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What It's Like to Be Noam Chomsky's Assistant
- wglb 11y agoMy favorite line I then watched him do something I’ve seen a thousand times since: a subtle shift as Noam Chomsky’s mind joined his body from a faraway place, and he arrived in full.
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- misiti3780 11y agobe able to recite conversations from 50 years ago seems pretty amazing - he must have photographic memory
- kelukelugames 11y agoPeople also remember things that never happened. For example, eye witness testimonials. I used to think I could recall conversations, but how do I know they actually happened?
- theklub 11y agoAnd how do you prove it if the other person doesn't remember?
- rifung 11y agoWell, you can't prove it, but if two people can both recall the same thing independently then it seems likely that it's the truth. Here by independently I mean something like both people write down what they remember before speaking to the other person.
- coldtea 11y agoEasy, you get other persons to verify them. If you can get them to do that time and again, then you know you have a good memory. And of course it's not just conversations. One could easily verify his good memory by reciting old things he read (which he can easily check again) etc.
- romaniv 11y agoOut of curiosity, where did you hear about that research on false memories? Also, how do you know you can rely on your memories of yesterday or memories of things you've learned in school?
- tjr 11y agoYou might find this interesting: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0674566769/ http://www.amazon.com/dp/0674566769/
- kanzure 11y ago> I used to think I could recall conversations, but how do I know they actually happened? That seems trivial to verify; just record details about all conversations you have with everyone. I have been doing this since 2009. I have a 5 MB yaml file with details of every conversations (mostly tags), and I might have an above-average memory but yeah I definitely forget things .... (and sometimes I get some of the details wrong even if a conversation happened just minutes ago). Another way to verify (to yourself only) is to writeup your memory of a conversation, PGP sign it, hash it, give the hash to a friend who was originally in the conversation, then have them do a writeup, then reveal the commitment and compare the two accounts of a conversation. The writeup would be better if it was done immediately after the actual conversation, because otherwise social groups have time to mingle and confuse everyone about what actually happened. Another way is to do a public group writeup of a conversation after it happens (or an audio/video recording), then have everyone PGP sign the writeup (to confirm their agreement), then later pick a random conversation where this setup was performed, and write down your memory of the conversation. This doesn't work if the conversations where this setup is performed are all unique; probably has to be a few thousand different setups happen before this starts to test memory in any meaningful capacity.
- dropit_sphere 11y ago> That seems trivial to verify; just record all conversations you have with everyone. I have been doing this since 2009. Only on HN...
- rosser 11y agojust record all conversations you have with everyone. I hope to hell you don't live in a two-party consent state. EDIT: Or interact with people who do. For example, California's two-party consent law applies to people calling Californians from other states.
- codyb 11y agoIt sounds more to me like the techniques world memory champion Dominic O'Brien [0] uses to memorize lists and other events on the fly. His inspiration was (I believe) Aristotle (if not Aristotle, another ancient Greek) who, after a church collapsed, recalled the names of every person who was present at the moment of collapse. His filing cabinet method and Aristotle's (slash O'Brien's) memory palace methods sound very similar in that they give each memory a concrete place to exist and relate the memories to other memories around them thus securing their place within the information hierarchy. I'm sure there is more to it than he says, and if I had to guess, I'd imagine it's a very sensory process (as sensory perceptions provide something much more analog to grasp onto than the relatively digital description a person can provide with words). [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_O%27Brien https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_O%27Brien
- puredemo 11y agoChomsky can't even have a email dialogue with Sam Harris without becoming oozing contempt and incivility for no discernible reason.
- cryoshon 11y agoI understand that Chomsky's defensiveness / crotchety behavior can be very off-putting, but I highly suggest ignoring his eccentricities and focusing on the content of his writings. Chomsky is a deeply sensitive person whose mind is a paragon of receptive and careful attention to word choice, tone, and message-- that's why he's one of the best. The factual analytical power that Chomsky has is absolutely mind-opening, and his methodical explanations lend themselves to increasing your understanding of the issues being discussed, even if you don't agree with his interpretation.
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- __jal 11y agoTo be fair, I don't think I could have an email dialogue with Sam Harris without oozing contempt and becoming uncivil. Civility is overrated. It is also the usually first complaint at hand to dismiss people, rather than their arguments.
- sritchie 11y agoHave you read Sam Harris's post on the dialogue? With Chomsky's permission he posted both sides, and Chomsky does come across as overly rabid: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-limits-of-discourse http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-limits-of-discourse
- eumoria 11y agoChomsky has spent most of his life debating so his aggressiveness in this case seems to stem from how other people view the discourse (or how he agrees or disagrees with Sam) initially. I would put that to an 87 year old academic who's vast library jammed in his head makes discourse with Sam (who I've listened to his podcast and doesn't typically source arguments and occasionally comes across as an ideologue) a little frustrating. Or maybe he's just old and crotchety.
