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I don't mean to offend (for example in the way your comment is casually ageist), but I trust Don's intuition about what computer science innovations are truly i

I don't mean to offend (for example in the way your comment is casually ageist), but I trust Don's intuition about what computer science innovations are truly interesting more than cubefox.

ftxbro 3y ago
I almost wish Don Knuth gets real weird with it and righteously brandishes his '3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated' holy tome and denounces GPT-4 as an inauthentic and untrustworthy demonic force.
cubefox 3y ago
He 85 years old now. I don't think it is "ageist" to say that he is probably not anymore at the absolute height of his cognitive abilities and a little bit stuck in his ways. That's just a normal result of getting old. I'm sure if he now was half his current age, he would be very interested in AI. Instead of approvingly citing Gary Marcus, he would perhaps try to improve the transformer algorithm or something like that. Edit: Though I might be mistaken here, see his quote about email below.
- WoodenChair 3y ago
  I find your multiple agist comments totally unnecessary. Just because he's 85, it doesn't mean he couldn't be "on top" of things or that his mental faculties are necessarily greatly declining, or that he is necessarily stuck in his ways. There are plenty of sharp 85 year olds who are at the forefront of their fields and keep an open mind. Is it more likely that an 85 year old has declining mental faculties and is a little stuck in patterns than a 25 year old? Yes, of course. Just like it's more likely that a 25 year old doesn't have as much knowledge as an 85 year old. But there are plenty of 25 year olds who do in some specific field. The point is you don't know his mental state, him the individual, and you're making generalizations and questions just based on his age.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    I go the other way and suspect that his age gives him the insight to more accurately gauge the importance of this current AI than perhaps we youngsters can.
    - twelve40 3y ago
      I don't know, i read it as "might be important but outside of my area of interests". He's working on more fundamental things and might not be interested in applications, doesn't mean that some application or downstream technology is unimporant for the rest of the world.
  - cubefox 3y ago
    > There are plenty of sharp 85 year olds who are at the forefront of their fields and keep an open mind. Yeah, but AI isn't his field. He would have to change his core interests, and that gets more unlikely the older you become.
twelve40 3y ago
well it was probably stated a bit harshly, but i don't think it's ageist to consider that a person who is closer to running out of time might be prioritizing things to work on a little differently. FWIW I myself tend to mostly fall on the curmudgeonly side of opinions. But his statement of leaving this to others doesn't automatically equate with him dismissing this as a uninteresting computer science innovation.

I don't mean to offend (for example in the way your comment is casually ageist), but I trust Don's intuition about what computer science innovations are truly interesting more than cubefox.

ftxbro 3y ago

I almost wish Don Knuth gets real weird with it and righteously brandishes his '3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated' holy tome and denounces GPT-4 as an inauthentic and untrustworthy demonic force.

cubefox 3y ago

He 85 years old now. I don't think it is "ageist" to say that he is probably not anymore at the absolute height of his cognitive abilities and a little bit stuck in his ways. That's just a normal result of getting old. I'm sure if he now was half his current age, he would be very interested in AI. Instead of approvingly citing Gary Marcus, he would perhaps try to improve the transformer algorithm or something like that. Edit: Though I might be mistaken here, see his quote about email below.

WoodenChair 3y ago
I find your multiple agist comments totally unnecessary. Just because he's 85, it doesn't mean he couldn't be "on top" of things or that his mental faculties are necessarily greatly declining, or that he is necessarily stuck in his ways. There are plenty of sharp 85 year olds who are at the forefront of their fields and keep an open mind. Is it more likely that an 85 year old has declining mental faculties and is a little stuck in patterns than a 25 year old? Yes, of course. Just like it's more likely that a 25 year old doesn't have as much knowledge as an 85 year old. But there are plenty of 25 year olds who do in some specific field. The point is you don't know his mental state, him the individual, and you're making generalizations and questions just based on his age.
- bombcar 3y ago
  I go the other way and suspect that his age gives him the insight to more accurately gauge the importance of this current AI than perhaps we youngsters can.
  - twelve40 3y ago
    I don't know, i read it as "might be important but outside of my area of interests". He's working on more fundamental things and might not be interested in applications, doesn't mean that some application or downstream technology is unimporant for the rest of the world.
- cubefox 3y ago
  > There are plenty of sharp 85 year olds who are at the forefront of their fields and keep an open mind. Yeah, but AI isn't his field. He would have to change his core interests, and that gets more unlikely the older you become.

twelve40 3y ago

well it was probably stated a bit harshly, but i don't think it's ageist to consider that a person who is closer to running out of time might be prioritizing things to work on a little differently. FWIW I myself tend to mostly fall on the curmudgeonly side of opinions. But his statement of leaving this to others doesn't automatically equate with him dismissing this as a uninteresting computer science innovation.