
What It's Like to Be Noam Chomsky's Assistant - samclemens
http://chronicle.com/article/What-Its-Like-to-Be-Noam/234667
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krick
I cannot say that I don't understand why this is being upvoted: Chomsky is a
significant person and quite liked on HN. But all these joyous comments make
me sigh. Because, really, there's nothing informative here, at all. This piece
doesn't answer question "what it's like to be Noam Chomsky's assistant" or any
other questions for that matter. She doesn't tell what exactly she does and
why her position is needed at all, portraying herself like a very busy nanny
for a childish genius.

This reminds all these interviews after someone significant dies, given by
someone insignificant who knew him in person. Except in this case significant
person is still alive. The only reason why it's read and liked is the name in
the headline.

~~~
medius
Reminds me of this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VTxYQL2SbA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VTxYQL2SbA)
\- (Fall Out Boy - Uma Thurman)

If only this article was accompanied by an awesome song, it would be
interesting to me.

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wglb
My favorite line _I then watched him do something I’ve seen a thousand times
since: a subtle shift as Noam Chomsky’s mind joined his body from a faraway
place, and he arrived in full._

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compay
I had the good fortune to study with Chomsky as an undergraduate in the early
90's and can confirm much of what the article says. To me he was always kind,
accessible and warm, even though I was not a particularly promising student.

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talles
Has anyone seem "Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?" by the same author?

[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1817287](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1817287)

~~~
calibraxis
Yes, I enjoyed it very much. (Any questions I can help answer?)

The author's different though: Michel Gondry, well known for his music videos
and films.

~~~
talles
Oh, I'm sorry, she just stars in it.

I was just wondering if HN folks recommend it, I'm considering taking a look.

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GigaMos
This is amazing:

 _I have no idea how Sacha Baron Cohen’s Ali G character sneaked through my
gate to ask Noam outrageous things like, "How many words does you know?" and
"What is some of them?" I do remember that Noam came to me afterward looking
dazed. "No more men in gold suits," he said, sighing._

~~~
jacquesm
I always thought he was in on the joke, even funnier that he wasn't.

~~~
cuchoi
Probably he knew and the "No more men in gold suits" line was a joke

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desireco42
I consider Noam Chomsky one of the smartest person on Earth and his assistant
obviously has to be as well, to keep up with him. Really excellent read.

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misiti3780
be able to recite conversations from 50 years ago seems pretty amazing - he
must have photographic memory

~~~
kelukelugames
People also remember things that never happened. For example, eye witness
testimonials.

I used to think I could recall conversations, but how do I know they actually
happened?

~~~
kanzure
> I used to think I could recall conversations, but how do I know they
> actually happened?

That seems trivial to verify; just record details about all conversations you
have with everyone. I have been doing this since 2009. I have a 5 MB yaml file
with details of every conversations (mostly tags), and I might have an above-
average memory but yeah I definitely forget things .... (and sometimes I get
some of the details wrong even if a conversation happened just minutes ago).

Another way to verify (to yourself only) is to writeup your memory of a
conversation, PGP sign it, hash it, give the hash to a friend who was
originally in the conversation, then have them do a writeup, then reveal the
commitment and compare the two accounts of a conversation. The writeup would
be better if it was done immediately after the actual conversation, because
otherwise social groups have time to mingle and confuse everyone about what
actually happened.

Another way is to do a public group writeup of a conversation after it happens
(or an audio/video recording), then have everyone PGP sign the writeup (to
confirm their agreement), then later pick a random conversation where this
setup was performed, and write down your memory of the conversation. This
doesn't work if the conversations where this setup is performed are all
unique; probably has to be a few thousand different setups happen before this
starts to test memory in any meaningful capacity.

~~~
dropit_sphere
> That seems trivial to verify; just record all conversations you have with
> everyone. I have been doing this since 2009.

Only on HN...

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geekamongus
The weird thing is that I too can speak backwards fluently AND I can juggle
lit torches while riding a unicycle. I have only done it once though, and I
don't recommend it, because while moving on a unicycle, the inherent wind
associated with the forward motion causes the flames to blow into your face.

~~~
DGAP
This may be the most pretentious HN comment I've seen to date.

~~~
geekamongus
Sadly, it is very true.

~~~
mkhalil
That is pretty darn cool. I don't see it as coming off as pretentious at all
fyi.

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puredemo
Chomsky can't even have a email dialogue with Sam Harris without becoming
oozing contempt and incivility for no discernible reason.

~~~
littletimmy
Sam Harris is pretty sophomoric and smug. It's hard not to have contempt
towards him, even if one is an atheist.

~~~
Retra
Perhaps his attitude is filtering away people who take intellectual arguments
personally.

~~~
Kristine1975
Then he would filter himself.

~~~
Retra
He's not debating himself anyway.

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umanwizard
Snore. That comment was pretty low-effort.

~~~
dang
Please don't respond to a bad comment by posting another bad (uncivil and/or
unsubstantive) comment. That just makes the thread worse. Instead, downvote
and/or flag it.

We detached this from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10772438](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10772438)
and marked it off-topic.

~~~
umanwizard
Will keep that in mind for the future, my apologies!

