Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

John McCarthy Has Died

en.wikipedia.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 231 posts

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#151

Post by jrockway »

redthrowaway wrote: post #119
TruthElixirX wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eventually, I think, there will cease to be icons within the industry. What we have now are the people who invented the internet/computers and the basic components. The people who are doing the inventing now are just as smart, but they aren't creating fundamental things, they are improving on an existing system. We don't say, "engineer team y invented the iCore series of processors." we sort of just say "Intel is com…

Between Gates, Zuckerberg, Larry and Sergey, Torvalds, RMS, Knuth, and a few others, there're still plenty of icons left and so I don't forsee your scenario happening anytime soon. I am generally an optimist, and think the number of icons to come is far greater than those who have come and gone.

Is it really fair to compare Zuckerberg to Knuth? Zuckerberg made a PHP site for people to stalk their classmates. Knuth wrote TeX, hundreds of papers, and a series of books considered among the 100 most important scientific works of the 20th century.

http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/100-or-so-boo...

Zuckerberg is definitely a successful dude that one can look up to. But in terms of advancing the field of computing, he hasn't done a whole lot yet.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#152

Post by hristov »

ColinWright wrote: post #89

In response to the skepticism being expressed, I've just had a message from Wendy Grossman saying: "... his daughter phoned me. I'm the ultimate source for the wikipedia entry."

Looks like someone has been doing "original research" on Wikipedia again.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#153

Post by edwardshen »

It reminded me of the death of Push Singh a few years ago, after I just started to know him personally. Rather than focusing on the woe, we tried to celebrate his life, achievements, and great inspirations he had brought us. It's really difficult to handle such sadness, but I guess it's very important for the rest of us to think about how we may continue their good will to advance the way we live and think, to inspire others, and to change the world to a better place.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#154

Post by wisty »

redthrowaway wrote: post #119
TruthElixirX wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eventually, I think, there will cease to be icons within the industry. What we have now are the people who invented the internet/computers and the basic components. The people who are doing the inventing now are just as smart, but they aren't creating fundamental things, they are improving on an existing system. We don't say, "engineer team y invented the iCore series of processors." we sort of just say "Intel is com…

Between Gates, Zuckerberg, Larry and Sergey, Torvalds, RMS, Knuth, and a few others, there're still plenty of icons left and so I don't forsee your scenario happening anytime soon. I am generally an optimist, and think the number of icons to come is far greater than those who have come and gone.

I hate to sound negative, but things won't get better. OK, this month has been a shocker, but next year might be just as bad.

The real fundamentals of computing happened a long time ago. Hero of Alexandria, some Chinese and Islamic scholars, Albertus Magnus, Roger Bacon, Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Joseph Marie Jacquard, Turing, non Neumann. But progress was linear, not exponential - the tools they made were so impractical that they didn't make further tools easier. You used a computer as a curiosity, or to solve a specific problem, not to build a better computer.

Then the singularity hit. Computers got faster, IO got richer, and you could practically write computer programs that would help you write computer programs. It's hard to say exactly when that happened, but the inventions of C, UNIX, and Lisp were certainly part of that critical period in history. This shift started around the mid-1960s to early 70s.

The people who were working on it are now in their 60s and 70s. The next generation (who are in their 50s and 60s) wasn't just inspired by them, they were given very useful tools, which made later advancements easier. It's easier to write a C++ compiler if you already have a C compiler. It's easier to write git if you have a CVS repo to store your work in. People no longer had to bootstrap using nothing but assembly, they started with a sound foundation, and could iterate.

Because of the work of these founders, I think there's a lot more icons left.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#155

Post by LoveLinux »

Are there any modern people who make great contributions to science who are not Jewish? As a non-Jewish person, I'm thankful for what Jews have given the world. Thank you Mr. McCarthy.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#156

Post by phillmv »

dlss wrote: post #125
foenix wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Death is the only guarantee in life and in fact is necessary for human ecology. I too am deeply saddened by this loss, but am supremely grateful that a man like John McCarthy was able to contribute to the humanity's knowledge. May his work be the foundation in many more advances in human understanding, and may his void be filled by someone who respects this journey. RIP, John.

> Death is necessary for human ecology Ugh, not now. References or stop talking. I have my fingers crossed he was signed up for cryonics. This is tragic.

It's how any species gets to iterate. The old have to die off to make room for the young.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#157

Post by redthrowaway »

jrockway wrote: post #151
redthrowaway wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Between Gates, Zuckerberg, Larry and Sergey, Torvalds, RMS, Knuth, and a few others, there're still plenty of icons left and so I don't forsee your scenario happening anytime soon. I am generally an optimist, and think the number of icons to come is far greater than those who have come and gone.

Is it really fair to compare Zuckerberg to Knuth? Zuckerberg made a PHP site for people to stalk their classmates. Knuth wrote TeX, hundreds of papers, and a series of books considered among the 100 most important scientific works of the 20th century. http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/100-or-so-boo... Zuckerberg is definitely a successful dude that one can look up to. But in terms of advancing the field…

> in terms of advancing the field of computing, he hasn't done a whole lot yet.

Theory, no. Practice, oh Hell yes. Facebook changed the game, for everyone. The "Social Revolution" has changed the face of business, investing, interpersonal communication, friendships, revolutions... the list goes on. Maybe Zuck was just in the right place at the right time, but he made the most of it and his company's impact has been enormous.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#159

Post by sramsay »

Steve Jobs and Dennis Ritchie were obviously major pioneers (and I admired them both), but of the three, McCarthy's work impresses me the most. I still marvel at the profound degree of lateral thinking evident in his articles.

I suspect this will be the least well reported obituary, which is kind of sad. He was surely one of the greats.

Re: John McCarthy Has Died

#160

Post by cpher »

Why in G-d's name are you people hemorraging about who or where the source came from? As great a man as he was, this doesn't warrant coniption fits about who knew what first. You're acting like he held national secrets that upon his death would lead to some catastrophe. Give it a rest. The man was in his 80s and led a wonderfully productive life. Get back to work, assholes.
Post reply on HN