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Do you think there is room for various kinds philosophical thought within Computer Science itself? Honest question. As an undergrad studying Comp Sci and also

Do you think there is room for various kinds philosophical thought within Computer Science itself? Honest question. As an undergrad studying Comp Sci and also taking philosophy/literature classes it struck me just how rich the Computer Science metaphors are, and how much creativity seemed to go into coming up with a lot of the fundamental ideas of Computer Science. But of course it's also possible that I was applying my own bias; I know most of the Comp Sci folks from the 50s/60s/70s were pretty heavy math folks. But pursuing a graduate Comp Sci degree is something I've considered on and off. Alan Kay has always been especially inspiring. TBH I've also felt like there's some unexplored areas where Computer Science and Poetics, or Literary Theory, could make a really interesting combination. Again it's a question of rich metaphors and investing meaning into use-of-language in a very comprehensive and granular way (grammar, one verb or adjective versus another, theories of narrative, etc.

throwawaygh 6y ago
> Do you think there is room for various kinds philosophical thought within Computer Science itself? Honest question. Yes, of course! Many areas of computer science grew out of various areas of philosophy, and that's still true. I guess my main thesis in this thread is that, today, philosophers need STEM in order to do good philosophy more than STEM folks need philosophy to do good engineering/science. "More than" is comparative, not absolute, and of course STEM folks can benefit tremendously by interacting with philosophers (see: the first line of my top-level post). > But pursuing a graduate Comp Sci degree is something I've considered on and off. There are some great CS departments that interact heavily with Philosophy departments. Carnegie Mellon even has a joint PhD program: http://logic.cmu.edu/ http://logic.cmu.edu/
- adamsea 6y ago
  Thank you for your response - much appreciated! And for pointing out the Carnegie Mellon program. What is the academic job market like this days for CS Phd's, if I may ask?

throwawaygh 6y ago

> Do you think there is room for various kinds philosophical thought within Computer Science itself? Honest question. Yes, of course! Many areas of computer science grew out of various areas of philosophy, and that's still true. I guess my main thesis in this thread is that, today, philosophers need STEM in order to do good philosophy more than STEM folks need philosophy to do good engineering/science. "More than" is comparative, not absolute, and of course STEM folks can benefit tremendously by interacting with philosophers (see: the first line of my top-level post). > But pursuing a graduate Comp Sci degree is something I've considered on and off. There are some great CS departments that interact heavily with Philosophy departments. Carnegie Mellon even has a joint PhD program: http://logic.cmu.edu/ http://logic.cmu.edu/

adamsea 6y ago
Thank you for your response - much appreciated! And for pointing out the Carnegie Mellon program. What is the academic job market like this days for CS Phd's, if I may ask?