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A Mulching Proposal (2019)

arxiv.org

91–100 of 115 posts

Re: A Mulching Proposal (2019)

#91
post #88

This is well written, but I'm not clear who this is really responding to. In particular, while there is plenty of work on fairness, accountability and transparency, has anyone actually seriously said that they are _sufficient_ for an automated system to be "ethical"? It seems that an actual claimed benefit of an automated system always rests on some prior notion of value, which this work deliberately ignores. Lampoon…

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Re: A Mulching Proposal (2019)

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet most of us do mispronounce ghee.

I wonder why the same disregard not shown to words borrowed from other languages? Why not mispronounce the faux as well?

I think faux is actually the outlier there, it is basically a pretentious/euphemistic way of saying phony. It keeps the foreign pronunciation because it is used as an attempt to put on airs (sometimes sarcastically).

Re: A Mulching Proposal (2019)

#93
post #6

The title "A Mulching Proposal" references https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal

Yes. We've reverted the title now - submitted title was "Algorithmic System for Turning the Elderly into High-Nutrient Slurry", which besides gutting the historical reference, gives way the joke and breaks the HN guidelines:

"Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: A Mulching Proposal (2019)

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compared to A Modest Proposal , it's clearly second rate. Everyone knows the elderly are less nutritious than the young. Better nutrition is a critical element of making a better future.

The young are needed for slave labor and click farming, and you have to feed them something . Real food is for the rich.

"We need their small fingers for certain tasks."

Re: A Mulching Proposal (2019)

#95

The publicity image for the project (Fig 1, page 3) featuring Henry Kissinger is borderline genius: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1908.06166.pdf

Both the Nolan and Kissinger inclusions appear to also be somewhat jokes / hidden references.

Nolan - likely a reference to the Nolan Principles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_on_Standards_in_Publ...). The Seven Principles of Public Life - Selflessness, Integrity, Objectivity, Accountability, Openness, Honesty, and Leadership.

Kissinger - Early life: Nazi Germany - "Germany of my youth had a great deal of order and very little justice; it was not the sort of place likely to inspire devotion to order in the abstract." Later Years: Lot of questionably ethical policies and behaviors during the Nixon administration, including one of the most contentious Nobel Peace Prizes in history, where two members left the Nobel Committee in protest, Lê Đức Thọ rejected the award saying there was no peace in Vietnam, and Kissinger attempted to return his award after the Fall of Saigon.

Re: A Mulching Proposal (2019)

#96
post #93
post #6

The title "A Mulching Proposal" references https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal

Yes. We've reverted the title now - submitted title was "Algorithmic System for Turning the Elderly into High-Nutrient Slurry", which besides gutting the historical reference, gives way the joke and breaks the HN guidelines: " Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize. " https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

In the pdf article, the submitted title was in fact the subtitle. I can see an argument for choosing the subtitle like that when an article has the form

Pithy phrase: subtitle that actually tells you something

Re: A Mulching Proposal (2019)

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Fauxghee sounds like "fogey" which refers to an older person It actually doesn't, at least the way "ghee" is pronounced in the native languages where the word originates from. English doesn't quite have the strongly voiced "g" sound, so western people pronounce it incorrectly as "gee".

It’s pronounced /gi/ in English. Pronunciation in other languages is irrelevant.

It is not pronounced /gi/ in English by people from India.

Re: A Mulching Proposal (2019)

#98
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the G sound like goat (only more breathy) or like George? I’ve only heard it like “goat” in Texas.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ghee That has an audio recording of someone pronouncing it. Sounds like it’s the former per your example.

That pronunciation is incorrect.

Re: A Mulching Proposal (2019)

#99
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Fauxghee sounds like "fogey" which refers to an older person It actually doesn't, at least the way "ghee" is pronounced in the native languages where the word originates from. English doesn't quite have the strongly voiced "g" sound, so western people pronounce it incorrectly as "gee".

Is the G sound like goat (only more breathy) or like George? I’ve only heard it like “goat” in Texas.

It is like goat but more voiced, with a hint of h. In Indian languages there are four different g-like sounds (two that are somewhat like g as in goat and two that somewhat like g as in George).

Re: A Mulching Proposal (2019)

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Fauxghee sounds like "fogey" which refers to an older person It actually doesn't, at least the way "ghee" is pronounced in the native languages where the word originates from. English doesn't quite have the strongly voiced "g" sound, so western people pronounce it incorrectly as "gee".

I just looked up a youtube video of the pronunciation in Hindi and g is pronounced basically the same way as I say it in northeast Ohio, which is generally pretty close to standard American english. Then I looked up the ipa standard pronunciations for both from wiktionary: enPR: gē, IPA(key): /ɡiː/ (South Asia) IPA(key): [ɡʱiː] Perhaps it’s just you?

>I just looked up a youtube video of the pronunciation in Hindi and g is pronounced basically the same way as I say it in northeast Ohio, which is generally pretty close to standard American english.

If you think that, your ear is simply not hearing the difference because the sound does not exist in your language.

The Wiktionary is in fact listing two different pronunciations of the word. The one mentioned under South Asia is the correct one.

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