5 ms·

John McCarthy - Wikiquote

31 points by iamelgringo 19y ago

cousin_it 19y ago
Those quotes remind me of Eric Hoffer. I mostly agree with the worldview expressed.
mdemare 19y ago
These are brilliant! "It's possible to program a computer in English. It's also possible to make an airplane controlled by reins and spurs."
jrnewton 19y ago
can someone explain this one to me... i just don't get it. "A true intellectual is a man who, after reading a book and being convinced by its arguments, will shoot someone or, more likely, order someone shot"
- sfk 19y ago
  Difficult without context. It could be a joke about academic jealousy. EDIT: Forget that, I agree with the Marxist comment.
- cousin_it 19y ago
  It's about Marxists. Think Pol Pot studying at the Sorbonne.
- suboptimal 19y ago
  My interpretation: a perfectly logical argument may convince you to take actions that harm yourself or others, if all you value is intellect (robot builders, please take note). "Between the mind that plans and the hands that build there must be a Mediator, and this must be the heart."
- deleted 19y ago
  [deleted]
andrewl 19y ago
I like most of these. I don't get this one: Compassion is contempt with a human face.
- maw 19y ago
  I think it means that a compassionate person assumes the people he's compassionate towards are incapable of bettering themselves, and thus contemptible. I'm not sure whether I agree or not, but my first guess is that it's sometimes true and sometimes not. Deep, huh?
  - suboptimal 19y ago
    I think your interpretation is spot-on, but I disagree with the quote. I suspect the author is defining compassion more like "pity" than "patience and understanding" (sympathy, by definition).
- jrockway 19y ago
  As the Chinese say, 1001 words is worth more than a picture. This one amuses me, but I don't get it.
  - drios 19y ago
    Imho : A picture worth 1000 words, so 1picture = 1000w, 1001w > 1000w => 1001w > 1picture
    - jrockway 19y ago
      Right, but what is the relationship to the Chinese?
      - drios 19y ago
        A picture worth 1000 words is a Chinese proverb, and you can inference from it the 1001 words sentence, so it's a Chinese proverb too.
jrockway 19y ago
Cynicism is a cheap substitute for sophistication. You don't actually have to learn anything. So true these days. For proof, take a look at the comments on any mainstream social news site. Cynicism up the wazoo, but not much actual intelligence. sigh.
pg 19y ago
It seems odd that so few are about programming. Presumably we can fix that...
anupamkapoor 19y ago
i like this one: "Everyone needs computer programming. It will be the way we speak to the servants."
rplevy 19y ago
McCarthy is clearly a legend and a genius in the domain of computer science. Unfortunately he also has the political imagination of a developmentally disabled love child of G. W. Bush and Ayn Rand. For additional political commentary by JMC, see: http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/commentary.html http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/commentary.html
- vixen99 19y ago
 Hold on, you're simply name-calling without supplying any beef. Can't you make a point instead of sending us off to (you assume) have a good laugh at JMC's political naivity?
 - rplevy 19y ago
 You are very right. And I read pg's essay on how to disagree too. While I (for this audience I will assume-- obviously) agree with jmc's objections to intelligent design on that page, pretty much all of his politically-geared statements would back up my name-calling above. <ul> <li>He supported Bush in 2004 and reasons read like a list of right-wing talk radio talking points. I will not take up space by refuting each one of these points here because they have been dealt with elsewhere, but for starters, why the concern about Iraq's human rights violations in contrast to the many other violators that are allies of the U.S.? (It is obvious that to refute each of his opinions would introduce a lot of off-topic discussion into this space, so I'll keep this mostly in the abstract, leaving it to you to digest jmc's views further.) To list a few other absurd ideas: <li>he speaks about "alarmism about the environment", and elsewhere allies himself with deniers of global warming (while avoiding making any direct arguments against it, so he's pulling a type 0 on the pg scale with some of his comments as well). <li>he uses the term "Moslem fascists" which as far as I know has no direct meaning other than to link yourself with the intellectually sloppy hack writers working to market neoconservatism (and related wars). <li>There are others, but I'm just making a general observation here, not writing a book. You'll form your own own opinions anyway... </ul>
 - sfk 19y ago
 A lot on that page is written in a highly polemic style, a good example is the 2004 March 16 entry. I wouldn't call him naive, but his general political attitude does seem overly hawkish.

