5 ms·

Is there a specific incident that this letter is protesting?

by 323454 6y ago

smitty1e 6y ago
I understood the point directly. The culture at large is going to do what it does. There is way to support liberty and deny the right to be a ninny. But technology should be about the code. It is better to be diverse, because being a cool, gentle, adult human being is simply the Golden Rule applied; rather than flogging diversity. We see endless codes of conduct, statistical analyses, and innocents getting thrashed for some purely Kafka-esque infraction. I would say: "to hell with that" except that in many ways, hell has arrived.
- smitty1e 6y ago
  Edit: There is NO way to support liberty and deny the right to be a ninny.
  - happytoexplain 6y ago
    Only if you hold the view of absolutism, which is incongruous with society on a fundamental level.
    - smitty1e 6y ago
      I'm not sure we're communicating. Repackaged, my point is that once I set myself up un control of definitions, I can always label your behavior a threat to public safety and effectively jail you.
- M2Ys4U 6y ago
  >But technology should be about the code. Should it? Technology doesn't exist in a vacuum, it is used by people. Ignoring that fact doesn't make the ethical implication of the technology magically go away.
  - smitty1e 6y ago
    . . .which point I intended to go after when I said: > It is better to be diverse, because being a cool, gentle, adult human being is simply the Golden Rule applied
- eeZah7Ux 6y ago
  > But technology should be about the code Science does not get a special exception to turn off one's moral compass and ignore the ethical impact of research and publication.
  - smitty1e 6y ago
    Indeed, my next sentence addresses the moral compass in the form of the Golden Rule. Any formulation of my point is that action excels words.
DoofusOfDeath 6y ago
I'm confused as well. I think a letter like this would be improved by adding some supporting references or examples.
navait 6y ago
Yeah - I'm confused if this is a general sentiment going on, or a recent incident going on. I did like "Quantum Computing Since Democritus"
AlanYx 6y ago
It seems to be at least partially in response to the blacklist of researchers/students that Anima Anantkumar prepared and circulated and then eventually retracted about three weeks ago.
- threwaway4392 6y ago
  Related discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25419844 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25419844
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- incompatible 6y ago
  And presumably because she is one of many on the ACM Communications Editorial Board: https://cacm.acm.org/about-communications/editorial-board/ https://cacm.acm.org/about-communications/editorial-board/
Jtsummers 6y ago
Yeah, I'm trying to find some context but it's difficult. Many keywords paired with "Communications of the ACM" just result in articles from CACM instead of about CACM. I'm checking out the blogs of some of the signatories but haven't seen anything yet.
jonathankoren 6y ago
This is all fall out from the Timnit Gebru firing (I'm including Anima Anandkumar posts are also part that fall out.), and specifically a Twitter fight between Pedro Domiguez and Timnit Gebru, and others. The biggest hill that Domingos has staked out is that asking researchers to include a discussion of impacts and potential abuse of systems to be "wasteful" and "ill-conveived"[0]. Also, he has decided to make a stand on the hill that the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems should not go by the acronym NeurIPS[1]. [0] https://twitter.com/pmddomingos/status/1338204976733032450 https://twitter.com/pmddomingos/status/1338204976733032450 [1]https://twitter.com/pmddomingos/status/1337594183033389058 https://twitter.com/pmddomingos/status/1337594183033389058
sciurus 6y ago
From another comment: https://www.geekwire.com/2020/retired-uw-computer-science-professor-embroiled-twitter-spat-ai-ethics-cancel-culture/ https://www.geekwire.com/2020/retired-uw-computer-science-pr...

Is there a specific incident that this letter is protesting?

by 323454 6y ago

Is there a specific incident that this letter is protesting?

I understood the point directly. The culture at large is going to do what it does. There is way to support liberty and deny the right to be a ninny. But technology should be about the code. It is better to be diverse, because being a cool, gentle, adult human being is simply the Golden Rule applied; rather than flogging diversity. We see endless codes of conduct, statistical analyses, and innocents getting thrashed for some purely Kafka-esque infraction. I would say: "to hell with that" except that in many ways, hell has arrived.

smitty1e 6y ago
Edit: There is NO way to support liberty and deny the right to be a ninny.
- happytoexplain 6y ago
  Only if you hold the view of absolutism, which is incongruous with society on a fundamental level.
  - smitty1e 6y ago
    I'm not sure we're communicating. Repackaged, my point is that once I set myself up un control of definitions, I can always label your behavior a threat to public safety and effectively jail you.
M2Ys4U 6y ago
>But technology should be about the code. Should it? Technology doesn't exist in a vacuum, it is used by people. Ignoring that fact doesn't make the ethical implication of the technology magically go away.
- smitty1e 6y ago
  . . .which point I intended to go after when I said: > It is better to be diverse, because being a cool, gentle, adult human being is simply the Golden Rule applied
eeZah7Ux 6y ago
> But technology should be about the code Science does not get a special exception to turn off one's moral compass and ignore the ethical impact of research and publication.
- smitty1e 6y ago
  Indeed, my next sentence addresses the moral compass in the form of the Golden Rule. Any formulation of my point is that action excels words.

DoofusOfDeath 6y ago

I'm confused as well. I think a letter like this would be improved by adding some supporting references or examples.

navait 6y ago

Yeah - I'm confused if this is a general sentiment going on, or a recent incident going on. I did like "Quantum Computing Since Democritus"

AlanYx 6y ago

It seems to be at least partially in response to the blacklist of researchers/students that Anima Anantkumar prepared and circulated and then eventually retracted about three weeks ago.

threwaway4392 6y ago
Related discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25419844 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25419844
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
incompatible 6y ago
And presumably because she is one of many on the ACM Communications Editorial Board: https://cacm.acm.org/about-communications/editorial-board/ https://cacm.acm.org/about-communications/editorial-board/

Jtsummers 6y ago

Yeah, I'm trying to find some context but it's difficult. Many keywords paired with "Communications of the ACM" just result in articles from CACM instead of about CACM. I'm checking out the blogs of some of the signatories but haven't seen anything yet.

jonathankoren 6y ago

This is all fall out from the Timnit Gebru firing (I'm including Anima Anandkumar posts are also part that fall out.), and specifically a Twitter fight between Pedro Domiguez and Timnit Gebru, and others. The biggest hill that Domingos has staked out is that asking researchers to include a discussion of impacts and potential abuse of systems to be "wasteful" and "ill-conveived"[0]. Also, he has decided to make a stand on the hill that the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems should not go by the acronym NeurIPS[1]. [0] https://twitter.com/pmddomingos/status/1338204976733032450 https://twitter.com/pmddomingos/status/1338204976733032450 [1]https://twitter.com/pmddomingos/status/1337594183033389058 https://twitter.com/pmddomingos/status/1337594183033389058

sciurus 6y ago

From another comment: https://www.geekwire.com/2020/retired-uw-computer-science-professor-embroiled-twitter-spat-ai-ethics-cancel-culture/ https://www.geekwire.com/2020/retired-uw-computer-science-pr...