4 ms·
> I feel like this man is as close to being a monk for computer science as one could ever be. He has a wife, two grown kids, and some grandkids too. He’s a bel
by skissane 4y ago
> I feel like this man is as close to being a monk for computer science as one could ever be.
He has a wife, two grown kids, and some grandkids too. He’s a believing, practising Lutheran [0] (some have even said a “devout” one) and published a book on the Bible [1]. He plays piano and organ - he sometimes plays the organ at his church, and he and his wife even have a pipe organ in their house [2], and he has composed an original work for it [3].
Calling him a “monk for computer science” makes him sound very one-dimensional, when he isn’t.
[0] https://www.livinglutheran.org/2018/12/im-a-lutheran-don-knuth/ https://www.livinglutheran.org/2018/12/im-a-lutheran-don-knu...
[1] https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/316.html https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/316.html
[2] https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/organ.html https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/organ.html
[3] https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/fant.html https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/fant.html
- manquer 4y agoReal life monks aren't one dimensional either. Buddhism in its essence is about balance and right path not extreme focus on one thing
- eru 4y agoReal life Christian monks weren't / aren't one dimensional either.
- naniwaduni 4y agoOther than the "has a wife and kids" part, that sounds a lot like a monk?
- jvanderbot 4y agoYou're confusing monks with aesthetics.
- pyuser583 4y agoDo you mean ascetics?
- jvanderbot 4y agoSure did!
- cshimmin 4y agoAnd you are confusing aesthetics for ascetics :)
- Supermancho 4y agoI would graciously assume an autocorrect failure on a phone, rather than earnest confusion.
- jvanderbot 4y agoOr, my phone is at any rate.
- skissane 4y agoYou mean ascetics, not aesthetics. Wikipedia’s article on Christian monasticism [0] starts with (my emphasis): > Christian monasticism is the devotional practice of Christians who live ascetic and typically cloistered lives that are dedicated to Christian worship So, am I really confusing monasticism with asceticism, when the later is a key part of many definitions of the former? Many people confuse monks with members of non-monastic Christian religious orders. Many of the famous Catholic religious orders - such as Dominicans, Franciscans and Jesuits - are not monks. In the traditional understanding, monks withdraw from the world to focus primarily on prayer and contemplation, and are not actively involved in activities such as preaching, education or missionary work; those religious orders whose members are actively involved in the world in those ways are not classified as “monks”, rather “religious”. Some Jesuits are even university professors in secular subjects - such as the Australian law professor Father Frank Brennan SJ (who was once awarded the accolade “Living National Treasure”) - something fundamentally incompatible with the contemplative life of a genuine monastic. Is that true of non-Christian “monks”, such as Buddhist bhikkhus? I don’t think I understand Buddhism well enough to confidently venture an opinion. But, I do think that using a Christian-origin word to describe a concept in a radically different religious tradition is a questionable decision; using the indigenous term (bhikkhu) is preferable since it avoids that issue entirely. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_monasticism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_monasticism
- pyuser583 4y agoWhen I think of Lutherans, “lay-monks” is a phrase that comes to mind.