peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) (11/22/88)
>}For all of you that sent me hate mail, I found your racial and ethnic >}bigotry to be quite humorous. ... In message <7797@dasys1.UUCP> G Fitch writes: >This is pretty disturbing, actually. We have people reading this >newsgroup who feel compelled to write racist hate mail to a poster >who annoys them? I wonder how much of it there is. Maybe Dave >Peru should publish some of it. (The id's can be left off for the >benefit of those who feel delicate about publishing mail.) When I was younger, I studied Judo for seven years. One of the things they teach you is that when someone is running straight at you, you step aside. When I read my mail and find colorful expletives, that my views are "bullshit", I simply delete these messages without reading further. If I do not "step aside", I would eventually respond, and I do not want to start any mail wars. Someone made a snide remark in reference to the "Bhagavad-Gita". I have never read this document. Someone else said, "you should go back to your own country". I was born in a small town in New Jersey, USA. I grew up near a toxic waste site. I have blond hair and green eyes. (side note: ) ( ) (When I finished my freshmen year, I got a summer job at AT&T. Boy, were ) (they sure surprised to find out I was not a minority. I was the only white) (male that worked there that summer. I sure learned the meaning of minority) (at the initial meeting of all the summer students, blond hair really stands) (out in a crowd. However, I do support Affirmative Action. ) >>I've studied AI for a long time, >Sorry, I thought you were an amateur. What was your thesis on? >Were you at SAIL or MIT? Xerox PARC, maybe? In order to prevent right-brain atrophy, I do most of my research in aerobics class. There's nothing quite like analyzing a 200 pound person trying to be graceful (myself). I know this may sound hard to believe, this being America and everything, but I simply could not afford to go to graduate school. My mother took out loans for my B.S. degree and she owed back taxes to the local government. At this point, I became a socialist, I could not let my mother bear the burden of my education alone (I paid off 2 out of 3 loans, I might go back to school next year, or the year after next). Someone else commented, "your behavior in comp.ai is contemptible, do you realize who reads this group. I've seen Marvin Minsky post entries." That's not the exact quote, but you get the idea. I responded, "had I known, I would not have made any entries at all." I seemed to have cracked open a hornet's nest with my definition of intelligence. There must have been 50 responses, too many for me to respond to immediately. I need time to collect my thoughts and go over the responses. I also just started reading Marvin Minsky's book, he seems to deal with paradoxes. I also have to get to the library to catch up on CS journals. When GE bought RCA, they laid off the other division that worked here and closed the technical library. As far as my knowledge of AI goes, I am simply an amateur; I do it just for the love of it. One point of view is that human beings are basically rational creatures that occasional act irrational. The other point of view is that human beings are basically irrational creatures that occasional act rational. I think there's equal evidence for both points of view. I find arguing both points of view to be educational. Some of you rational guys/gals out there should try the other side once in a while, and vise-versa. Some of my ideas may be irrational, okay, so what. The idea "the big-bang is the result of a black-hole from another universe" was burned at the stake by the Church-of-modern-thought. I've been flamed so much, it may take some time for my hair to grow back. Have you ever smelled burning hair? Most of what I say is probably wrong. Well, the only way I learn is by making mistakes, but then again, I could be mistaken. Are brains supposed to have thoughts like "have you ever thought about what the brain is doing between thoughts?"? My girlfriend was visibly upset when I told her this, she has several times since then expressed concerned about my mental health. I keep telling her I'm normal. Speaking of irrationality, on the way to work in the summer, the local radio station gives the beach report. In addition to the day's tanning index, they now give the hypodermic syringe count. Apparently, individual isolationism is more important than tribe survival. To me, this seems irrational. I think the fact that we exist at all is a bit irrational. In reference to "people are too emotional to be objective", the Japanese have a saying, "The first person that raises their voice in an argument, loses." Are amateurs allowed to make entries on comp.ai ???
marty@homxc.UUCP (M.B.BRILLIANT) (11/23/88)
In article <496@soleil.UUCP>, peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) writes: > ..... > When I read my mail and find colorful expletives, that my views are > "bullshit", I simply delete these messages without reading further. ``Bullshit'' is a technical term I learned decades ago in sophomore philosophy, where I was frequently shot down for expressing objections before I understood the logic of the exposition. I finally learned that sincerity is no substitute for logic. Bullshit is a train of thought that is neither right nor wrong, because it is imprecisely organized and expressed. It is characterized by statements made without supporting argument or authority, or vaguely supported by irrelevant references. Bullshit is hard to deal with in a public forum because it must first be defined before it can be refuted. Apologies to Dave Peru if he misunderstood. I assumed he would know what I meant by ``bullshit,'' but I guess the term is not so widely used as I thought it was. Dave's propositions may have merit. But they were put forth as logically unrelated, unsupported statements that could be given neither approval nor rebuttal without further definition, and his second article, intended to make his position clearer, seemed only to add more unsupported statements. One problem is that the original article was cross-posted to comp.ai and talk.philosophy.misc, and all followups, regardless of where they originated, have been going to the same two newsgroups. I thought comp.ai was for discussions of artificial intelligence, however you choose to define it, while talk.philosophy.misc was more suitable for the exposition, redefinition, and refutation of what I technically call ``bullshit.'' I hoped that by replying by mail I could keep comp.ai from being flooded, but I was wrong. M. B. Brilliant Marty AT&T-BL HO 3D-520 (201) 949-1858 Home (201) 946-8147 Holmdel, NJ 07733 att!houdi!marty1 Disclaimer: Opinions stated herein are mine unless and until my employer explicitly claims them; then I lose all rights to them.