3 ms·

The Scottish Book

62 points by benbreen 7y ago

all2 7y ago
I wonder if something like this would be useful for software engineering / computer science? I understand the domains of inquiry are quite different, but having a place to put open questions, answers, etc. that is limited in some way would be interested. The limitation that springs to mind immediately is one of social circles, so something like Stack Exchange, but for a social circle (defined by courses at a university, or people that you work with, or other constraints). Other constraints could be useful as well.
- baud147258 7y ago
  Perhaps with the hosted/private version of SO? That would solve the issue of restricting it to a certain social circle. Or just a forum, with login access given only to certain persons; perhaps public so that anyone can read the questions & answers.
- corodra 7y ago
  I think there's an inherent problem between programmers/software engineers and the rest of the science/math community when it comes to their outlook on life. There was a post, I think last year, on HN on famous science, math, dev, physics quotes. It was just a large list really. Anyways, when you read through them, you pick up that in other technical professions, they have a rather bright, happy outlook on life. Science is a way to bring joy to the world, some way some how. Even math is a way to find the beauty in the natural world. Humanity's pursuit in the sciences will make the sky bluer. Hope is powered by the study of physics. Every quote by a dev/coder/cs quote amounted to, "The light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train." I do agree it would be interesting for a computer science version of this and in practice would be online similar to a Slack Exchange or Reddit format... but reality is, it's going to be a dumpster fire without a nuclear-powered-iron-fist of keeping the peace.
davidw 7y ago
The fate of so many of those people is heartbreaking. Murdered, murdered, imprisoned, fled, murdered, "lice feeder", fled, murdered, murdered, murdered. "Never again" is something to take very, very seriously.
- smacktoward 7y ago
  Indeed. The Nazis took special care when occupying Eastern Europe to seek out and kill anyone who could qualify as an intellectual (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligenzaktion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligenzaktion). They wanted to reduce the Slavic peoples of the east to a slave caste, a dumb, unthinking labor force suitable only for hard manual labor. So anyone who had demonstrated a facility for the work of the mind -- scientists, artists, teachers, civil servants, and so forth -- had to go.
  - B1FF_PSUVM 7y ago
    Clumsy brutes. Instagram or Twitter should be enough.
carlob 7y ago
https://day.kyiv.ua/en/article/society/scottish-book-lvivs-mathematical-relic https://day.kyiv.ua/en/article/society/scottish-book-lvivs-m... very interesting, from the page references
thedevindevops 7y ago
Oh please let there be pi on the menu.

62 points by benbreen 7y ago

all2 7y ago

I wonder if something like this would be useful for software engineering / computer science? I understand the domains of inquiry are quite different, but having a place to put open questions, answers, etc. that is limited in some way would be interested. The limitation that springs to mind immediately is one of social circles, so something like Stack Exchange, but for a social circle (defined by courses at a university, or people that you work with, or other constraints). Other constraints could be useful as well.

baud147258 7y ago
Perhaps with the hosted/private version of SO? That would solve the issue of restricting it to a certain social circle. Or just a forum, with login access given only to certain persons; perhaps public so that anyone can read the questions & answers.
corodra 7y ago
I think there's an inherent problem between programmers/software engineers and the rest of the science/math community when it comes to their outlook on life. There was a post, I think last year, on HN on famous science, math, dev, physics quotes. It was just a large list really. Anyways, when you read through them, you pick up that in other technical professions, they have a rather bright, happy outlook on life. Science is a way to bring joy to the world, some way some how. Even math is a way to find the beauty in the natural world. Humanity's pursuit in the sciences will make the sky bluer. Hope is powered by the study of physics. Every quote by a dev/coder/cs quote amounted to, "The light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train." I do agree it would be interesting for a computer science version of this and in practice would be online similar to a Slack Exchange or Reddit format... but reality is, it's going to be a dumpster fire without a nuclear-powered-iron-fist of keeping the peace.

davidw 7y ago

The fate of so many of those people is heartbreaking. Murdered, murdered, imprisoned, fled, murdered, "lice feeder", fled, murdered, murdered, murdered. "Never again" is something to take very, very seriously.

smacktoward 7y ago
Indeed. The Nazis took special care when occupying Eastern Europe to seek out and kill anyone who could qualify as an intellectual (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligenzaktion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligenzaktion). They wanted to reduce the Slavic peoples of the east to a slave caste, a dumb, unthinking labor force suitable only for hard manual labor. So anyone who had demonstrated a facility for the work of the mind -- scientists, artists, teachers, civil servants, and so forth -- had to go.
- B1FF_PSUVM 7y ago
  Clumsy brutes. Instagram or Twitter should be enough.

carlob 7y ago

https://day.kyiv.ua/en/article/society/scottish-book-lvivs-mathematical-relic https://day.kyiv.ua/en/article/society/scottish-book-lvivs-m... very interesting, from the page references

thedevindevops 7y ago

Oh please let there be pi on the menu.