for compute. That never happened, but it did cause many of us to pause and reconsider the point and purpose of a file system. Today, most object stores don't reduce the layers of obfuscation - they increase them. Nearly every S3 implementation leverages some other kind of file system underneath the object store facade to host the data and some kind of KVS to map OID's to user meta data - adding yet another layer of latency. If we turn the page back to UDF file systems meant to replace ISO-9660, I think we see an opportunity to rid ourselves of some of these layers. UDF had the concept of an "Anchor Volume Descriptor" - a specially anointed sector that was the entry point to map the rest of the volume's data (and "objects"). IPFS (the interplanetary file system) has extended and specialized the meaning and definition of an Object ID (OID), to be a has of its immutable contents. Rather like the way "git" creates objects referenced by hash IDs and mapped by its "refs" database, I suspect someone could combine hashed OIDs ala IPFS with notions of UDF anchor volume descriptors to map entire file system hierarchies without any form of a file system. I further suspect this could be implemented at the device level. I believe Seagate tried to move the world in this direction once before, but the "world" was not yet ready for the paradigm shift. https://www.architecting.it/bl...

I still see the only path forward for net-zero (actually negative) carbon emissions is via Hyllion's (HYLN) hybrid drive train that is fully complementary to all the existing players except the manufacturers of diesel engines. https://www.hyliion.com/

A slight increase in ocean temp leads to more water in the atmosphere, which creates more snow, which increases the albedo of the planet, which lowers temperatures.

While I agree we should continue to be less consequential, no one has been able to convince me that we need to short circuit free market solutions with global rule that will fail so surely as OPEC members cheat every single time.

It's still a wild west frontier primarily of interest to currency speculators, but moves such as this may open doors for those whose interests are in using digital currency as a low cost transactional tool for commerce, rather than the object of commerce itself.

Unfortunately, I just bought a Galaxy S7, so I'll probably sit this one out like I did with the N900 launch. Hopefully, it's still an option with my next upgrade cycle in 2 to 3 years, unlike the Nokia N900 that died on the altar of Redmond before I was ready to upgrade.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases:

• If it moves, tax it.
• If it keeps moving, regulate it.
• And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

--Ronald Reagan (1986)

A thought provoking and well done trump through a serious possibility. Adding it to the list here as I find favor with nearly all the suggestions but found this one mysteriously missing.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt03...

Mr. Goodenough,

It seems that the world's reserves of lithium are far more centralized than nearly any other energy source. Do you foresee a way to avoid the geopolitical struggles for lithium ore that we experience with oil reserves?

Do you see an upper limit on the ability to recycle and reuse existing lithium batteries (those that have avoided a landfill)?