31 points by iamelgringo 19y ago

Those quotes remind me of Eric Hoffer. I mostly agree with the worldview expressed.

These are brilliant! "It's possible to program a computer in English. It's also possible to make an airplane controlled by reins and spurs."

jrnewton 19y ago

can someone explain this one to me... i just don't get it. "A true intellectual is a man who, after reading a book and being convinced by its arguments, will shoot someone or, more likely, order someone shot"

sfk 19y ago
Difficult without context. It could be a joke about academic jealousy. EDIT: Forget that, I agree with the Marxist comment.
cousin_it 19y ago
It's about Marxists. Think Pol Pot studying at the Sorbonne.
suboptimal 19y ago
My interpretation: a perfectly logical argument may convince you to take actions that harm yourself or others, if all you value is intellect (robot builders, please take note). "Between the mind that plans and the hands that build there must be a Mediator, and this must be the heart."
deleted 19y ago
[deleted]

andrewl 19y ago

I like most of these. I don't get this one: Compassion is contempt with a human face.

maw 19y ago
I think it means that a compassionate person assumes the people he's compassionate towards are incapable of bettering themselves, and thus contemptible. I'm not sure whether I agree or not, but my first guess is that it's sometimes true and sometimes not. Deep, huh?
- suboptimal 19y ago
  I think your interpretation is spot-on, but I disagree with the quote. I suspect the author is defining compassion more like "pity" than "patience and understanding" (sympathy, by definition).
jrockway 19y ago
As the Chinese say, 1001 words is worth more than a picture. This one amuses me, but I don't get it.
- drios 19y ago
  Imho : A picture worth 1000 words, so 1picture = 1000w, 1001w > 1000w => 1001w > 1picture
  - jrockway 19y ago
    Right, but what is the relationship to the Chinese?
    - drios 19y ago
      A picture worth 1000 words is a Chinese proverb, and you can inference from it the 1001 words sentence, so it's a Chinese proverb too.

jrockway 19y ago

Cynicism is a cheap substitute for sophistication. You don't actually have to learn anything. So true these days. For proof, take a look at the comments on any mainstream social news site. Cynicism up the wazoo, but not much actual intelligence. sigh.

pg 19y ago

It seems odd that so few are about programming. Presumably we can fix that...

anupamkapoor 19y ago

i like this one: "Everyone needs computer programming. It will be the way we speak to the servants."

rplevy 19y ago

McCarthy is clearly a legend and a genius in the domain of computer science. Unfortunately he also has the political imagination of a developmentally disabled love child of G. W. Bush and Ayn Rand. For additional political commentary by JMC, see: http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/commentary.html http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/commentary.html

vixen99 19y ago
Hold on, you're simply name-calling without supplying any beef. Can't you make a point instead of sending us off to (you assume) have a good laugh at JMC's political naivity?
- rplevy 19y ago
 You are very right. And I read pg's essay on how to disagree too. While I (for this audience I will assume-- obviously) agree with jmc's objections to intelligent design on that page, pretty much all of his politically-geared statements would back up my name-calling above. <ul> <li>He supported Bush in 2004 and reasons read like a list of right-wing talk radio talking points. I will not take up space by refuting each one of these points here because they have been dealt with elsewhere, but for starters, why the concern about Iraq's human rights violations in contrast to the many other violators that are allies of the U.S.? (It is obvious that to refute each of his opinions would introduce a lot of off-topic discussion into this space, so I'll keep this mostly in the abstract, leaving it to you to digest jmc's views further.) To list a few other absurd ideas: <li>he speaks about "alarmism about the environment", and elsewhere allies himself with deniers of global warming (while avoiding making any direct arguments against it, so he's pulling a type 0 on the pg scale with some of his comments as well). <li>he uses the term "Moslem fascists" which as far as I know has no direct meaning other than to link yourself with the intellectually sloppy hack writers working to market neoconservatism (and related wars). <li>There are others, but I'm just making a general observation here, not writing a book. You'll form your own own opinions anyway... </ul>
- sfk 19y ago
 A lot on that page is written in a highly polemic style, a good example is the 2004 March 16 entry. I wouldn't call him naive, but his general political attitude does seem overly hawkish.