
John McCarthy - Wikiquote - iamelgringo
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_McCarthy
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jrockway
_Cynicism is a cheap substitute for sophistication. You don't actually have to
learn anything._

So true these days. For proof, take a look at the comments on any mainstream
social news site. Cynicism up the wazoo, but not much actual intelligence.
_sigh_.

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pg
It seems odd that so few are about programming. Presumably we can fix that...

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jrnewton
can someone explain this one to me... i just don't get it.

"A true intellectual is a man who, after reading a book and being convinced by
its arguments, will shoot someone or, more likely, order someone shot"

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suboptimal
My interpretation: a perfectly logical argument may convince you to take
actions that harm yourself or others, if all you value is intellect (robot
builders, please take note).

"Between the mind that plans and the hands that build there must be a
Mediator, and this must be the heart."

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mdemare
These are brilliant! "It's possible to program a computer in English. It's
also possible to make an airplane controlled by reins and spurs."

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cousin_it
Those quotes remind me of Eric Hoffer. I mostly agree with the worldview
expressed.

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andrewl
I like most of these. I don't get this one:

Compassion is contempt with a human face.

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maw
I think it means that a compassionate person assumes the people he's
compassionate towards are incapable of bettering themselves, and thus
contemptible.

I'm not sure whether I agree or not, but my first guess is that it's sometimes
true and sometimes not. Deep, huh?

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suboptimal
I think your interpretation is spot-on, but I disagree with the quote.

I suspect the author is defining compassion more like "pity" than "patience
and understanding" (sympathy, by definition).

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anupamkapoor
i like this one:

"Everyone needs computer programming. It will be the way we speak to the
servants."

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rplevy
McCarthy is clearly a legend and a genius in the domain of computer science.
Unfortunately he also has the political imagination of a developmentally
disabled love child of G. W. Bush and Ayn Rand. For additional political
commentary by JMC, see: <http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/commentary.html>

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vixen99
Hold on, you're simply name-calling without supplying any beef. Can't you make
a point instead of sending us off to (you assume) have a good laugh at JMC's
political naivity?

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rplevy
You are very right. And I read pg's essay on how to disagree too. While I (for
this audience I will assume-- obviously) agree with jmc's objections to
intelligent design on that page, pretty much all of his politically-geared
statements would back up my name-calling above.

<ul>

<li>He supported Bush in 2004 and reasons read like a list of right-wing talk
radio talking points. I will not take up space by refuting each one of these
points here because they have been dealt with elsewhere, but for starters, why
the concern about Iraq's human rights violations in contrast to the many other
violators that are allies of the U.S.? <br><br>

(It is obvious that to refute each of his opinions would introduce a lot of
off-topic discussion into this space, so I'll keep this mostly in the
abstract, leaving it to you to digest jmc's views further.) To list a few
other absurd ideas:<br>

<li>he speaks about "alarmism about the environment", and elsewhere allies
himself with deniers of global warming (while avoiding making any direct
arguments against it, so he's pulling a type 0 on the pg scale with some of
his comments as well).

<li>he uses the term "Moslem fascists" which as far as I know has no direct
meaning other than to link yourself with the intellectually sloppy hack
writers working to market neoconservatism (and related wars).

<li>There are others, but I'm just making a general observation here, not
writing a book. You'll form your own own opinions anyway...

</ul>