- talles 11y agoHas anyone seem "Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?" by the same author? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1817287 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1817287
- calibraxis 11y agoYes, I enjoyed it very much. (Any questions I can help answer?) The author's different though: Michel Gondry, well known for his music videos and films.
- talles 11y agoOh, I'm sorry, she just stars in it. I was just wondering if HN folks recommend it, I'm considering taking a look.
- GigaMos 11y agoThis is amazing: I have no idea how Sacha Baron Cohen’s Ali G character sneaked through my gate to ask Noam outrageous things like, "How many words does you know?" and "What is some of them?" I do remember that Noam came to me afterward looking dazed. "No more men in gold suits," he said, sighing.
- danielvf 11y agoHere's the video of that interview - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fOIM1_xOSro https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fOIM1_xOSro
- davidw 11y agoThat's off the scale in terms of trolling - one of the funnier things I've seen in a while.
- will_pseudonym 11y agoHis C Everett Koop interview is amazing too. http://youtu.be/zeUtCxe-xDg http://youtu.be/zeUtCxe-xDg
- jacquesm 11y agoI always thought he was in on the joke, even funnier that he wasn't.
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- cuchoi 11y agoProbably he knew and the "No more men in gold suits" line was a joke
- kawsper 11y agoI always liked when he participated in Rap News [0], he seemed to enjoy it. 0, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-rxe9Ayb8c&feature=youtu.be&t=296 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-rxe9Ayb8c&feature=youtu.be...
- geekamongus 11y agoThe weird thing is that I too can speak backwards fluently AND I can juggle lit torches while riding a unicycle. I have only done it once though, and I don't recommend it, because while moving on a unicycle, the inherent wind associated with the forward motion causes the flames to blow into your face.
- DGAP 11y agoThis may be the most pretentious HN comment I've seen to date.
- jacquesm 11y agoUnless it is true. The previous time someone made a 'very pretentious comment' it ended in a quite surprising way: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079
- geekamongus 11y agoSadly, it is very true.
- mkhalil 11y agoThat is pretty darn cool. I don't see it as coming off as pretentious at all fyi.
- cbeach 11y agoI really hope this is tongue-in-cheek humour..?
- geekamongus 11y agoNope...I'm a geek and ex-juggler/magician.
- schoen 11y agoCan you speak backwards while juggling lit torches on a unicycle? I remember a talent show where someone first juggled three balls while reciting 100 digits of pi, and then juggled 100 balls while reciting three digits of pi. (The second demonstration, by design, didn't go quite as well as the first...!)
- umanwizard 11y agoSnore. That comment was pretty low-effort.
- dang 11y agoPlease don't respond to a bad comment by posting another bad (uncivil and/or unsubstantive) comment. That just makes the thread worse. Instead, downvote and/or flag it. We detached this from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10772438 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10772438 and marked it off-topic.
- umanwizard 11y agoWill keep that in mind for the future, my apologies!
- compay 11y agoI had the good fortune to study with Chomsky as an undergraduate in the early 90's and can confirm much of what the article says. To me he was always kind, accessible and warm, even though I was not a particularly promising student.
- SuperComputing 11y agoChomsky hates me, simply because of where I, my parents, my grandparents, and my great grandparents were born.
- desireco42 11y agoI consider Noam Chomsky one of the smartest person on Earth and his assistant obviously has to be as well, to keep up with him. Really excellent read.
- krick 11y agoI cannot say that I don't understand why this is being upvoted: Chomsky is a significant person and quite liked on HN. But all these joyous comments make me sigh. Because, really, there's nothing informative here, at all. This piece doesn't answer question "what it's like to be Noam Chomsky's assistant" or any other questions for that matter. She doesn't tell what exactly she does and why her position is needed at all, portraying herself like a very busy nanny for a childish genius. This reminds all these interviews after someone significant dies, given by someone insignificant who knew him in person. Except in this case significant person is still alive. The only reason why it's read and liked is the name in the headline.
- medius 11y agoReminds me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VTxYQL2SbA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VTxYQL2SbA - (Fall Out Boy - Uma Thurman) If only this article was accompanied by an awesome song, it would be interesting to me.
- hnamazon123 11y agoThis is r/politics level material but unfortunately pg and dang have allowed this type of material to thrive on HN by conscious decision.
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