
Who killed Prolog? (2010) - YeGoblynQueenne
https://vanemden.wordpress.com/2010/08/21/who-killed-prolog/
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zmonx
Since this is now the third time that the blog post is posted on HN, I think
it is as good a time as any to ask a few additional and deepening questions
about this topic.

For example, do bloggers and those who promote them also have some
responsibility in the stated outcome? Does the quote "στέργει γὰρ οὐδεὶς
ἄγγελον κακῶν ἐπῶν" not originate from the same play that tells us: "οὔτοι
συνέχθειν, ἀλλὰ συμφιλεῖν ἔφυν", and should we not take this quite literally
and participate in promoting the glory and successes of Prolog applications
instead of disproportionally advertising cases of their failure? Would Prolog
fare better if more endorsing blog posts were written and more prominently
featured? Can the posted question even be decisively answered with our current
knowledge? Is Prolog not still evolving?

Further, should we promote anthropomorphism in science? Pertaining to this
latter point, here is one quote:

 _Regrettably we cannot sweep this nonsense under the rug by saying “Why
bother? This is only popular press”. It finds its echo in publications that
are intended to be serious, such as Grace M. Hopper’s article with the title
“The education of a computer.”. It also finds its reflection in the multi-
billion yen mistake of the Japanese “fifth generation computer project”, of
which you may have heard. It would have taken care of the Japanese
competition; regrettably —for the Western world— they seem to come to their
senses, as the larger Japanese companies are pulling out of the efforts aimed
at blurring the distinction between Man and Machine._

Source:
[https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD09xx/E...](https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD09xx/EWD936.html)

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eternalban
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1648711](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1648711)

