As some of you may know, I will turn 70 years old on January 27th. Becoming 70 is a pretty remarkable thing. It is hard to tell yourself that you are still middle age. Although having my father alive who, at almost 92, is active and healthy, does help. When I turned 69, I decided … Continue reading
Category Archives: About life in the last third
10 Predictions for the Computer Industry for 2014
I decided that this year I would write up my own ten predictions. I should also say that as a technologist in my core, I often see things happening much earlier that they really happen. It is sort of the opposite of the sign on your cars side mirror which reads “objects may appear further away then they actually are”. Continue reading
Avram Miller, what are you doing these days?
This is going to be a difficult blog post to write. Normally, I write about things I understand pretty well – such as the present, past and future of technology. Sometimes, I write about subjects where I have strong opinions such as the Israeli/Palestinian conflict or our the dysfunctional USA government. Often, I write about … Continue reading
What happens when a frozen egg meets a frozen sperm
I just read a wonderful article about a 35 year old woman that froze 70 of her eggs. Evidently, it cost her $50,000 but it is an insurance policy that will allow her to have children in her 40’s even later. Now she does not have to make some bad choices about having a child with someone she does not really love. She points out that this is way of achieving more equality with men even economic equality. I have never thought of it that way but I think this is an important point. Continue reading
Rejected by Wikipedia
If you are a regular reader of this blog you will realized that at the age of 68, I am beginning to be concerned about legacy issues. It was been concerning to me that I have no Wikipedia entry about me because Wikipedia will have a long self live (certainly longer than I will have). So I asked a friend who is also a write to submit an entry for me on Wikipedia. We worked on a draft which he actually toned down. My first draft was actually in my opinion the most interesting because it was written more like a story then an encyclopedia. I wanted the entry to focus on what I think are my three major achievements, playing a principle role in laying the foundation for today’s consumer internet, founding Intel Capital which became the most successful Corp. Venture group and one of the must successful venture activities in the world and having accomplished this an more without ever having gone to University.
If you are a regular reader of this blog you will realized that at the age of 68, I am beginning to be concerned about legacy issues. It was been concerning to me that I have no Wikipedia entry about me because Wikipedia will have a long self live (certainly longer than I will have). So I asked a friend who is also a write to submit an entry for me on Wikipedia. We worked on a draft which he actually toned down. My first draft was actually in my opinion the most interesting because it was written more like a story then an encyclopedia. I wanted the entry to focus on what I think are my three major achievements, playing a principle role in laying the foundation for today’s consumer internet, founding Intel Capital which became the most successful Corp. Venture group and one of the must successful venture activities in the world and having accomplished this an more without ever having gone to University.
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My date with a physicst
I have been interested in physics since I was a child. Being pretty sickly, I was often in bed and would listen to science programs on the radio. Albert Einstein was still alive then. I had trouble tying my shoe laces and my mom told me ” Don’t worry, Einstein can’t tie his shoe laces … Continue reading
My blog at an Inflection Point
I just had my own personal inflection point. For various reasons my last blog post got more then times as many visitors as a normal post and the numbers of subscribers tripled. I am not sure what to make of this or how it might impact my blogging in the future. Continue reading
Avram Miller: A Former Something
I am beginning to wonder if I have youth envy. Every day I read about this 20 something, that 30 something, or even that 40 something. No one write about that 50 or 60 something. In 2 1/2 years, I will be a 70 former something. I don’t really feel much different than I did when I was a “something” … Continue reading
My musical past and present
Playing piano and composing have played an important role in my life since I was fifteen years old. Now as I approach this quarter of my life (my wife won’t let me say “the last quarter of my life”), I feel the urgency to both have the experience of writing music and the need to leave something behind that others including my grandchildren might enjoy someday and have posted a link to a piece I am working on. Continue reading
Life Blues: My reaction to Outlaw Blues by Jonathan Taplin
In reading Outlaw Blues by Jonathan Taplin, I realized how easily my life could have gone in a different direction. Maybe, if I liked the music better, I would have become part of the rock music scene. My management and leadership skills might have taken me on a path similar to Jonathan and eventually my creative side might have emerged as it did for him. I had a similar experience reading Holy Beggars by Aryae Coopersmith whom I recently met. In reading Aryae’s book, I realized that I could have easily continued to explore the spiritual side of myself and may have ended up in Israel as a Rabbi. But I fell in love with technology. By 1966, I was working at the Langley Porter Institute, UCSF Medical School, designing equipment for brainwave bio feedback. From that point on, I had a continuing connection to technology. Now I am back to studying music. Jonathan is a Professor at USC. Continue reading
