The Making of NVIDIA's Project SHIELD
by Jarred Walton on February 1, 2013 2:15 PM ESTNVIDIA put up a blog post recently that goes into some of the details of how Project SHIELD came together. There's plenty of marketing hyperbole in the blog post, but if you've ever wondered what it would be like to be one of the top engineers at a company like NVIDIA, this will give you some ideas. 14-hour work days for weeks or even months? Yup, it sounds like that's exactly what some of the people were doing, but that's what passion looks like I suppose.
The jury is still out on whether or not Project SHIELD will be a success, but you have to give credit to NVIDIA for at least trying something different. Plus, the blog post is an entertaining read, and if you need one more reason to like the idea: Project SHIELD can play Crysis (by proxy).
Source: NVIDIA Blog
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IUU - Tuesday, February 5, 2013 - link
" this ain't gonna fucking happen people, EVEN when robots will replace us. "I used to think as you do, but I am not sure anymore. It is like a caveman saying:" whatever magic might exist in the future , I am sure people will continue to walk to get from a to b, and continue to hunt for their food". I guess caveman's thoughts turned out to be prophetic but then again not quite true.
If robots replace us(which doesn't sound totally cuckoo in view of recent developments in robotics), this will be so disruptive for our everyday rhythms, that we will not know how to handle it. Add to this, the coming of more efficient handling of available energy sources( don't be disheartened by those who like to insist, this will never happen speaking about the terawatts of power our modern civilisation needs), the more efficient, fast and automated handling of matter, the increase of average life span over 100 years, and you get the picture.
I may sound extremely optimistic, but in reality I am rather pessimistic. We have not developed concepts, social, financial and moral about how a society, that excludes humans from every meaningful productive process(as we imagine it today), would function. This is why I am afraid that our dreams will eventually come true, but they will be a nightmare.
As for the Nvidia guys, I am sure that 14hrs/day is a stretch, but a phenomenon that:
a) is usually met in intelligent/active people that are more creative during certain periods(bursts of creativity).
b)is usually met in people leaving in a distorted financial and social environment that have no other means to survive/achieve their goals than to work for more than 80hrs/week and sometime for more than 100hrs/week.
In the first case this may not be good, but it is ok, because it comes from free will.
In the second case it is neither good nor acceptable, because it is a violation of human rights.
In my life I have fulfilled the criteria for both the aforementioned variants.
JeffFlanagan - Friday, February 1, 2013 - link
Not passion, malicious high-level management that knows they can overwork the people that provide their cushy living.The people who produce great things should be rewarded, not tortured with insane hours for the profit of execs with zero skills.
russki - Friday, February 1, 2013 - link
If a person works such hours, they are the only ones that can be blamed for it.There's plenty of jobs, you can quit and find another one. But the fact that people had to work 14 hour days means they're understaffed. Also I hope they got OT pay.. if they didnt they'd be pretty stupid.
JarredWalton - Friday, February 1, 2013 - link
It's called a salary. Paid vacation, medical benefits, and very likely NVIDIA pays its top engineers well. But when there's a crunch to hit a goal (e.g. this HAD to be done by CES or it would all be for naught), well, you might get a bonus but they don't have to pay overtime.Death666Angel - Friday, February 1, 2013 - link
nVidia would be fined huge legal fees here in Germany for those work hours. 10:45 hours (10 hours work, 45 minutes recess) are the maximum allowed in almost all professions and you have to have 11 hours of downtime between shifts.rabidpeach - Saturday, February 2, 2013 - link
In america, there are rules like this (fines for no Over Time) for hourly employees, like if you're paid $xx/hour. If you are "salary" you can spend your whole life in the office and not see an extra dime. No law prevents that. Salary employees are usually white color and get "benefits" that makes up for this but there are no hours on the job related rules for them.Peanutsrevenge - Monday, February 4, 2013 - link
It'sInB4 Project SHIELD can play Crysis (by proxy).
not and if you need one more reason to like the idea: Project SHIELD can play Crysis (by proxy).
newb :p
JarredWalton - Monday, February 4, 2013 - link
So, it's incorrect because I failed to completely dumb down the English language? [Rolls eyes]Actually, what's really funny to me is the insane flame war up above with crazies going off on both sides of the "what a 14 hour work day, 7 days per week" means. Talk about going WAAAAY off topic....
A_Reader - Monday, February 11, 2013 - link
Pirks used to troll on Dailytech. I haven't seen him in ages.