tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post557424252360815344..comments2024-03-18T23:13:09.570-05:00Comments on Computational Complexity: My last post on steretypes (I hope)Lance Fortnowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06752030912874378610noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-85962020313518932009-09-07T10:36:37.932-05:002009-09-07T10:36:37.932-05:00You found a blog entry from Aug 1960?You found a blog entry from Aug 1960?Yuriyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15740809505697641661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-65970123233791670982009-09-03T07:19:54.913-05:002009-09-03T07:19:54.913-05:00You posted to this blog in Aug 1909? It's a bi...You posted to this blog in Aug 1909? It's a bit late, but happy centennial!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04752384695446260553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-69477386393799484032009-09-02T19:15:33.176-05:002009-09-02T19:15:33.176-05:00"Why has the link between Star Trek and CS be..."Why has the link between Star Trek and CS been weakened?"<br /><br />Star Trek went downhill in serious ways. Computer Science programs have gone downhill in serious ways. They both allow lower quality scripts/students to bear their stamp.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-71624520075969835062009-09-02T18:50:20.691-05:002009-09-02T18:50:20.691-05:00Anonymous #3 - why do you bother to read Bill'...Anonymous #3 - why do you bother to read Bill's posts? He can shout if he wants to. You can go away if you don't like the way he writes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-40883201522046836902009-09-01T04:51:46.457-05:002009-09-01T04:51:46.457-05:00Aren't the people who are roughly grad-school ...Aren't the people who are roughly grad-school aged about the last ones to grow up with a widely watched, generally popular Star Trek series on the air (i.e., TNG?) Speaking as an undergraduate, the sci-fi/fantasy shows my generation watches DVDs of tend to be Buffy, Babylon 5, Firefly, that sort of thing. (There are a fair number who watch BSG and New Who, but since New Who's still running and Galactica was up until a few months ago, those haven't yet qualified as "classics" to me.) Lost, Heroes. Supernatural in certain circles. I know very few people who watch Numbers regularly, and the biggest fans of Big Bang Theory are intelligent but relatively few do straight-up hard science.harrisonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-12432533242505014352009-09-01T03:01:43.963-05:002009-09-01T03:01:43.963-05:00Mmmh... Big Bang Theory is quite a stereotype for ...Mmmh... Big Bang Theory is quite a stereotype for CS scientists. It is full of insider jokes, quoting and retro<br />pop culture.Massimohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02407000877163973733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-54176575459221981582009-08-31T16:24:37.024-05:002009-08-31T16:24:37.024-05:00As an exercise, I once checked Physical Review to ...As an exercise, I once checked <i>Physical Review</i> to see how much reading John von Neumann needed to do in the 1930s, to stay current in the literature on quantum measurement theory.<br /><br />The answer: one or two articles <i>per month</i>.<br /><br />Nowadays, the arxiv server provides that many articles <i>per hour</i>.<br /><br />Reasonable conclusion: there will never be another von Neumann, from <i>any</i> nation ... because everyone is drowning in a sea of literature.John Sidleshttp://www.mrfm.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-45625618879196287902009-08-31T15:54:43.644-05:002009-08-31T15:54:43.644-05:00There will never be a American hilbert.
Will ther...<i>There will never be a American hilbert.</i><br /><br />Will there ever be another German Hilbert? How is Göttingen these days?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-13488754600294579322009-08-31T15:09:15.241-05:002009-08-31T15:09:15.241-05:00Event one makes sense nowadays. Germans are still ...Event one makes sense nowadays. Germans are still much better than Americans (defined to be a person born in US) in math. There will never be a American hilbert.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-32256193227331845742009-08-31T14:46:11.439-05:002009-08-31T14:46:11.439-05:00I got a reasonably good turn out of graduate stude...I got a reasonably good turn out of graduate students (including some men) for a showing of A&E's Pride and Prejudice at UC Berkeley. I don't think that's the stereotypical computer scientist. (Though maybe people only attended for the popcorn.)Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09768889532937348979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-68601215231558661952009-08-31T14:25:43.068-05:002009-08-31T14:25:43.068-05:00What's going on? One one level it's simpl...What's going on? One one level it's simple: SF books are being pushed off the shelves by hordes of vampire books & zombie books. <br /><br />... and I for welcome our new vampire/zombie cultural overlords! :)<br /><br />Another genre that is finding immense popularity is what my sons call "tragedies disguised as comedies." The final season of <i>Blackadder</i> was an early example ... nowadays shows like <i>The Office</i> (aka "The tragedy of Michael Scott") are pretty much wholly based on comedic tragedy.<br /><br />To provide a technological perspective on this shift, we need only compare the (well-founded!) techno-optimism of <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,821134-1,00.html" rel="nofollow">Apr. 29 Time Magazine</a> to the (well-founded?) techno-pessimism of today's BusinessWeek.<br /><br />What does all this mean? It partly is a symptom of having plenty of good technologies, while being sadly deficient in good narratives, whether technological or otherwise.<br /><br />This is a pretty serious problem (IMHO). As E. O. Wilson wrote of the Enlightenment: <i>It launched the modern era for the whole world; we are all its legatees. Then it failed. Astonishingly, it failed.</i><br /><br />As much as anything else, what was lacking was a compelling <i>and</i> practicable narrative ... and this problem is nowadays more acute than ever.sidles@u.washington.eduhttp://www.mrfm.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-31503131557860812202009-08-31T14:19:14.834-05:002009-08-31T14:19:14.834-05:00Numb3rs is a great TV show!
Anonymous #3, I thi...Numb3rs is a great TV show! <br /><br />Anonymous #3, I think stars are reserved for women. So GASARCH would write JAMES and ***SORELLE***.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-80212382235024418792009-08-31T13:33:26.938-05:002009-08-31T13:33:26.938-05:00Friends, House MD and 24 are my favorite shows and...Friends, House MD and 24 are my favorite shows and I am graduate student in CS too :)<br />And, I hate meaningless science fiction shows. However if they make it meaningful like Matrix (Plato's allegory of cave) or GATTACA then I love them :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-35284373822006336182009-08-31T12:30:18.481-05:002009-08-31T12:30:18.481-05:00There is no successor to Philip K. Dick?There is no successor to Philip K. Dick?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-31596121978753222102009-08-31T11:48:03.856-05:002009-08-31T11:48:03.856-05:00You can indicate a proper noun by capitalizing onl...You can indicate a proper noun by capitalizing only the first letter. For instance, "James". Not "JAMES" and certainly not "***JAMES***". On the internet, typing in all caps is like shouting, and that's just rude! NETFLIX!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-37870701919994303092009-08-31T11:44:23.378-05:002009-08-31T11:44:23.378-05:00That should be "stereotypes" not "s...That should be "stereotypes" not "steretypes". (Doesn't this violate some stereotype about computer scientists, typing, and creative orthography?Barryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15601407170512828091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3722233.post-50323933261868479152009-08-31T11:05:34.410-05:002009-08-31T11:05:34.410-05:00Please stop posting on stereotypesPlease stop posting on stereotypesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com